Door County Pulse Podcast

Elder abuse and sexual assault can be difficult to recognize and even hard to report or escape. Moriah Benzow, executive director of HELP of Door County, talks with Debra Fitzgerald about the warning signs of elder abuse and neglect, the challenges of helping vulnerable adults who may depend on their abusers, and how HELP works to support those experiencing abuse. She also talks about HELP’s expan...

Award-winning journalist and writer Jeff Oloizia joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about his new podcast, Writing Forward , where Oloizia talks to Wisconsin scribes about carving out a creative life in the dairy state. He shares the writing journey that took him from Wisconsin to New York, and back, and why he embarked on this project to interview writers such as Liam Callenan, Michael Perry, Mag...

In the upcoming Nov. 3 election, Wisconsin voters will be asked to vote on three proposed amendments to the Wisconsin Constitution. Sterling Knoche, a staff attorney with the State Democracy Research Initiative, an institute within the University of Wisconsin Law School, joins Debra Fitzgerald to help unpack what the amendments are, how they got on the ballot and what a yes or no vote would actual...

In November, residents in both the Southern Door and Sturgeon Bay school districts will vote on nonrecurring operational referendums, which would allow the districts the exceed their designated revenue limit by a set amount for a set period of time. Superintendent Kevin Krutzik from Southern Door and Superintendent Dan Tjernagel from Sturgeon Bay join reporter Eleanor Corbin to discuss the upcomin...

Tina Torcivia joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the inspiration behind ZaZa's Pizzeria in Sister Bay. But first, they chat about the big changes at Gibraltar School, where they both graduated, and what people get wrong about Sister Bay's Fall Fest celebration.

Destination Door County has changed its name many times over the years, but its core mission remains the same: to shape the future of tourism on the peninsula. Jon Jarosh, Destination Door County’s new President and Chief Executive Officer, joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to discuss the organization’s evolution and his long-standing personal connection with Door County. Together, they discuss balancing...

Former ABC News Senior National Correspondent Terry Moran and playwright Brian James Polak joined Myles Dannhausen Jr. for a roundtable discussion on journalism, playwriting and the arts in the age of Trump at the Door Kinetic Arts Festival.

Emily Elizabeth Baker didn’t consider indie authors to be “real” authors – until she became one herself. Now a novelist and founder of The Indie Author School, she joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to open up about her unconventional path to authorship, the process of writing and independently publishing, book marketing and social media, and the mission behind her school, which is dedicated to turning wr...

David Crowley, the Democratic nominee for governor, made a stop in the Door County Pulse Podcast studio during a swing through Door County Sept. 21 . He talked to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about why he entered public service and his stance on bringing down costs for residents, school funding, data centers, and bridging the urban/rural divide in Wisconsin. On Sept. 18, the Pulse invited Crowley and Repu...

If you think Tucker Carlson, Jerome Powell and Nancy Pelosi don’t have much in common, think again. They’re all Deadheads – the most ardent of Grateful Dead fans, who are everywhere, according to Dr. Eric Mlyn, a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at Duke University’s Kenan Institute for Ethics and lecturer emeritus at the Sanford School of Public Policy. Mlyn talked with Debra Fitzgerald about the firs...

Eleanor Corbin talks with Cherryl Fonfara and Mark Moede from Bayside Radio Theater, a performance group that specializes in live radio shows and has been together since 2023. Fonfara and Moede share their secrets behind the sound effects that elevate their performances from simple readings to immersive experiences. They highlight what Foley artists do, explain character voice, and share how radio...

The Town of Gibraltar secured a big grant to fulfill a decades-old vision for an off-road path from the Settlement Shops to the north end of the town last month. Myles Dannhausen is joined by Debra Fitzgerald to talk about the trail, as well as a lawsuit to force action on the tug that has been sitting in the water in Baileys Harbor for five years. But first, they look back on what 9/11 felt like...

Myles Danhausen Jr. talks with singer-songwriter, playwright, and performer Katie Dahl about her new musical-in-progress, The Northeast Corner , which explores the relationship between journalist Lorena Hickok and Eleanor Roosevelt. Katie discusses what pulled her to the story, who Hickok was, and the workshopping process.  They also dig into the collaborative nature of theater, the emotional stak...

The Town of Sevastopol is Door County’s second-largest municipality by population and land area, and second or third by equalized value (depending upon the year). So why doesn’t anyone know where it is? Even people who live there? Could it be because Sevastopol doesn’t have a post office, so all addresses are in Sturgeon Bay? Could it also be because there are four different geographic places also...

Sister Bay Marinafest is coming up on Labor Day weekend, and for many kids that means a visit to the boat-building tent put together by the Sister Bay Lions Club. John Ludwigsen joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the origins of the popular event and the joy it brings to kids each year. But first, they discuss Cycling Without Age, a unique effort to the elderly or people with disabilities out...

The name was the easy part for Nick Hoover, Nick Steingart and Nick Thomas when the three summer workers began playing music together in 2004, but finding gigs wasn't as easy back then. But they made magic when they connected with Fuzzy Sunstrom and convinced the owner of Fred & Fuzzy's to let them play a sunset gig on the water. Their weekly sets became a key part of summer for thousands of v...

Many states have one official running elections. Wisconsin has nearly 1,900. As Wisconsin heads into another election season, we’re going behind the scenes with Door County Clerk Jill Lau. She’s been in the position for 20 years and has been a municipal town clerk for even longer. She joins Debra Fitzgerald to explain Wisconsin’s unusual, decentralized election system: one bipartisan state commiss...

It’s nearly August in 2026, but we'll forgive you if you’re watching the latest news on the west waterfront in Sturgeon Bay and feel like you’ve watched this movie before.  Back in 2014 a poorly-done rendering for a proposed hotel on the west waterfront sent the city into a years-long legal fight that ultimately redefined what can be done on the city’s waterfront.  Twelve years later, a similar re...

Door County Jazz Festival organizer Staci Griesbach joined Myles Dannhausen Jr. on the Door County Pulse Podcast to talk about the festival, what inspired her to launch it and her work on last year’s movie filmed here, A Wisconsin Christmas Pie . They discuss what connected her to Door County, why she feels jazz is a natural fit, and her hopes for the future of the festival that runs Aug. 3 - 8.

Aspen, CO was once a small town full of ski bums. Today it's a symbol of extreme wealth. Scott Watts, the owner of Hill Street in Fish Creek, worries that Door County may be on a similar trajectory. He joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about why he's worried, and whether there's anything to do about it while it's happening? But first, they check in about how Hill Street's unique menu approach is...

At some point, anyone who lives in or visits Door County will ask the question of where the name Death’s Door originated. For generations, historians have told various versions of a similar story, but when Brennan Christianson of the Door County Maritime Museum began digging into them, he found those tales didn’t hold water. He joins Myles Dannhausen Jr to dive into the fascinating history and myt...

Most of us have a kind of functional vision. We get around – to the grocery store, the farmers market, the Fourth of July parade – but the familiarity sands it down. Photojournalists have to fight that. They have to notice what a community is actually saying about itself, frame by frame. For three years, Peninsula Pulse photographer Larry Mohr has been teaching Pulse photography intern Remy Carmic...

This weekend nearly 2,000 athletes will converge at the Door County Triathlon, Southern Door will host its big summer party and it all happens as businesses are grappling with delays and denials for summer international workers. Myles Dannhausen Jr. and Debra Fitzgerald discuss all this and the latest on a new CAFO in the county.

2026 is a midterm election year, and for the League of Women Voters of Door County, that means the same nonpartisan voter education work it does every election cycle now carries extra weight. Debra Fitzgerald talks with two of the League’s leaders – Tammie Grossman, who recently stepped into the chair role, and Maryanne O’Dowd, who coordinates the League’s Observer Corps – about what voters can ex...

Peninsula Pulse reporter Eleanor Corbin joins Debra Fitzgerald to discuss two controversial local stories: wakesurfing on Clark Lake and the new “Rock on the Rock” event at the former Leathem & Smith quarry. Wakesurfing has become a popular recreational sport, but not everyone believes it belongs on a shallow lake like Clark Lake. Meanwhile, neighbors have raised concerns about “Rock on the Ro...