Everything is a Primary Source

America at 250 Episode 16: "An Opry of Our Own: Litchfield's pioneering 'Radio Karaoke' as a document of time and place." After seeing karaoke performed for the first time in New York some years ago, John Michael Marty had an idea:  why not broadcast live amateur singing?  Introducing his idea to the Passport Lounge in his hometown of Litchfield, IL proved that his thought was a good one as it too...

America at 250 Episode 15: "Picking through the Past: The Briar Rose consignment shop as a crossroads for history" The Briar Rose in Litchfield, IL is the kind of store everyone should want in their town.  Filled with a little bit of everything, old and new, and with a steady arrival of furniture, clothes, antiques, toys, and trinkets, it acts as a representation of many points in history and aspe...

America at 250 Episode 14: "Welcome to Litchfield: Analyzing the Illinois town as a Primary Source." Carol Sneed is the President of the Litchfield Museum and Route 66 Welcome Center in southwestern Illinois, and was the first to record with me after I rolled into town along the Mother Road.  She was happy to set the scene for a day of podcasting by explaining the history of the town of Litchfield...

America at 250 Episode 13: "Making F*R*I*E*N*D*S All Around the World: American TV and movies as cultural ambassadors." Maya met with me as the last guest of my day podcasting in Chicago this summer.  She works at the Museum of Broadcast Communication, a position helped along by her extensive experience teaching English all over the world.  She learned very quickly through her students just how mu...

America at 250 Episode 12: "We the Viewers:  How TV advertising is a reflection of different eras and places." Brent is a volunteer docent at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, which is a perfect spot for him as he has spent most of his life connected to television production in one way or another.  As an ad man on Michigan Avenue--Chicago's answer to Madison Avenue-- Brent witness...

America at 250 Episode 11: "Voice of the People: the democratization of media and its reflection of time and place." Having spent fifteen years working as a reporter and news anchor for different news affiliates around the country, Shawn Patrick Floss knows a thing or two about the power of cameras and microphones when placed in reach of ordinary people.   We met at the Museum of Broadcast Communi...

America at 250 Episode 10: "Staying in the Loop: Chicago's WLUP radio as an example of terrestrial radio's role in civic life." The Museum of Broadcast Communications has a special exhibit dedicated to its hometown Rock n roll radio station, 97.7 FM, WLUP.  Starting in 1977, "The Loop" immediately secured its place in the everyday life of Chicagoans like my guest, Luke, who grew up listening to it...

America at 250 Episode 9: "Sweepin' the Clouds Away: Sesame Street as a product of, and contributor to, American culture."  Mary Cay carries a lifelong adoration of Sesame Street and is quite familiar with its place on the pantheon of both children's educational TV and public broadcasting.  We had a wonderful conversation about how the show came to achieve that status at a hall of honor, the Museu...

America at 250 Episode 8: "X Marks the Spot: How The X-Files represent 1990s society and culture. "   Val is the archivist at the Museum of Broadcast Communications in Chicago, and therefore a deep thinker about television and radio programming's place in history.  She chose her favorite TV show, The X-Files , to be the subject of the first drop-in episode in the Windy City, and we had a great con...

America at 250 Episode 7: "Full Circuit: 'Electronic Selector' as a refection of the 1950s' "   Ric chose to discuss "Electronic Selector," a cross between a trivia board game and a electrical tutorial from the 1950s as the last recording during the preview event at the NH Telephone Museum in Warner back in May.  If this box was marketed in the present it would likely be referred to as a STEM acti...

America at 250 Episode 6: "Future Boy: 1985's Back to the Future as a primary source "   Gwen asked to chat about 1985's Back to the Future for her podcast segment and I was glad to oblige considering it is one of my all-time favorites.  The 1985 movie could've been incredibly hokey but the recipe of writers, director, actors and special effects makes it a near-perfect contemporary classic.  But w...

America at 250 Episode 5: "A Telephone's Ring: The many tales the telephone tells" If you host a drop-in podcast at a telephone museum, you're bound to get more than a few conversations about the world-changing device recorded.   A veteran social studies teacher, my guest, Pam, teaches just as I do, using artifacts of everyday life to tell stories and learn about the past in doing so.  In this tal...

America at 250 Episode 4: "A Lineman for the Country: A conversation about the evolution of telecommunications with a career phone company man." This is the kind of episode I imagined making when I started taking the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast out into the world.  I had just sat down with Pam to record a piece at the New Hampshire Telephone Museum when Bill, a retired telephone company...

America at 250 Episode 3: "Our House: Virginia Lee Burton's 1942 picture book, The Little House as a primary source." Sage took the time to speak with me at the New Hampshire Telephone Museum this Spring, selecting Virginia Lee Burton's 1942 Caldecott Award-winning picture book, The Little House to chat about .  The book tells the tale of a personified pink cottage as it enjoys its existence in th...

America at 250 Episode 2: "Telecom Rebels: Phone Phreaking as a Document of the 1970s" Dave met with me at the New Hampshire Telephone Museum in Warner to discuss the "Phone Phreaking" trend of the 1970s.  Rebellious, technologically-minded youth used their know-how to work the monopolistic phone system to make free calls to telephones all over the world.  This at the forefront of the computer rev...

America at 250, Episode 1: "We Begin." Historian Jim Ambuske, Ph. D. specializes in 18th Century studies, and the American Revolution specifically, so I could think of no more appropriate guest to have on the podcast to dissect the Declaration of Independence as an artifact of its time and place. This is the first episode of a special season of the Everything is a Primary Source where, in celebrat...

S5E35: "No Payne, No Gain: Dissecting 1995's  Major Payne as a document of its time." Eric is joined by filmmaker Steven Martini, whose break out role as an actor came as Cadet Alex Stone, the foil for Damon Wayan's title character, to discuss Major Payne as a document of its era.  As you'll hear, the talk about the 1990s movie and Steven's latest projects transform into a discussion on copyright...

Debora Masterson is the guest on this episode of the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast, discussing the 1970s band, Freedom Quest, of which she was a member, and her new book , Freedom Quest: A Love Story, and what they both can tell us about time and place. This is fitting as one month from the publication of this podcast, I’ll be wrapping up a Freedom Quest of my own. I’ll be taking the Ever...

S5E33: "Bridge to the Past: Kinzua Bridge State Park in Pennsylvania as a Primary Source" This is an interview from 2023 with Professor Kevin Patrick, an active member of the Society for Commercial Archeology, regarding Kinzua Bridge State Park in Western Pennsylvania.  Although on the shorter side, we covered topics that are very relevant as we round out Preservation Month and approach Memorial D...

S5E32: "Somewhere That's Green: 'Little Shop of Horrors' as a primary source Since it’s that time of the year again when people begin to plan out their planting for the season, I figured I’d cultivate an episode from a short recording from few years ago about Roger Corman’s 1960 B Horror Comedy Little Shop of Horrors. Let this be a cautionary episode of the Everything is a Primary Source Podcast....

S5E31: "Failure is Not an Option: Apollo 13 as a primary source of the mid 1990s" This episode of the Everything is a Primary Source podcast is another clip extracted from the archives, this time a conversation with a drop-in guest named Ted about the 1994 book Lost Moon, which was the basis for the 1995 film, Apollo 13. It may have taken a few years but my guest’s wish is about to come true. I wi...

S5E30: "Greetings from the Jersey Shore: Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band as a document of time and place." Melissa Ziobro is the Director of Curatorial Affairs for the Bruce Springsteen Archives & Center for American Music , which is set to open to the public in its brand new building later this Spring.  Melissa is also a native to the Jersey Shore, and therefore the best person to s...

S5E29: "Back to L.A.: SCA and Historic Preservation in Los Angeles" This episode is a callback to three years ago when I spoke with members of the Society for Commercial Archeology during their conference. One of the top priorities of SCA is historic preservation, particularly of signage and structures along America’s roadways and throughout our developed towns and cities. My summer roadtrip proje...

S5E28: "There's No Place Like Home:  The Wizard of Oz as a Primary Source" This episode of the Everything is a Primary Source features a discussion about The Wizard of Oz. It was recorded a few summers ago at Prescott Park in Portsmouth, NH, just before a performance of Little Shop of Horrors. This portion was originally included in with a longer dialogue in Season 3, but is now taking its own pat...

S5E27: "The Bad Boys of Boston: Aerosmith's origins as a document of the early 1970s" We learn about the early days of Aerosmith from one of their original roadies, who just happened to be in the right place and the right time to get the gig. His story is very telling about this era of rock n roll, and perhaps the status of things in general as the 60s transitioned to the 70s.  This was recorded a...