Yonder Radio

We’re starting out in central Texas with a conversation between Daily Yonder health reporter Madeline de Figueredo and Bastrop County Cares executive director Norma Mercado. We are also checking in with our pop culture crew this week to learn about three new pieces of rural media for the season. Then, we learn about an impressive 40 year commitment from the McKnight Foundation to rural Minnesota....

This week on Yonder Radio , we begin with Jana Rose Shleis, a news reporter with KBIA in Columbia, Missouri. She visited a nuclear power plant in Callaway County to learn about the financial and technical barriers to expanding the state’s nuclear power capacity. Then, we hear from Heather Dawn Thompson, who spearheads the World Wildlife Fund’s efforts to support indigenous communities as they rest...

This week on Yonder Radio, we begin with a conversation about healthcare affordability in Tennessee with Daily Yonder health reporter Madeline de Figueredo and Beth Beaudin-Seiler, director of the Healthcare Value Hub. We’re taking a deep dive into the state of rural journalism this week with field notes from Jeremiah Ariaz, a photographer in Kansas, and a story from Daily Yonder contributor Kim K...

Yonder Radio's first-ever special report is called Power Dynamics: The Rural Data Center Boom. We're digging into how different kinds of power – from literal computing power to political and economic power – shape data center development in rural America. Two-thirds of new data centers are going to be built in rural places, according to the Pew Research Center. That puts rural communities at the f...

We begin by talking with environmental reporter Delaney Nolan about how AI-generated misinformation helped put an end to an industrial-scale solar project in Iberia Parish, Louisiana. Next, Erin Borla, the executive director of the Roundhouse Foundation, talks rural philanthropy in Oregon, and shares some wisdom from her grandma, Gert. Daily Yonder Culture Reporter Susannah Broun interviews filmma...

We begin with Daily Yonder contributor Kaitlyn McConnell, who takes us to Eudora Baptist Church in Polk County, Missouri. For the last 25 years, the church has been the site of some pretty major folk-artistry, helping generations of children create unique, hand-made mosaics. Next, we talk with Christine Hemp, the president of the National Grange, about their mission of community empowerment, ongoi...

This week on Yonder Radio , we’re starting with a conversation between Daily Yonder reporter Madeline de Figueredo and Mia Sarot about high-voltage transmission lines coming to central Texas. Find your next read or watch from a conversation between Daily Yonder culture reporters Susannah Broun, Anya Petrone Slepyan, and Madelon Basil highlighting a few of the best pop culture hits from this summer...

Yonder Radio’s first-ever special report is called Power Dynamics: The Rural Data Center Boom. We’re digging into how different kinds of power – from literal computing power to political and economic power – shape data center development in rural America. Two-thirds of new data centers are going to be built in rural places, according to the Pew Research Center . That puts rural communities at the...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start out talking to Daily Yonder contributor Kaitlyn McConnell about the future of small rural cemeteries in the Ozarks. As donations decline and cemetery caretakers age, communities and individuals will have to decide what happens to these sites of local history. Then we head to Montana, to learn about interactive performances about mental health to communities aro...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start out talking to Daily Yonder contributor Kaitlyn McConnell about the future of small rural cemeteries in the Ozarks. As donations decline and cemetery caretakers age, communities and individuals will have to decide what happens to these sites of local history. Then we head to Montana, to learn about interactive performances about mental health to communities aro...

This week on Yonder Radio , we bring you a story from KBIA reporter Jana Rose Scheils about energy policy in Missouri. We also bring in Alexis Bonogofsky with the World Wildlife Fund to learn about sustainable ranching. Jocelyn Catterson takes us to the San Luis Valley with her interdisciplinary work interpreting drought through painting and art. Nick Bowlin of the Frontier and Katie Campbell of P...

This week on Yonder Radio , we have a story from Daily Yonder data editor Sarah Melotte about changes to the voting rights act and gerrymandering in rural areas. Then we head to Wisconsin where Jim Winship and his son are making a film about aging in place in rural areas. Our partners at ICT bring us a story about broadband coming to the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota. We also bring you th...

This week on Yonder Radio , we begin in Weiser, Idaho – a town battling a cat-astrophe. Reporter Astra Lincoln brings us the story of the rural town’s efforts to tackle the influx of hundreds of stray cats through a trap and release program. Next, we’re heading to western North Carolina, where Anya Petrone Slepyan reports on Cherokee pottery traditions that have been practiced for nearly 3,000 yea...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start off with Daily Yonder reporter Madeline de Figueiredo, who brings us a story about efforts to improve maternal health care in rural Texas. An influx of funding for local providers will boost capacity, and help grow programs focused on holistic and culturally informed care. Then, we travel to East Kentucky, where photographer Malcom Wilson seeks to combat stereo...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start out with a story from KFF Health News about the ongoing rollout of the Rural Health Transformation Program. Reporter Sarah Jane Tribble explains how large companies are well-positioned to benefit, as states scramble to meet deadlines for administering the funds. Then, we head to rural Nebraska to learn about the social benefits of livestock sale barns. And the...

This week, we start out with a conversation with Daily Yonder reporter Ilana Newman who brings us a story from Illinois, where community members are trying to get state policy passed that would stop CO2 pipeline companies from using eminent domain to build pipelines. We have two takes on America’s 250th birthday this week, one from editor of the Glasgow Courier, Skylar Baker Jordan and another fro...

This week on Yonder Radio , we’re starting with an update on state governments’ efforts to regulate data centers. Daily Yonder reporter Julia Tilton drops by to tell us about the fate of an Illinois bill, called the POWER Act, which aimed to limit water usage for data centers and increase transparency. Then, Daily Yonder reporters Madeline de Figueiredo and Anya Petrone Slepyan head to far West Te...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start out with a story from KFF Health News, about the closure of dialysis clinics in rural Nebraska. Arielle Zionts reports that shuttering clinics mean that patients will have to drive several additional hours each way to receive life-saving care. We’ll continue our visit to the Great Plains with Kristy Bly, who manages the restoration of the Black Footed Ferret wi...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start off talking about a movement to grow water-conscious and delicious grains in Colorado’s San Luis Valley. Community organizations and businesses are partnering to put rye, and other crops that do well in dry climates, on the map for farmers, entrepreneurs, and consumers. Then, culture reporters Susannah Broun and Madelon Basil dissect the latest albums from Noah...

Every week, Yonder Radio brings rural conversations with national reach to listeners around the country. This week, we begin by talking with reporter Kaitlyn McConnell about a small town in Missouri that is recovering after a tornado hit last year. The town’s museum is working hard to keep its history alive despite the destruction. Then, we head to Minnesota with Arts Midwest reporter Frankie Fele...

This week on Yonder Radio , we start out talking to Julia Tilton about Sangamon County, Illinois, where the county board recently approved a major data center project even as a major regulatory bill aiming to address data centers is caught up in the state legislature. Then, we’re going on a road trip around the Great Lakes with Tim Marema and Liz McGeachy in their music-filled camper van, and cele...

This week on Yonder Radio , we have more data center coverage as reporter Julia Tilton explains how nearly a quarter of a million dollars of federal funds meant for affordable housing is going toward a data center instead. For Memorial Day and Mental Health Awareness Month, we are learning about an organization leading important conversations around PTSD and veteran support in rural areas. Also, w...

This week on Yonder Radio , we begin with a conversation with Jim Checkel, who grew up wanting to be a farmer in rural Minnesota, and ended up as the lead lab technologist for the Mayo Clinic. His experience and insights have helped shape rural medicine at one of the top medical institutions in the world. Then, we talk with actor Kiki Bush about filmmaking in rural Kansas, and her efforts to promo...

This week on Yonder Radio , we’re starting out with a story about thriving newspapers in the Ozarks. We’re headed to Minnesota to learn about a new program for people running for local nonpartisan office, and to Arkansas to learn about another civic engagement program, Lead for America. We’ll hear about a unique festival in a small town in the Colorado mountains and learn about rural education wit...

This week on Yonder Radio , we’re starting out with an update from reporter Julia Tilton about a proposed moratorium on building large-scale data centers in Maine. Then, we take a behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to report on rural health care in West Texas. Daily Yonder reporter Madeline de Figueiredo walks us through innovative telehealth solutions in communities with limited access to b...