Episodes

In the 1970s, lesbian and feminist organizations popped up in cities across the nation. Minneapolis and Saint Paul were no exception. Here in the Twin Cities, the Amazon Feminist Book Store, Lesbian Resource Center, and Lesbian Feminist Organizing Committee all provided space and community for newly out lesbians and queer women. At the same time, a small network of transgender women started their own type of organizing, one that relied more on mutual support than a physical meeting place. But ...

Take a dive into comedic history in this story about the beginnings of the Brave New Workshop. The Brave New Workshop was founded by a former circus former named Dudley Riggs. In the mid 20th century, a new kind of humor was taking the world by storm, and Riggs tapped into the zeitgeist of improvisation that had no limits. KFAI's Sheila Regan weaves together the voices of past and present company members, archival audio, and an interview with Riggs himself in this celebration of comedy that spea...

KSTP-AM is one of Minnesota’s oldest and formerly most successful radio stations. By the 90's, it had been mostly forgotten, as fans flocked to FM. While music fans enjoyed the stereophonic sounds on the other side of the dial, a new form of radio program began to emerge. Before long, talk radio flourished across the United States, and nowhere was it strong than at “The Talk Station.” Fueled by a desire to shake up the radio landscape, Hubbard Broadcasting’s Ginny Morris took charge of the stat...

Minnesota was the first state to take Big Tobacco to trial in 1998. The biggest lawsuit in the state’s history forced the tobacco industry to take down cigarette billboards and release millions of internal documents that filled a Minneapolis warehouse. When vaping e-cigarettes gained popularity among youth in the late 2010s, the Minnesota Attorney General’s office sued again, this time against market leader Juul Labs and the company’s Big Tobacco investor Altria. The lawsuit lifted thousands of...

Mike Sawyer fell in love with old folk music in his 20s, picking up the banjo and playing at festivals and jams around the state. But after a while, he began to wonder why nearly all the songs he and his fellow musicians were playing came from Appalachia and the South. What happened to early musical traditions from Minnesota? Now, Mike’s on a mission to uncover the roots of Upper Midwest folk music and keep it alive for future generations. This documentary was produced by Britta Greene and Jam...