American Countryside » Miscellaneous

The Cooper County Jail

Tom — Tue, 22 May 2012 05:01:19 +0000

The historic jail in Boonville, Missouri was built to house those convicted of crimes in the county. However, it also housed others, not convicted of a crime, but held for another purpose…..

Returning to the Country That Held You Prisoner of War

Tom — Mon, 21 May 2012 05:01:23 +0000

It’s hard to imagine being held as a prisoner of war and then, after the war, immigrating to the country that held you captive. That’s exactly what happened on many occasions during WW II and today we go to one of the towns familiar with that story…..

Camp Algona

Tom — Fri, 18 May 2012 05:01:56 +0000

Over the years, you’ve heard us feature some towns in the heartland of America that served as POW camps during WW II. Today, we head to north-central Iowa where a group of folks keep alive the story of the prisoners, guards and the farm families were many of those POWs worked…..

The Globetrotter Lodge

Tom — Thu, 17 May 2012 05:01:30 +0000

Many people would love to live in the Austrian Alps. This couple decided the wide open spaces of eastern Arizona were the better place to be. So why did this couple move here and open a business?

A Pancake Jubilee

Tom — Wed, 16 May 2012 05:01:09 +0000

Imagine hosting a breakfast so large that you needed to buy pancake flour by the boxcar. That’s exactly what happened here. So why was this small town feeding such large crowds and attracting some of the biggest names in entertainment?

Two Rival Nurseries and Radio Stations

Tom — Tue, 15 May 2012 05:02:46 +0000

Today we say hello to our friends in Southwest Iowa. Folks there have been tuning into their radios for decades to hear the story of two rival nursery and seed operations who built their own radio stations to reach their thousands of customers…..

The Kansas Cosmosphere

Tom — Sun, 13 May 2012 05:01:22 +0000

Today we’re back in Hutchinson, KS and say hello to our listeners on KWBW. I can attest to what folks there already know…the space museum here will rival any you’ll find elsewhere in the nation…..

The Inspiration for Radiator Springs

Tom — Fri, 11 May 2012 05:01:30 +0000

Sometimes movies do more than just bring in dollars at the box office. They occasionally have an impact on the place where they were filmed. In a sense, this movie set stretched nearly 2500 miles and today the backdrop of that animated movie is still bringing people from around the world to places some thought dead…..

WCAZ Radio

Tom — Thu, 10 May 2012 05:01:02 +0000

Today’s program comes from the studios of WCAZ Radio in Carthage, Illinois. It’s a place with a long tradition in broadcasting…a place that’s been on the air for so many decades that they originally made radios just so people could hear their signal…..

An Unusual Invitation

Tom — Wed, 09 May 2012 05:01:13 +0000

There are many towns in the western U.S. that had rough and tumble beginnings. They are places where it was sometimes difficult to determine exactly who was in charge of peace and justice. So it shouldn’t be surprising that one town went so far as to send out invitations to a hanging…..