For a community to thrive and grow, there needs to be access to quality education.  It’s what makes parents happy to live in a particular area, knowing that the schools will give their kids what they need to succeed.  And, when those kids get old enough, it’s what will give them the opportunity to choose to stay close to home as they build their own lives.

We spoke with Stephen Sicilano, Vice President for Educational Services at NMC, as well as the President of the Traverse Area Historical Society; Ross Biederman, current President of Midwestern Broadcasting; and Joe Anderson, NMC alum.

Special thanks to C-SPAN for the use of their 1984 interview with NMC founder Les Biederman.

In today’s world of our hyper-connected, always online existence…it’s hard to remember that getting up to the minute news and information about your community—or the world at large—was a lot more difficult.  And while the newspapers and other print publications could inform folks, too, there was nothing like the immediacy—and intimacy—of radio.  We’ll talk today Traverse City’s first radio station, WTCM, and the man who dreamed it into existence: Les Biederman.

We spoke with Les Biederman’s son, Ross Biederman, current President of Midwestern Broadcasting Company, and longtime WTCM personality Steve Cook.

The tourism industry of our region is an economic powerhouse, and one of the longest running—and most powerful—examples is all based around our signature crop:  the cherry.  Well, the cherry, and the celebration of it.  Today, we examine the National Cherry Festival, a now-ubiquitous summer celebration nearing its 100th milestone event.  But the origins of this now mammoth gathering are…a BIT more modest.

We spoke with Kat Paye, the Executive Director of the National Cherry Festival.