It'll be hard for anyone in Louisville to forget last Tuesday, Nov. 4, and the crash of UPS Flight 2976.

Around 5:15 p.m. that day, on what was shaping up to be a beautiful autumn evening, a McDonnell Douglas MD-11 bound for Honolulu crashed during takeoff from Louisville, igniting a massive fire and creating an enormous smoke plume visible across the city.

It's been hard to talk about anything else since then. So on this week's Access Louisville podcast we discuss how we reported the story, including its impact on business.

On the show, LBF Senior Reporter Joel Stinnett is on the show to recount his conversation with Sean Garber, CEO of Grade A Auto Parts & Recycling, which was hit by the aircraft and debris during the crash. Hearing what happened at the business was one of the toughest interviews he'd ever done, Stinnett said on the show.

We also discuss how important Worldport is to UPS' business and the company's response so far, including a statement from its CEO Carol Tome in Atlanta.

More coverage from the Business First team this week:

• UPS identifies crew killed in jet crash as death toll rises
• Power outages, road closures persist near airport
• Bar spared in UPS crash
• Feds begin probe after deadly UPS jet crash

At about 6 p.m. Thursday, airport officials announced that runway 17R/35L (the runway used by UPS Flight 2976), or West Runway, was back open, meaning the airport (SDF) was again fully operational. For those seeking assistance, the city has set up a Family Assistance Center that can be reached at 1-800-631-0604.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcasts and Spotify,

With only a few professional teams across the commonwealth, college athletics are the biggest show in Kentucky.

And we get down to the financials behind it on this week's Access Louisville podcast. Josh Heird, athletic director for the University of Louisville, and Marc Hill, deputy athletic director for the University of Kentucky join the show as special guests, alongside Louisville Business First Editor-in-Chief Shea Van Hoy and Managing Editor David A. Mann.

Making it even more special was the fact that we recorded the show in front of a live audience at the Baird Conference Center, located on the 29th floor of 500W Jefferson Street in Downtown Louisville. Baird is the sponsor of the Access Louisville podcast.

LBF's Stephen P. Schmidt recently wrote a big story on the financial landscape of college sports, which really served as the impetus for this show. On the program, we cover a range of topics and I've picked out a few selections below.

College athletic departments went into the red in order to create revenue sharing programs. When do they get back in the black?

Hill said UK went into the red for the first time recently, as a result of the revenue sharing program. But "we have a three-and-a-half year plan to come back get back in the black. We've been able to have some ventures on the league level in order to do that. We want to come back whole on the other side," he said.

Heird added that an athletic department has to be looked at holistically as a part of a University.

"I wish that the narrative would shift a little bit ... look, almost every athletic department is losing money. But it's a department within the university as a whole. So, what is the value of that department to the university," he asked. Adding that it's a question that the university leaders around the country are having to navigate right now.

Additional revenue sources for departments and contract lengths for college athletics

There's a lot of conversations out there on new revenue in the wake of new spending by departments.

"This industry is gonna get really creative — and has gotten really creative. And we're going to find all the opportunities we can," said Heird.

That said, the idea that millions of dollars are going to start raining down on athletics departments is in accurate, he added. For instance, some athletic departments are trying concerts in their stadiums — but that's only generating so much new revenue.

Hill added that UK doesn't want to put too much pressure on the backs of fans and supporters to generate new revenue.

Heird also touched on the controversial move this year to schedule the UK and UofL basketball game in November rather than December.

He explained that scheduling is a complicated process with a lot of different considerations — and it becomes even magnified when TV scheduling gets involved.

"I think everybody was mad just because it was different than it used to be," he said of this year's schedule. "At the end of the day, we want to play the University of Kentucky because our fans love it. I think there fans love it. I think it's good for the state."

We also chatted about the length of college player contracts — both officials explained why multi-year deals are not on the table at most negotiations. And we discussed the potential for congressional involvement in the college sports as a couple of competing pieces of legislation have made it to the desk of lawmakers.

You can hear more in the episode itself.

Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Access Louisville Live: Our next live podcast is 4 p.m. Oct. 29. Join us as we talk money and college sports with University of Louisville AD Josh Heird and University of Kentucky Deputy AD Marc Hill. Details and registration here.

What's a city without a robust arts scene?

Kim Baker, president and CEO of Kentucky Performing Arts, joins us on the Access Louisville podcast this week.

Kentucky Performing Arts operates the W. L. Lyons Brown Theatre, Old Forester's Paristown Hall and The Kentucky Center on Main Street. Editor Shea Van Hoy speaks with Baker about a range of topics, including how the live entertainment business is going, a major construction project at the Main Street facility and much more.

The arts business has definitely changed in recent years. The Covid-19 pandemic kept people out of live events for an extended period of time, meanwhile the era of streaming entertainment took hold giving more people to do at home.

There were lessons learned from that period though, Baker said.

"At the heart of our mission, is really to connect and inspire through the arts. And I feel like, during that shutdown, we connected to people and to other organizations really throughout the country that we had never connected with before," Baker said. "That was because we were trying to figure out how to stay alive, and how to stay in business."

"We also realized the importance, from that, of staying connected."

There's also been a major change in the world of fundraising, she notes. Both individuals and corporations have reconsidered how they give.

"People give in different ways. That's created some challenges," she said, adding that arts do need civic and private sector support.

You can hear more in the episode itself. Access Louisville is a weekly podcast from Louisville Business First. You can follow it on popular podcast services including Apple Podcast and Spotify.