The year 2024 was an exciting one for Big Talk conversations. People from all walks of Bloomington life joined us in the WFHB studios. This week, we’ll revisit our chats with Richard Fish, one of the early members of the core group that started this radio station; Dr. Maria Elizabeth Hamitlton Abegunde, who helped coordinate the Wylie House exhibit, “Stargazing: Re-Imagining the Life of Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Breckenridge”; Mitch Teplitsky, who is producing a documentary on Spencer, Indiana’s vibrant LGBTQI community; and Tristra Newyear and Eleanor Rust, producers and hosts of the limited historical podcast series, “Frances Wright: America’s Forgotten Radical.”

This episode aired Thursday, January 2, 2025.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

We delve further into our 2024 lineup of guests and conversations as the year draws to a close. We spoke with Richard Fish, one of the earliest members of the group that eventually formed WFHB; Abegunde (Dr. Maria Elizabeth Hamilton), who brought to light the life of Lizzie Breckenridge, a black woman who was an amateur astronomer in Bloomington in the 1880s; Mitch Teplitsky, a filmmaker working on a documentary about the LGBTQI community in Spencer, Indiana; and Tristra Newyear and Eleanor Rust, who’ve researched the life of Frances Rust, a 19th century feminist, author, abolitionist, and radical.

This edition of Big Talk aired on Thursday, December, 19, 2024.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Our look back at 2024 Big Talk guests continues as we revisit highlights from our chats with historical board game designer and producer Drew Wehrle, Hoosier Character coordinator Christine Friesel, Kinsey Institute executive director Justin Garcia, and JC Clements and Nicky 7 of Hoosier Original Music Association.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Join us in the month of December as we look back at the great lineup of guests who joined us this past year. In Part 1 of this series, we’ll re-hear from Steve Volan, long-time Bloomington city council member who branched out in new directions this year; Ron Eid, publisher of the Limestone Post, and Becky Hill, board president of Limestone Media; Katerina Koch, executive director of the Lotus Education & Arts Foundation; and Jordan Davis, host of the No Dishes podcast covering the local restaurant scene.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

With the fall session final concert set for Monday, December 16th, at the Belle Trace Senior Commons Center, amateur musicians are honing their skills for it for the next three weeks. We re-visit with New Horizons Bloomington co-founders Andrea Kleesattel and Audrey Jo Williams. The two, accomplished teachers and musicians, started the Bloomington branch of the international adult beginner orchestra organization in cooperation with Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. Admission to the final concert is free.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

He started working for Blueline Media when it was housed in a barn outside the city some 20 years ago. Matt Rice now is a creative director for the full-service video and photo production studio with offices here and in North Carolina. Blueline has branched out, now making documentary films. The studio has produced docs on Hoosier football icon George Taliaferro, the plight of Hawaii’s native snails, and the 150th anniversary of the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology. Rice considers himself a translator, turning a company’s image of itself into a story, then a brand.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Her mother dropped her off at Rhino’s Youth Center when she was 12. Before she knew it, Jessie Grubb found herself deeply involved in radio. Rhino’s administered Youth Radio for WFHB from 2000 to 2019 and operated a dedicated studio for kids to learn and record in. Youth Radio has been a fixture at WFHB for nearly 30 years. Grubb is a teacher and applies her college training in education to her work as the director of the program that serves ages 13-20

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people..

Trained as a cantor, Josh Dinner loved singing traditional Jewish songs because they brought people together and celebrated what humanity could be. Then he saw a rocket liftoff and realized space exploration did the same. Since then he’s devoted his life to shooting the moon, the stars, the planets, and the spacecraft that may one day get us there. A writer and content manager for Space.com, he staged his proposal to his future wife to coincide with last April’s total solar eclipse.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

He spent his adult working life manipulating the waves and particles that comprise the essence of physical reality. Terry Sloan retired as an engineer from the late, lamented Indiana University Cyclotron a few years ago and has since turned his attention to writing poetry — and helping others get their poetry out to the people. Sloan publishes and distributes Poetry to the People, a series of trifold, single sheets containing three to a hafl dozen poems each. An avid motorcyclist, he composes some of his poems while cruising down the open road. He has authored of book of his poems, “Questionable Poems: From Beyond the Event Horizon,” illustrated by IU Cinema founding director Jon Vickers. Poetry to the People, volume 7, will be released by the end of the year.

Host Michael GLab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

Last week we discussed the history and culture of tattooing with Meredith Lee and Shane Greene, Together they teach an Indiana University course on all things tattoo. She’s an assistant professor of gender and he’s a professor of anthropology. This week, we delve further into the ink world. In addition, we’ll find out what the wrong body narrative is as well as how someone can be a misanthropologist.

This edition aired Thursday, October 17, 2024.

Host Michael Glab chats with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.