Main Street

Thursday, December 19, 2019 – Legendary wildlife biologist and buffalo rancher Dan O'Brien discusses his classic work of nonfiction, "The Rites of Autumn: A Falconer's Journey Across the American West" in a conversation with Sarah Aaronson, producer and host of The Write Question which comes to us from Montana Public Radio and PRX. ~~~ Sue Balcom is here with another episode of Main Street Eats. Today she’s talking about “Christmas Traditions Best Forgotten.” ~~~ Doug and Ashley have our What’s

Matt Olien visits with Robin Nelson in this excerpt from the Prairie Pulse television show.

Wednesday, December 18, 2019 – The 2019 additions to the National Film Registry include “Purple Rain,” “Clerks,” “She’s Gotta Have It,” “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “Amadeus,” “Sleeping Beauty,” “Boys Don’t Cry,” “The Last Waltz,” and many more – a total of 25 famous films added to the registry, which guarantees the film will be preserved under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act. The criteria for selection are that the movies are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.

Tuesday, December 17, 2019 – A new documentary, "Sakakawea: The Bird Woman," airs this Friday, Dec. 20, at 8pm on Prairie Public. Documentarian Darrell Dorgan joins us for a preview. ~~~ Chuck Lura shares a Natural North Dakota essay on ravens. ~~~ In an excerpt from the Prairie Pulse television show, we hear about issues in education like school safety and teacher salaries from Robin Nelson of the Fargo School Board. She visits with guest host Matt Olien. ~~~ Feeling guilty for taking time for

Monday, December 16, 2019 – Mary Swander is the former Poet Laureate of Iowa and the author of “Map of my Kingdom” a commissioned play about the critical issue of farmland transition. The play will be performed during January’s conference of the Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture convention in Fargo. Mary joins us to discuss the play and also a workshop she’ll be hosting that dives more deeply into land transition issues. ~~~ Commentator Mark Trahant, editor of Indian Country Today, shares

Sunday, December 15, 2019 – Our Sunday highlight show features a Denver company promoting an intriguing idea for the Oil Patch. To help producers decrease the flaring of natural gas, why not use the gas to power server farms? Cully Cavness is the founder and president of Crusoe Energy Systems. He says there’s synergy with this plan—gas that would be flared is instead used to generate electricity, which powers computer services processing data. The arrangement would reduce greenhouse emissions

Friday, December 13, 2019 – RADD stands for Runners Against Destructive Decisions. Judge David Reich started the Santa Run to raise money and awareness for people in recovery. This year’s guest speaker is Billy Mills, who won Olympic gold at the 1964 Tokyo games. ~~~ News Director Dave Thompson joins us for a discussion of this week’s news. ~~~ Matt Olien reviews “Knives Out.”

Thursday, December 12, 2019 – An update on Humanities North Dakota from executive director Brenna Gerhardt. She’s looking for submissions to include in their publication “On Second Thought.” Also, she’s seeking scholars interested in bringing the humanities off campus and into the community through a number of different programs. ~~~ Jill Weise is here to invite you to the upcoming Blizzard Bluegrass Weekend. ~~~ Chuck Lura shares a Natural North Dakota essay about World Soil Day. ~~~ Sue Balcom

Wednesday, December 11, 2019 – Megan Myrdal of “Food of the North” is John Harris’s guest this week on the Prairie Public television show. In this excerpt, she they discuss several local food initiatives. ~~~ In a story from NPR’s Allison Aubrey, we hear about farmers using food waste to make electricity. ~~~ Stan Schauer of the North Dakota Department of Public instruction has been in charge of drafting the rules for the state’s Armed First Responder Program, which will allow school personnel

Tuesday, December 10, 2019 – Kim Diede of Fargo’s first novel, Whispering Pines,​ was inspired by her real-life "Aunt Mary." Great aunt Mary K. Nierling was a generous, extraordinary, slightly formidable woman who excelled in a "man's world." Kim has gone on to write three more novels in the Whispering Pines series, the latest being “Capturing Wishes,” a Christmas story. She joins us to discuss her love of writing, the publishing process, and the story of the aunt who inspired her. ~~~ Tom Isern