Pressroom Podcast

We blame him when we get dumped on with snow and call him a liar when it rains when he said it would be sunny.

But that's what comes with the job title says WDIO chief meteorologist Justin Liles. He's been forecasting the Northland for 14 years and he's learned a thing or two along the way, like how Lake Superior influences the weather in the strangest ways.

In this episode, Liles recalls some of his favorite obscure weather events, shares how he works with the big lake to provide more accurate forecasts, and lets us know if winter is indeed over.

In 2018, the St. Louis County Rescue Squad responded to over 400 emergency calls, 73 of which were missing persons cases.

"It's very easy to get lost," said this week's guest, Captain Rick Slatten, about St. Louis County.

Slatten leads the 66-person volunteer squad made up of engineers, OR docs, funeral directors and college students all responding to their "inner Saint Bernard." He shares the origin story of the squad, which was started by his father in 1958, recalls a few of his more memorable missions, and gives us a few pointers so we don't become a person that needs rescuing.

"We are all just people," says our guest Duluth Mayor Emily Larson on this week's episode.

It's a theme she keeps referring to when talking about people's opinions about the city's search for a new flag, or their opinions about women in leadership roles, or their opinions with her end of year column.

We explore those opinions, in which we get an apology out of Brady, and get to know Mayor Larson better with some more trivial conversation, like her idea to measure the temperature only in "feels like" units.

When she first moved to the Twin Ports, Jessica McCarthy said it was really easy to find drugs. All she had to do was one loop around town and in about a half an hour she had access to opioids.

Now the opioid technician with the Duluth Police Department, McCarthy is tasked with getting overdose victims immediate interventions.

This week on the podcast, we learn more about McCarthy's job, the opioid crisis in the Northland, and her own struggles with addiction.

This week we have with us two winter enthusiasts unafraid to take a dip in Lake Superior — even if it means cutting through the ice. Rich Narum and Troy Rogers take a leap into the big lake once a month no matter how cold the temperature.

Partaking in this ritual since 1995, Narum is a veteran jumper. Rogers on the other hand is a little more relaxed on his meetings with the big lake. But on this they both agree, each dip is a memorable one.

Back in town after living in California for awhile, Actual Wolf, aka Eric Pollard, stops by the podcast this week to talk about his new music and a wide array of other topics.

The new dad and regular sauna goer offers sound parenting advice ("just keep 'em alive and be nice"), the theory of adulthood, his take on social media, and the best people to come out of Hibbing (sorry Kevin McHale, not you).

She's been teaching us about the port for the better part of a decade.

This week, Adele Yorde, recently retired marketing specialist with the Duluth Seaway Port Authority, gives us an inside look at the port and the people who work on the vessels and on the docks.

Not knowing much about the shipping industry before she started the job, Yorde says it took her "about two days" to fall in love with the port and the "characters on the waterfront."

This week's guest calls her recent teaching experience "faith restoring" and a good reminder that "innocence still exists."

Back from a five month stint in Belarus, Fulbright Scholar and Lake Superior College English teacher Jocelyn Pihlaja shares her experience with us. From starting a lending library with books written in English to navigating the squat toilets in fancy shoes, Pihlaja opens our minds to what life is like in the Eastern European country.

It's been almost a year since his team took home the gold in South Korea. This week we catch up with Olympic curler John Shuster to hear how his life has changed since his team embraced their underdog story, took out the competition and climbed to the top of the podium.

The Chisholm native tells us about his whirlwind year and how he tries not to get used to the pinch-me moments, which have included a White House state dinner and celebrity golf tournaments where he is the celebrity.

We also get answers to your top questions. Will there be a movie? Is another Olympic trial in his future?

Find firewood, carry firewood back to camp, split said firewood, place firewood in stove. Repeat. Sounds like a lot of work, but for those who enjoy winter camping it's all part of the experience.

This week we are joined by Molly and Shannon Solberg of Duluth who started winter camping years ago by digging a hole in a snowbank and crawling inside for warmth. They've since graduated to a tent with Thai curry simmering on a wood stove.

The Solbergs share their tips and tricks to camping in the cold. Tip: Cotton is rotten. And what's the main draw. Think no bugs, no people, lots of fish and lots of stars. And maybe a wolf or two.