Route 51

This Thursday, October 6 at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 features a forum between the candidates running for Wisconsin’s 35th State Assembly seat, incumbent Republican Mary Czaja, and Democratic challenger Renea Frederick, a business owner and former Merrill School Board member. WPR’s Glen Moberg along with WXPR Public Radio’s Ken Krall, will talk with candidates regarding the issues that matter to Wisconsin and to voters of the 35th district. Topics will focus on the North Central Wisconsin region and the upcoming legislative session. The candidates will have the opportunity to convey to voters why they wish to represent the 35th district and their qualifications for the job.

This Thursday, September 29 at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 features a forum between the candidates running for Wisconsin’s 24th Senate seat, incumbent Democrat Julie Lassa, and Republican Patrick Testin, a Stevens Point sales representative and Chairman for the Republican Party of Portage County. Rick Reyer will talk with each candidate regarding the issues that matter to Wisconsin and to voters of the 24th district. Topics will focus on the Central Wisconsin region and the upcoming legislative session. The candidates will have the opportunity to convey to voters why they wish to represent the 24th district and their qualifications for the job.

This Thursday, September 22 at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 features a forum between the candidates hoping to earn Wisconsin’s 72nd Assembly seat, incumbent Republican Scott Krug, and Democrat David Gorski, former educator in the Nekoosa School District. Rick Reyer will moderate a live hour long discussion between candidates regarding the issues that matter to Wisconsin and to voters of the 72nd district. Listeners will be given a chance to call in and address their questions regarding the region and upcoming legislative session. The candidates will have the opportunity to convey to voters why they wish to represent the 72nd state assembly district and their qualifications for the job.

This Thursday, September 15 at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio’s Route 51 features an encore broadcast, originally aired May 8, 2014 that includes a special, hour long conversation with Adrian Knopps, a Michigan man with ties to central Wisconsin, who survived a harrowing week in the Alaskan wilderness without adequate food, clothing or shelter. The 51-year-old bear hunter was stranded on an island in the Misty Fjords National Monument after a boating accident took the life of his friend and partner Garrett Hagen. We talk to Knopps about the techniques he used to survive and the role his faith played in keeping him alive. Knopps’ story has received national attention since his rescue.

This Thursday, September 8 at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 features a discussion with Karen Bondarchuk, Master Wildlife Artist for the 2016 exhibition of Birds in Art at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wausau, Kathy Kelsey Foley, Director of the museum, and Marge Gibson, Executive Director of the Raptor Education Group rehab center in Antigo. Rick Reyer will ask Bondarchuk about the inspirations behind her featured pieces, as well as discuss with Foley and Gibson the connection between art and wildlife and the intelligence of avian creatures. Birds in Art opens this weekend, September 10, and continues until November 27, 2016.

This Thursday, August 25th at 10am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 features an encore broadcast, originally aired January 28th, with USA Today Network-Wisconsin Reporter Keith Uhlig to discuss Finding Private Clark , an ongoing research project that has produced a series of beautifully written, compelling stories that have appeared on-line, and in the Wausau Daily Herald. Host Glen Moberg asks Uhlig about the mystery surrounding Pfc. Wayne Clark, a Marathon County man who was killed by a sniper's bullet in Germany during the last month of World War II, leaving behind a wife and four children, to be laid to rest at Netherlands American Cemetery in Margraten.

This Thursday, August 18th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 features a discussion with Mary Hoeft, Democratic Party Candidate for Congress in North Central Wisconsin’s Seventh Congressional District. Hoeft, a UW Barron County communications arts professor, defeated Marathon County Board supervisor Joel Lewis in the recent primary election. She faces incumbent Republican Congressman Sean Duffy and Libertarian Party candidate Robert Burke in the November 8th election. Host Glen Moberg will ask Hoeft about her positions on the issues that are important to North Central Wisconsin voters, and her campaign strategy for unseating a three-term incumbent congressman.

This Thursday, August 11th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 looks at the state of our roads, highways and bridges in North Central Wisconsin, and how the cost of maintaining them will impact taxes and the state budget. Discussion will feature guests Craig Thompson, Executive Director of the Transportation Development Association of Wisconsin; 69th District Republican Assemblyman Bob Kulp of Stratford; and Marathon County Highway Commissioner James Griesbach. The Transportation Development Association is spearheading a drive called “Just Fix It Wisconsin,” to improve and maintain state and local roads and bus systems.

On Thursday, August 4th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 features North Central Wisconsin delegates to both the Democratic Party and Republican Party national political conventions. Discussion will be between guests Christine Bremer-Muggli of Wausau, a superdelegate at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia; and Jim Miller of Hayward, Chair of the Seventh District Republican Party of Wisconsin, and a delegate at the Republican Party Convention in Cleveland. The program will also feature analysis of the candidates and issues in the upcoming November elections.

This Thursday, July 28th at 10 am, Wisconsin Public Radio's Route 51 looks at how digital technology and the internet are changing the music industry, and the way radio stations and record stores are adapting. This week's guests include Pete Rondello, General Manager of WXPR-FM Rhinelander, an independent public radio station that gives its announcers wide latitude in choosing the music they play; John Altenburgh, a central Wisconsin musician whose jazz and blues recordings have achieved national acclaim; and Billy Siegel, owner of Revival Records of Eau Claire, which specializes in vintage vinyl recordings.The program will also feature an interview with Randy Wagner, owner of Radio KAOS, a music store in Stevens Point that sells both new CDs and vinyl. The program wraps up Route 51’s July feature, the Month of Music.