The Morning Call Podcast

By The Morning Call Podcast

What's The Morning Call Podcast about?

The Morning Call podcast dissects the top news stories from the Lehigh Valley and beyond, talking to reporters and sources about what went on behind the scenes and between the lines as stories unfolded. Further, we delve into the impact of these stories on our community.

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The Morning Call Podcast episodes:

12.18.2020
Allentown voice actress records COVID-19 PSA for Health Bureau (2)
Voice actress Lara Jill Miller recorded this COVID-19 safety PSA for the Allentown Health Bureau.
12.18.2020
Allentown voice actress records COVID-19 PSA for Health Bureau (1)
Voice actress Lara Jill Miller recorded this COVID-19 safety PSA for the Allentown Health Bureau.
12.18.2019
Has a billion dollars of development changed the way people view Allentown?
Downtown Allentown looks a world different than it did less than a decade ago. When former City Hall reporter Emily Opilo started at The Morning Call 7 years ago, the PPL arena was a giant hole in the ground. Has the more...
12.04.2019
One year later: Where are we at in the opioid crisis?
The opioid crisis seemed to take center stage in 2018. Officials held press conference after press conference, declared disaster declaration after declaration, handed out Narcan; the media produced special packages and profiles on the epidemic. What has happened since then? Turns out,...
10.29.2019
Behind the scenes: The making of Dorney Park's Halloween Haunt
More than 300 actors, 22 makeup artists, seven haunted weekends. We went behind the scenes and into the "Crypt" where Dorney Park's Halloween Haunt gets made - scab blood, silicone prosthetics and all. The Haunt's final weekend runs Nov. 1-2. The Morning Call...
10.15.2019
The Allentown diocese, the victim's compensation fund and $323 million of real estate
Almost a year ago, the Allentown diocese, along with five other catholic dioceses in the state, announced they would set up compensation funds for the victims of sexual abuse by priests in the wake of the scathing Pennsylvania grand jury...
09.26.2019
Allentown car explosion, one year later: What we've learned
The scene was catastrophic. The circumstances were tragic. But most of all, they were puzzling. Why would a 26-year-old man decide to detonate a car bomb to kill himself, a male passenger and his 2-year-old child? One year after the car explosion...
08.30.2019
What's the deal with grape stomping?
Morning Call Podcast host Kayla Dwyer has been invited back to the Great Allentown Fair Grape Stomp being held Sunday, Sept. 1, at 3:15 p.m. on Centennial Stage in Ag Hall. For this occasion, we're replaying an old favorite. You might think...
08.12.2019
In response to mass shootings and threats, Musikfest beefs up and politicians gridlock
When mass shootings occur, most eyes turn to Capitol Hill, where the same dead-end discussions about gun policy churn, at times with a slightly different spin. Meanwhile, in Bethlehem, close to a million people flocked, as they have for 36 years...
08.05.2019
What the mothers have to say about Allentown's violence spree
Jeani Garcia can tell you where and when all 49 names on her t-shirt died due to violence in Allentown. As violence has gripped the streets in this particularly bloody summer, we turned to the mothers to see how they're helping...
07.29.2019
'I choose life': Verizon store worker Michael Davis' life and murder
Michael Davis' murder had nothing to do with who Michael was, but where he worked: a Verizon store in Forks Township. We covered the case and the trial that sent his killers to prison for life. In this episode, we learn who...
07.22.2019
What will happen to the man who climbed the SteelStacks blast furnaces?
Jonathan Wallace was up atop the blast furnaces of the former Bethlehem Steel plant for more than 21 hours, risking his own life and that of the first responders who ascended the hazardous hunks of metal to try to get...
07.01.2019
Retired FBI agent on the case against Allentown's mayor Ed Pawlowski
Four years ago this week, FBI agents swarmed Allentown City Hall for documents related to a then-unknown investigation into the city’s mayor, Ed Pawlowski. Today, Pawlowski is serving a 15-year prison sentence for federal corruption crimes. The lead investigator on the...
06.24.2019
She loved being pregnant. So she gave away her uterus.
Donating a kidney is a life-preserving procedure. Donating a uterus is a whole different story. On this week's episode, health reporter Binghui Huang explains why one local woman decided she wanted to go through this procedure to give another woman the...
06.06.2019
75 years later, the human moments of D-Day
One of the Lehigh Valley's last known D-Day veterans arrived at Omaha Beach 75 years ago to find it covered with rows of bodies. Despite the carnage, he remembers most distinctly the human moments that occurred before and after, even with...
05.28.2019
Axes and alcohol? How axe throwing gained steam
Is it just another fad, or America’s next favorite drinking game? For a game involving very sharp objects, axe throwing has a remarkable safety record. Even when paired with alcohol. Lately you’ve been seeing them pop up around the country. Where did...
05.20.2019
Why high school varsity still wins: A talk with Keith Groller
"I root for games to end quickly enough so I can make deadline, and I root for a good story. I don’t care who wins." Banquets and halls of fame inductions are usually reserved for athletes and coaches. In April, about...
05.13.2019
From riches to rubble: Back in time and inside Martin Tower
Picture the Manhattan treatment -- doormen, lobbies of marble, elevator operators -- and take out the bustling surrounding metro. Martin Tower, the former headquarters of Bethlehem Steel, was a scene plucked from an urban downtown and plopped into the flat suburbia...
04.22.2019
An update: The reinstatement of Tamaqua's controversial armed teacher policy
A policy that would allow teachers to volunteer to carry guns at Tamaqua Area School District was approved quietly by the school board, then garnered a loud community reaction. There were two lawsuits, and the school board suspended the policy...
04.15.2019
Stirring the pot in Pennsylvania (replay)
Pennsylvania Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman has been stopping in every county to field public feedback on the possibility of legalizing recreational marijuana in the state. His "listening tour" is expected to wrap up in May. But while recreational marijuana remains criminal...
04.09.2019
How did robocalls get this bad?
Robocalls today are a fact of life. Americans now receive an average of about 5 billion of them a month, according to YouMail, a robocall blocking service. From just 2017 to 2018 alone, we saw a nearly 60 percent jump...
04.01.2019
A homicide, buried in paperwork, sees the light 13 years later
Angry over a dog dispute, a woman shot her 20-year-old neighbor in the torso. The 20-year-old grew up to marry and have a family, and the neighbor went to prison. Then she died at 33 years old, and the coroner...
03.25.2019
Are 'Hyperloops' the future of commuting?
Picture an elevated track of one long tube connecting Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, a sleek capsule occasionally zooming through at speeds up to 700 miles an hour. It's no longer just Elon Musk picturing it. It's other private companies, it's governments around...
03.17.2019
40 years later, what more could we learn about the murder of Holly Branagan?
Holly Branagan was 17 years old, ready to graduate from Freedom High School in a couple months. The case is 40 years old. The evidence virtually unsalvageable. Her family entirely gone. But the mystery of it is nagging. What, after all this...
03.11.2019
Need a kidney? Try Facebook.
Imagine being asked by a stranger to donate your kidney. Imagine that ask amplified to an audience of thousands or more. This week on The Morning Call Podcast, a look at what social media can do for people in need...
03.05.2019
Behind the scenes: The making of Fastnacht Day
When it comes to fastnachts, you either clamor over or have never heard of them. In Pennsylvania, the likelihood of having the former reaction is significantly higher. That’s because the Pennsylvania Dutch long ago coined Fastnacht Day -- very similar in...
02.25.2019
An abrupt closure, but a long build-up: The Bieber Bus saga
A major bus company suddenly stops operating buses, with no warning whatsoever. Except for the years and years of financial trouble. This week on The Morning Call Podcast, the downfall of Bieber Transportation Group, the charter bus company with a 72-year-old history...
02.19.2019
Reporters remember Concept Sciences, the explosion that rocked the Lehigh Valley
Former Morning Call reporters and editors remember the night a chemical explosion at a fledgling company called Concept Sciences rattled the Lehigh Valley 20 years ago. An inside look into the newsroom at the time, and the following years of...
02.11.2019
Parkland, one year later: What's changed?
One year ago, on Valentine's Day, a former student walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, and killed 17 people. It set off a wave of anger and activism among young people not even old enough to...
02.01.2019
Inside Look: Sick and Struggling in Coal Country
Where you live has a big bearing on how your life turns out, in big and small ways. It determines where you go to school, who you meet, how you talk. And it's a large factor in your access to healthcare. Morning...
01.28.2019
He was tormented by wars - abroad and at home
Michael Wargo's battle was long and extremely well hidden. He spent 10 months in Afghanistan, then eight years battling PTSD, then four and a half hours explaining his life-altering decision in a video his parents received when it was too late...
01.22.2019
Former Allentown State Hospital employees share their memories
"You just grew to love those patients. You had to or you wouldn’t have been able to work there." Interest in preserving the former Allentown State Hospital has resurged in light of impending demolition plans. But even if the buildings themselves don't...
01.14.2019
Do guns belong in schools? Inside Pennsylvania's first testing ground
This week, the Tamaqua Area School District board may vote to suspend a controversial gun policy as not one, but two court battles wage on. What does that mean for the long run for Policy 705? In this episode, reporter Sarah Wojcik...
12.31.2018
The sounds of 2018, and a major trial coming up
We always get to the end of the year and think, what a crazy year. Odds are the year before was just as wild and the year to come is also full of surprises. You can find all of our year-in-review...
12.24.2018
Magic and mishaps: The making of a St. Nicholas
How and why does one decide to put on the red suit and become Santa Claus? This week on the Morning Call podcast, two jolly men describe their origin stories, some comical mishaps and some magic, too. Because 'tis the...
12.17.2018
Funny Girl, Part 5: The coroner makes a ruling
Since we published our four-part crime series, Funny Girl, on the mysterious death of Jamie Lee Metzger, Northampton County Coroner Zachary Lysek has made a ruling in her case. So we bring you a bonus episode: The ruling. Read and listen to...
12.10.2018
End of an era: A final conversation with Bill White
It’s no exaggeration to say it’s difficult to picture The Morning Call without columnist Bill White. He parodied politicians and held them to task; he showcased the most brilliant holiday light displays and ate his way through Musikfest; he sought out...
11.26.2018
Thanksgiving, almost, in the 18th century (podcast replay)
Did the Moravians -- radical Protestants who game to Bethlehem from Germany in 1741 -- share Thanksgiving with local Native Americans? Perhaps not in the way we'd think of it today. No pilgrim hats, no turkeys. In a special Thanksgiving episode, host...
11.19.2018
Funny Girl, Part 4: What took so long?
Three and a half years to find her. Then another 11 months and counting to determine what happened to her. How can her case go on so long? The Morning Call presents part four of Funny Girl: The Mysterious Death of...
11.18.2018
Funny Girl, Part 3: Who is Carl Maes?
He was a guy who always had a joke. Or he was a manipulator. The truth would get buried with him. The Morning Call presents part three of Funny Girl: The Mysterious Death of Jamie Lee Metzger. A podcast serial in four...
11.16.2018
Funny Girl, Part 2: Why did Jamie's life unravel?
She wanted to be thin. She wanted to meet The One. She didn't want anyone to get hurt. The Morning Call presents part two of Funny Girl: The Mysterious Death of Jamie Lee Metzger. A podcast serial in four parts. Go to themorningcall.com/funnygirl...
11.16.2018
Introducing 'Funny Girl': A true crime podcast serial by The Morning Call
Her body was discovered almost a year ago sealed in a bin in someone's basement. She had disappeared more than three years before that. The Morning Call presents Funny Girl: The Mysterious Death of Jamie Lee Metzger. A podcast serial in...
11.16.2018
Funny Girl, Part 1: Jamie Lee Metzger and the bin in the basement
A man went downstairs to clean out his father's basement in Williams Township, Pennsylvania -- about 20 miles east of Allentown. His gruesome discovery is what a woman's family has been waiting for for three and a half years. The Morning Call...
11.12.2018
Valley View: A mistaken murder, relived in court three times
Her son's killer knocked on the wrong door. Now she must relive the memory a third time in court. A Northampton County judge has ordered Paul Serrano III to be resentenced Friday, Nov. 16 for a 2006 shooting in which he...
11.05.2018
Valley View (replay): Gruesome crimes through the eyes of court reporters and detectives
Enjoy one of our favorite episodes from last year as we spend time preparing the release of a new, bigger project. This episode was originally published Dec. 15, 2017. Discussions with two Morning Call court reporters, as well as the director of...
10.29.2018
Valley View: When heroin and fentanyl masquerade as opioids
Whatever the reasons are, many people resort to buying narcotics on the street to treat their pain or feed an addiction. But officials are now warning the public in the Lehigh Valley that those drugs could be laced with deadly doses...
10.22.2018
Valley View: Pressure mounts ahead of the midterms (Episode 55)
It’s no secret that Pennsylvania is chock-full of competitive races. But the state has also gone through a contentious redistricting battle that may have significant impacts in the voting booth. In this week’s podcast, we examine Pennsylvania’s key races: why they’ve...
10.15.2018
Valley View: 65 beagles and counting -- The hidden dangers of hoarding (Episode 54)
Someone reported there were 25 dogs being neglected in a home. When authorities got to the small farm in Upper Saucon Township, they found 65 beagles. Here's where they came from and where they are headed. Guests include Jones; Mary Shafer, executive...
10.08.2018
Valley View: The story behind the Allentown car explosion (Episode 53)
(WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT) Some questions have been answered about the car explosion that ignited fear in a usually quiet Allentown street on Saturday, Sept. 29. Jacob Schmoyer, 26, confessed in letters to family and Allentown police that it was an act of...
10.01.2018
Valley View: A year after Hurricane Maria, part two (Episode 52)
Last week, we spoke to those who came here to the Lehigh Valley after Hurricane Maria. This week, we look at what they left behind in Puerto Rico. Two journalists join us to discuss what they have documented on the island...

What's The Morning Call Podcast about?

Download our free app to listen on your phone

The Morning Call Podcast episodes:

Allentown voice actress records COVID-19 PSA for Health Bureau (2)

Allentown voice actress records COVID-19 PSA for Health Bureau (1)

Has a billion dollars of development changed the way people view Allentown?

One year later: Where are we at in the opioid crisis?

Behind the scenes: The making of Dorney Park's Halloween Haunt

The Allentown diocese, the victim's compensation fund and $323 million of real estate

Allentown car explosion, one year later: What we've learned

What's the deal with grape stomping?

In response to mass shootings and threats, Musikfest beefs up and politicians gridlock

What the mothers have to say about Allentown's violence spree

'I choose life': Verizon store worker Michael Davis' life and murder

What will happen to the man who climbed the SteelStacks blast furnaces?

Retired FBI agent on the case against Allentown's mayor Ed Pawlowski

She loved being pregnant. So she gave away her uterus.

75 years later, the human moments of D-Day

Axes and alcohol? How axe throwing gained steam

Why high school varsity still wins: A talk with Keith Groller

From riches to rubble: Back in time and inside Martin Tower

An update: The reinstatement of Tamaqua's controversial armed teacher policy

Stirring the pot in Pennsylvania (replay)

How did robocalls get this bad?

A homicide, buried in paperwork, sees the light 13 years later

Are 'Hyperloops' the future of commuting?

40 years later, what more could we learn about the murder of Holly Branagan?

Need a kidney? Try Facebook.

Behind the scenes: The making of Fastnacht Day

An abrupt closure, but a long build-up: The Bieber Bus saga

Reporters remember Concept Sciences, the explosion that rocked the Lehigh Valley

Parkland, one year later: What's changed?

Inside Look: Sick and Struggling in Coal Country

He was tormented by wars - abroad and at home

Former Allentown State Hospital employees share their memories

Do guns belong in schools? Inside Pennsylvania's first testing ground

The sounds of 2018, and a major trial coming up

Magic and mishaps: The making of a St. Nicholas

Funny Girl, Part 5: The coroner makes a ruling

End of an era: A final conversation with Bill White

Thanksgiving, almost, in the 18th century (podcast replay)

Funny Girl, Part 4: What took so long?

Funny Girl, Part 3: Who is Carl Maes?

Funny Girl, Part 2: Why did Jamie's life unravel?

Introducing 'Funny Girl': A true crime podcast serial by The Morning Call

Funny Girl, Part 1: Jamie Lee Metzger and the bin in the basement

Valley View: A mistaken murder, relived in court three times

Valley View (replay): Gruesome crimes through the eyes of court reporters and detectives

Valley View: When heroin and fentanyl masquerade as opioids

Valley View: Pressure mounts ahead of the midterms (Episode 55)

Valley View: 65 beagles and counting -- The hidden dangers of hoarding (Episode 54)

Valley View: The story behind the Allentown car explosion (Episode 53)

Valley View: A year after Hurricane Maria, part two (Episode 52)