Radio Free Flint Podcast
We present audio and video podcasts about life and culture in middle America. Our essays and life histories share the story of people in America's rust belt.This podcast is born of blue-collar, working-class values. Our podcast has its roots in the greater Flint area. We dedicate this podcast to the beleaguered town of Flint, Michigan, and communities like it across America.Our podcasts subjects include true crime, law, history, sports, arts & literature, and the Flint water crisis, and more. Our interviews focus on society and culture in middle America.
Episodes
115 episodes
The Golden Age: Flint Community Schools
Good school districts are more than a function of how much money they collect from taxpayers. Schools must connect with the community where they are located in ways that go beyond math, science and reading. Flint, Michigan a...
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Season 4
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Episode 2
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36:15
Electronic Drone Musician Hauras: A Song for Flint, Michigan
Our guest is musician Howard Ryan, a native of Wisconsin who now lives in San Francisco, California. Ryan, also known as Hauras composed a song, "Flint, Michigan," intending to make a social statement about the problems of the beleaguered rust ...
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Season 4
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Episode 1
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18:10
Conservation and Sustainable Food Growing in Michigan
Our podcast guest is Daniel Moilanen, a Fenton area native now living in Flint. Dan is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan Association of Conservation Districts (MACD). His leadersh...
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Season 3
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Episode 37
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28:17
Potholes, Roads and the Future of a Michigan Rustbelt Town
We discuss how the roads got so bad and how to fix the problem with road and infrastructure expert Dr. John Daly. Michigan has a significant problem with its roads and bridges. The state has one of the highest numbers of structur...
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Season 3
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Episode 34
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36:41
Midnight in the Vehicle City: The Strike Heard Around the World
Midnight in Vehicle City by author Edward McClelland is a book that tells the story of Flint, Michigan, during the Great Recession and the struggles of its residents as they try to survive in a city that has been hit hard by the economic downtu...
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Season 3
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Episode 35
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33:33
Fly Away Home Snowbird
Millions of American "Snowbirds" seasonally migrate from the Rust Belt to the Sunbelt. They seek more comfortable, warmer climates during the cold winters "up north." Many of the Snowbirds also come from Canada.What is a "Snowbird," and...
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Season 3
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Episode 34
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13:27
George Winters and his Red Piano
Musician George Winters has performed for audiences for over 50 years across America. The Michigan native is well-known in music venues in southeastern Michigan for his fabulous keyboard skills, especially on a Hammond organ. George...
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Season 3
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Episode 33
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34:13
In Flint They Don't Name the Streets for Us
This is a conversation with Sarah Carson about her book of poems, How to Baptize a Child, in Flint, MI. Carson's poems are a jarring portrayal of life in a declining, once mighty, and still proud American rustbelt town, Flint, Michigan.&...
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Season 3
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Episode 32
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25:58
Emily Doerr: What Can Be Done To Fix Flint's Schools?
Emily Doerr is a candidate for the Flint Community Schools Board of Education. The election will be on November 8, 2022. She joined a slate of four other individuals running to serve the Flint Community Schools. These candidates agree on core p...
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Season 3
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Episode 31
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23:36
Comedian Bryan McCree a Joyful Flintstone
Is it possible to make Flint laugh? If anyone can, it's Flint native Bryan McCree, a nationally known comedian, actor, and writer. He regularly tours America with shows marked by their insight into American culture and the oddities of life in o...
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Season 3
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Episode 30
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30:52
The Poet Daughter of Angelo's Coney Island
Carl Paul came to America through Ellis Island in New York from a country few in Flint, Michigan, know much about. North Macedonia, officially the Republic of North Macedonia, is a country in Southeast Europe. In 1991, the tiny country became...
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Season 3
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Episode 29
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36:27
Prep School Transfers Impact Flint Prep Hoops and Culture
Flint, Michigan, has long been touted as a hotbed for high school basketball. Indeed, Flint has produced some of the top basketball talents in the nation. Many Flint athletes are playing in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and at major...
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Season 3
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Episode 28
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34:41
Former Public Safety Chief of Bishop Airport Recalls Flint Terror Attack
Former Bishop Airport Public Safety Director Chris Miller discusses a 2017 terrorist attack at the Flint, Michigan, airport. He also talks about the changes the 9/11 terrorist attacks on America had on current operations at Bishop Interna...
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Season 3
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Episode 27
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38:59
Keeping Old Documents,Photos and Donating Your Treasures
In our highly mobile society, figuring out what to do with our old papers, photographs, and keepsakes is challenging. We accumulate boxes of possessions over a lifetime, and when moving, retiring, or upon the death of a parent it sits in your h...
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Season 3
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Episode 26
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25:10
A Conversation with Genesee Historical Center Archivist Colleen Marquise
Colleen Marquise, Associate Archivist at the University of Michigan-Flint, Francis Willson-Thompson Library, takes podcast listeners on a virtual tour of the Genesee County (MI) Historical Center archive collection. This historical collection...
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Season 3
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Episode 25
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26:35
Michigan Serial Killer Unmasked: John Norman Collins
John Norman Collins was an all-American boy. He was handsome, lived in Ann Arbor, and belonged to a fraternity. But there was a dark side to this young man. The media and others dubbed John Norman Collins "The Michigan Murderer." In...
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Season 3
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Episode 23
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23:52
The Interesting Journey of a Flint Civil War Battlefield Flag
Flag Day Special. The Flint soldiers had much success as union soldiers in the American Civil War.There were 90,000 Michigan soldiers deployed in the American civil war.The Flint 10th Infantry deployed along with their battle flag...
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Season 1
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Episode 50
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40:57
Ben Pauli: Democracy and the Flint Water Crisis
Ben Pauli, a Kettering University Political Science Professor, is a water rights activist. Pauli embedded himself with a group of Flint residents during the Flint Water Crisis. This is the group that brought the tainted Flint drinking water pro...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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35:54
"Mr Flint" Charles Stewart Mott an American Capitalist Pt II
The Life of Mr. Flint, Charles Stewart Mott. Charles Stewart Mott (1875-1973) was an American businessman and philanthropist born in Flint...
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Season 3
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Episode 10
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38:37
Troubadour of Crossroads Village Michigan: Neil Woodward
Troubadour Neil Woodward is an instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, and folk historian who helps preserve Michigan musical traditions. He is often heard at historic Crossroads Village, Michigan, near Flint in the summer months. Nei...
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Season 1
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Episode 54
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30:52
Semaj Brown, Flint Poet Laureate, Author and Educator
Flint Poet Laureate Semaj Brown gives a fascinating reading of her environmental injustice poems. Poet Semaj Brown shares stories of working with the child victims of the Flint Water Crisis. Brown is on a mission to help heal the trauma victims...
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Season 3
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Episode 18
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25:27
Marquise Gray: MSU Basketball Great & Flint Beecher Coach
Marquise Gray, the former Michigan State Spartan, is now the head basketball coach at Flint Beecher High School. Marquise Gray has excelled at every level of his sport, including coaching and professional basketball. Gray played at...
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Season 3
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Episode 17
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21:41
Dave Liske: History of the Flint Style Coney Island Restaurant
Dave Liske discusses his new book "The Flint Coney: A Savory History." Learn about the history of the Flint food culture and love affair with the Flint-style Coney Island hot dog.In a lively interview with author Dave Liske who sh...
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Season 3
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26:08
Michael J Thorp: Michigan Trivia & People We Should Know
Michael J. Thorp Has Stories to Tell about His Life in Mid-Michigan Television and Radio. Michael Shares Curious Tales from His Latest BookFormer WJRT TV-12 morning anchor Michael J. Thorp has been a familiar voice to the pe...
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Season 3
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Episode 15
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46:36
Jan Worth-Nelson: History of the Iconic East Village Magazine
Jan Worth-Nelson, former editor of the East Village Magazine, shares stories about the colorful history of the iconic Flint publication The East Village Magazine started about the same time as Michael Moore's Flint Voice back in the 1970s. ...
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Season 3
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Episode 13
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39:08
