Society And Culture: Radio Free Flint Our Podcasts
Radio Free Flint is a Flint‑rooted society‑and‑culture podcast about justice, memory, and community in middle America. Through interviews, essays, and true‑crime‑inflected legal stories, former prosecutor Arthur Busch documents how working‑class neighborhoods confront deindustrialization, political power, and the legacy of the Flint water crisis.
Feb. 15, 2026
John Prine’s America, Hymns for the Working Class
This episode traces John Prine’s journey from Maywood, Illinois, to Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, and north along I-75 into Michigan’s factory towns. Through songs like “Paradise,” “Sam Stone,” and “Hello in There,” we examine how Prine documented working-class migration, labor history, war’s afterm…
Feb. 12, 2026
A Flint Medic, a Plane Full of Babies, and the Crash That Shook Saigon
In this re-edited Radio Free Flint interview, Flint Southwestern graduate Sgt. Phillip Wise recounts surviving the 1975 Operation Babylift crash—one of the most devastating aviation disasters of the Vietnam War.Fifteen minutes after takeoff from Saigon, the rear cargo doors of a C-5A Galaxy fai…
Feb. 9, 2026
A Flint Athlete’s Journey From High School Stardom To Optometry
Jeff Natchez went from Flint sandlots to a Detroit Tigers draft pick, riding rookie-ball buses under a young Jim Leyland and sharing fields with future MLB stars. In this remastered conversation, he reflects on the hard fork between college and pro ball, the lessons of the minors, and his reinventi…
Feb. 6, 2026
Joe Ryan III: From Flint to Hollywood — The Sound of a New Generation
In this Radio Free Michigan interview, Arthur Busch revisits Joe’s early days in Flint and his viral song Flint, Michigan recorded with his 90-year-old grandmother to trace his path from local talent to Hollywood composer. Ryan reflects on evolving recording tech, creative independence, and what it…