Video Essays & Interview Podcasts

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 our country. He is particularly astute at using humor to make us laugh at ourselves.  In this interview, Byran shares hilarious clips of his shows featuring humor about Flint, making the audience laugh at itself and its stereotypes about race and being poor. Byran has regularly appeared on Comedy Central, Mad TV, NBC, and Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen. He is the nephew of the late Floyd J. McCree, former Mayor of Flint. Mayor McCree was a  Michigan Civil Rights icon. Bryan's father was a jazz virtuoso, and his Great Aunt was a Broadway legend.    The Jherri curled comic has shared the stage with comedians such as Sinbad, George Wallace, and Robert Shimme…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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  International Airport. The retired Public Safety Director at Flint Bishop Airport, Chris Miller, was a hero in 2017 when he and an airport maintenance worker subdued a terrorist who stabbed a fellow police officer.  Miller's quick actions helped save the life of a fellow officer during a terrorist attack inside the Bishop International Airport Terminal. The attacker, a Tunisian national, was found guilty in 2018 on single counts of committing an act of violence at an international airport, interference with airport security, and an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries. He is serving a life sentence for the crimes. Chief Miller led the security detail at th…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 house begging for a home.  Your junk can be true treasures that preserve the history of your community or your family.    What do you do with all those boxes and files that you will "someday" get around to sorting out? What is valuable, what is worth saving, and what is worth donating to a local historical society, library, or museum?  Lastly, what are the best ways to preserve the photos of four generations of family members? Should you frame them or keep them in your basement or garage?  Colleen Marquise is an Archivist at the University of Michigan-Flint Willson-Thompson Library and supervises the Genesee Historical Collection Center. She answers these …

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 has a fascinating collection of oral histories, documents, papers, etc.  The Center has three primary collections: Flint Labor History, Civil Rights, and Community Organizations such as the UAW Local 599. The local archives also contain the most definitive collection of materials on Flint area community development. The construction of I-475 through the heart of Flint was part of the disastrous urban renewal program that wiped out Flint's Floral Park and St. John Street neighborhoods. Memories of those African-American neighborhoods are found in a collection of recorded oral histories about the people, families, and culture.  The Center also has a remarkable …

He looked like the all-American college student — handsome, athletic, and part of a fraternity in Ann Arbor. But John Norman Collins was hiding a terrifying secret. In the late 1960s, he stalked and murdered young women near the University of Michigan and Eastern Michigan University. Dubbed The Michigan Murderer, Collins was convicted of killing Karen Sue Beineman and sentenced to life in prison. True-crime author Gregory Fournier joins Radio Free Flint to discuss his book Terror in Ypsilanti and the unanswered questions surrounding one of Michigan’s most chilling serial killers. -----------  #RadioFreeFlint #JohnNormanCollins #MichiganMurderer #TerrorInYpsilanti #GregoryFournier #TrueCrimePodcast #MichiganHistory #AnnArbor #Ypsilanti #SerialKillerStories #FlintMichigan #ArthurBusch -------- Subscribe to the Radio Free Flint Podcast (https://www.radiofreeflint.media) mailing list free of charge. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 to the civil war battlefields of Tennessee, Mississippi, Georgia, and North Carolina. The union battle flags they carried were made and gifted to the 10th Michigan Infantry Regiment by women of Flint, Michigan. The union flags were presented to the men who went off to fight in the American civil war. The 10th Michigan Infantry battle flags played a vital role on the civil war battlefields where they fought. After the American civil war ended, the battle flags were returned to Michigan and given to the Governor of Michigan. However, not all battle flags made it back home. Save The Flags is a State of Michigan project to preserve, research and display the 240 civil…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 problem to the public's attention. The group also was successful in advocating that government fix the cause of the toxic water problem.  Professor Pauli discusses the historical activism that helped Flint survive economically and environmentally for almost 100 years. He concludes that Flint has been fighting David vs. Goliath-type battles for generations which helps it survive. Pauli argues that generational activism is an asset to the city's efforts to overcome the economic crisis for the past 40 years. One lasting change resulted in recognizing drinking water as a right in the Flint City Charter.  Pauli's ethnographical research is done in an academi…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) The Life of Mr. Flint, Charles Stewart Mott (https://www.amazon.com/Life-Charles-Stewart-Mott-Philanthropist/dp/0472131729) . Charles Stewart Mott (1875-1973) was an American businessman and philanthropist born in Flint, Michigan. He is best known for his involvement in the automobile industry and his philanthropic work. Mott began his career as a clerk in his family's business, which manufactured carriage and automobile parts. He eventually took over the company and expanded it into a major parts supplier to the automotive industry. Mott was also involved in developing the Chevrolet Motor Company, founded by his friend and business partner, William C. Durant. In addition to his business pursuits, Mott was a philanthropist and supported several charitable causes. He was particularly interested in education and helped establish several schools and universities, including Flint College (now known as…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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.   Neil holds the title -- State Troubadour. In 2003, the Michigan Legislature officially named Neil Woodward Michigan’s Troubadour in recognition of his lifelong commitment to preserving Great Lakes folk music and culture. Besides Woodward's performances at Genesee County's historic Crossroads Village and Huckleberry Railroad (https://geneseecountyparks.org/crossroads-village/) , he spends some of his summer days as a musical performer while strolling around Greenfield Village, Dearborn, Michigan. During this episode, Neil Woodward performs and discusses four of his songs; "Engine 464", the "Swampin' of the Genesee Belle," "... say No?!" and "Peach Tree Creek". These song…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 in Flint, Michigan.   Semaj Brown is an amazingly accomplished woman who is a poet, author, playwright, and educator; she was named the first poet laureate of Flint, Michigan, in 2019. In 2021, she received an Academy of American Poets Laureate Fellowship.  During her time as Flint's first poet laureate, she has taught children to write poetry at Flint's Freeman School, helping adults who privately write poetry as a form of healing and spreading the good word about the value of the literary arts across the Flint area.  In this podcast episode, she reads two of her amazing poems. Her poems focus on Flint and social justice issues. They address issues of loss …

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 Michigan State from 2005-to 09. Marquise Gray has blazed a remarkable trail in basketball. He is currently the acting Athletic Director, head basketball coach, and a teacher for the Beecher Community Schools.  Gray's Flintstone values of grit, hard work, and excellence set him apart. Marquise Gray learned his values from his dad, great coaches, and the parents in his childhood neighborhood in Beecher. Marquise Gray represents that part of Flint's athletic legacy that makes the area unique.  In returning to Beecher High School, Marquise wanted to pay back his community for all it had given him.    Marquise grew up in the Flint area, learning the game from college and pro…

Send us a text (https://www.buzzsprout.com/twilio/text_messages/2027801/open_sms) 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 shares recipes, secrets, and myths about Flint and Detroit's legendary coney island hot dogs. The history of Flint's food culture has taken a backseat to Flint's manufacturing of automobiles. But the origins and rapid expansion of the number of Macedonian Coney shops in Flint paralleled the explosive growth of the city's automotive industry throughout the twentieth century. The story of the Flint coney island traces back to immigrants escaping the war-torn Balkans in the early 1900s. Many combined an idea for one dish with the skills of butchering and meatpacking experts from Wisconsin and Germany. The simple Flint Coney became an institution among the city's autoworkers…