Welcome to The Mitten Channel
The Mitten Channel

Video Interview Podcasts & Essays

June 22, 2022

The First Internet Murder: A Love Triangle and a Computer

This century, the Sharee Miller case is one of Michigan's most notable true crime murder cases. This case is believed to be one of the first internet murder trials in America. The love triangle that Ms. Miller fostered with a police officer resulted in the death of her husband, Bruce…

View more
June 20, 2022

John Norman Collins a Michigan Serial Killer Unmasked

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 the late 1960s, Collins stalked college-age women like prey.…

View more
April 27, 2022

The Flint Water Crisis: Songwriter Colton Ort and the Flint River Blues

The Flint River Blues is one of many songs written about the Flint Water Crisis. Colton Ort, a singer songwriter documents for history the led tainted contaminated water of Flint, Michigan. His lyrics pointedly describe the response by government officials to the complaints of the citizen, many of whom had…

View more
April 17, 2022

Connor Coyne novel "Urbantasm" Set in Deindustrialized Flint

In this interview, Connor Connor discusses his newest novel, the 4th in the series "Urbantasm." Connor Coyne is a writer living and working in rust belt Flint, Michigan, a town devastated by de-industrialization. Connor spent his teenage years in Flushing, Michigan. Connor represented Flint's 7th Ward as its artist-in-residence for…

View more
April 17, 2022

Carriage Town Ministries and Homelessness in Flint

Cindy Johns discusses homelessness and the causes of homelessness in the Flint area. Carriage Town Ministries began in 1950 as the Flint Rescue Mission on the banks of the Flint River at Grand Traverse Street. The organization has been working to find solutions to poverty and homelessness for 70 years.…

View more
Dec. 24, 2020

Ernie Harwell: Tribute to the Voice of Baseball

Ernie Harwell was the voice of Detroit Tiger baseball. He was also a cultural icon. This podcast episode is full of memories and stories about Ernie Harwell and is to cherish all that Ernie meant to the people of the Flint area and the State of Michigan. Guests on this…

View more
Oct. 9, 2020

Flint and its Tattered Civil War Battle Flag

The 10th Michigan Infantry Regiment flag traveled to civil war battlefields. There were 90,000 Michigan soldiers deployed in the American civil war. The 10th Michigan Infantry Regiment was organized at Flint, Michigan, and mustered into Federal service for a three-year enlistment on February 10, 1862. The Flint 10th Infantry was…

View more
Aug. 31, 2020

Flint Filmmaker, Jeff Gibbs & Planet of the Humans

Planet of the Humans has already been seen by over 10 million viewers world-wide!! Jeff Gibbs, a Flint native, is a successful documentary filmmaker. Jeff and his lifelong friend, Michael Moore recently released an eco-documentary movie, Planet of the Humans. Jeff grew up in the Beecher area and graduated from…

View more
Aug. 2, 2020

State Rep Tim Sneller: Storytelling about Flint area Legislators

With over three decades of experience, broad knowledge of both state and local government, and deep roots in the community, Representative Tim Sneller has hit the ground running in the Michigan House of Representatives and is working hard to serve his home community. Currently, Tim is serving his second term…

View more
Aug. 1, 2020

Sandra Branch on the Flint Public Art Project, Murals, Goodbye Graffiti

Radio Free Flint (www.RadioFreeFlint.media) interviewed Sandra Branch. The Flint Public Art Project a non-profit group has helped fuel the creation of over 100 new murals in the City of Flint. This year, the goal for 2020 is to add between 60 to 75 more and artists are needed to make…

View more
Aug. 1, 2020

Rep Sheryl Kennedy on Michigan Schools and Pandemic

Radio Free Flint (www.RadioFreeFlint) interviewed: State Representative Sheryl Kennedy (D-Davison) is a member of the Genesee County state legislative delegation. Her career is off to an amazing start being named to a seat on the powerful House Appropriations Committee where she serves on subcommittees for School Aid & Education, Corrections…

View more
July 31, 2020

Judge Herman Marable talks about his Career, Jury Service, Helping Kids

Radio Free Flint (www.RadioFreeFlint) interviewed: Judge Herman Marable has served 20 years on the 68th District Court bench. Over that time he has been active in helping high school students through his charitable initiative : Judge Marable's Student of the Month. He describes how he has helped mentor Flint area…

View more
July 31, 2020

Flint's Paul Staroba on Bo Schembechler, Touchdowns at the "Big House"and the NFL

Radio Free Flint (www.RadioFreeFlint.media) interviewed: Paul Staroba was a three-sport standout at St. Matthew High, he enjoyed an outstanding career at the University of Michigan and played several seasons in the NFL with the Cleveland Browns. Paul is a member of the Flint Area Sports Hall of Fame. At St.…

View more
June 1, 2020

Flint's Stark Divide between the Rich and the Poor

This episode has also been published at www.RadioFreeFlint.media and can be heard everywhere your podcasts are available. Arthur Busch discusses the awakening of the northern Hillbillies in the heartland of America. Intellectuals call parts of the country where globalization has decimated manufacturing jobs the "Rustbelt". Income inequality has given rise…

View more
May 18, 2020

The Boomer Zone (Preview Version): "Golden age" memories of hot rod cars, movies, music and girls

Watch a 4 minute clip of The Boomer Zone to get a feel for upcoming episodes. The first full episode is also posted here on YouTube.

View more
May 18, 2020

The Boomer Zone: "Golden age" memories of hot rod cars, movies, music and girls

Why are Baby Boomers looking back with reveling in memories of the "golden age" of the 1960's and 1970's? Hot Rod cars, movies, music, girls and all that made up their youth seem to be fair game for conversation these days. Is it a look away from chaotic times? Is…

View more
May 10, 2020

Flint's Community Schools: The Golden Age of Flint, Michigan

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 at one time was the envy of America in having developed and funded…

View more
May 4, 2020

Old Time Baseball News' Publisher Shares Stories of Baseball's Greatest Players

Flint natives Scott and Michael McKinstry started and published Old Time Baseball News, a national baseball publication spotlighting retired baseball players. The paper was published in Flint for 12 years until the business was sold due to illness. Scott recounts meeting up with numerous major league baseball players including the…

View more
May 1, 2020

Singer/Songwriter Rachel Cole: Flint Roots

Rachel Cole is a Nashville, Tennessee musician with Flint roots. Rachel has a singing style that is best described as Nashville soul with Americana roots. She is a remarkable singer/songwriter whose passion fills every ballad. Her song Rugged Road is a wonderfully done tune, the kind you cannot get out…

View more
April 30, 2020

My Paper Route

Arthur shares a few thoughts on one of his first jobs, delivering the Flint Journal. It was one of the most important jobs he ever held.. Paper routes can teach teenagers everything they need to know about politics. Unfortunately, paperboys and papergirls were replaced by technology. There is one less…

View more
April 30, 2020

Education Matters: Criminal Justice & Community

Professor Avon Burns, of C.S. Mott Community College, spent a career training people to become cops, lawyers and probation officers. She worked to bridge the gap between the community and the police. In the age of outrage about police misconduct she has suggestions for communities like Flint. Michigan. Her vantage…

View more
April 28, 2020

Harrowing Rescue of Orphan Babies, a plane Crash and a Flint Hero, Phillip Wise

In spring of 1975, the US government decided to save as many orphans as possible during the tumultuous fall of Saigon in the last days of the Vietnam War. On April 4, an aircraft lifted off the ground with hundreds of babies and young children crowded into its upper and…

View more
April 26, 2020

Children Start Your Engines: Flint's Safetyville

Safetyville, Flint Michigan has a very special place in the hearts of a lot of boomers. STOP-LOOK-LISTEN remember that lesson? Many Flint baby boomers received their first drivers license at Safetyville in Flint. It was located at Kearsley Park. The powered cars were actually vintage replicas of the Ford T-Bird…

View more
April 24, 2020

A Champion for the Poor of a Poisoned American City

Rev Fr. Phillip Schmitter, currently assigned to Christ the King Catholic Church. He has spent nearly 50 years of his life serving Flint's catholic community at a variety of churches. His career has been marked by his passion and devotion to serving the poor. In the finest of Catholic traditions,…

View more