This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. If you come for a visit to our Mississippi Valley and want to bring a souvenir back to the relatives in Potosi, Wisconsin, here’s some advice. Avoid those cute ashtrays made in Taiwan that say, “Greetings from the Quad Cities,” or the bumper stickers that say, “Support mental health or I’ll kill you.” Instead, take a walk along some of the more out-of-the-way stretches of our Mississippi River, where the current has deposited a stash of old clam shells. With any luck, you’ll soon find one that resembles a Swiss cheese—with... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. If you have ever visited the Battlefield of Gettysburg in Pennsylvania, you may have seen the statue of John Buford at the northwest entrance. An inscription reads: In memory of Major General John Buford, commanding the First Division Cavalry Corps, Army of the Potomac, who with the first inspiration of a cavalry officer selected this battlefield July 1, 1863. Other Episodes ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. The most famous steamboat race ever chronicled on the Upper Mississippi River was between a tortoise and a hare in 1856. And as you learned in the pages of your third-grade reader, such a race is not always a foregone conclusion. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition This is Roald Tweet on... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Even the Mississippi River seems to know when it has crossed the Mason-Dixon line. The Upper Mississippi is a Yankee protestant-work-ethic river, always busy. The lower Mississippi below Cairo, Illinois, where the Ohio comes in, is a grander, more leisurely affair—a world of colonels and judges and mint juleps. No wonder that Currier and Ives chose to immortalize the steamboat race between the Natchez and the Robert E. Lee rather than between the small, plain packet boats north of St. Louis. Other Episodes ... Read More

Other Episodes June 23, 2023 Scribble: The Finale Listen · 29:02 June... Read More

Don Wooten and a cavalcade of guests kill an hour in a very unceremonious way. Other Episodes April 27, 2024 Saturday Morning Live! Carrying on one of the most venerable traditions in local broadcasting history, Kai Swanson carries on the carrying on Don Wooten carried on with a cavalcade of carriers on. Carry on. ... Read More

Other Episodes April 27, 2024 River Action Fish and Fire 2024 Listen · 4:00 ... Read More

Other Episodes May 3, 2024 The Impact of Iowa's Budget Increase: A Closer Look In this episode, we discuss the recently passed budget and new income tax plan in the Iowa Legislature. Listen · 28:13 ... Read More

Jon Fasman, US Digital Editor and former Washington correspondent for The Economist magazine, talks about the Capitol riots, police response, the 25th Amendment, hateful slogans and flags used by rioters, the fallout among Republicans, and the global response. He also provides analysis on the Georgia Senate elections and the rising spread of misinformation and its impact on democracy. Other Episodes May 2, 2024 ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Galena, Illinois, a hundred miles upriver, must be one of the more unusual small towns along the Upper Mississippi River. When Galena found herself further and further behind in the frantic race toward the twenty-first century, with wider streets, brighter lights, more super stores and mega malls, she stopped for a breather, and then began running backwards toward the nineteenth century. Other Episodes ... Read More