This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. If the following story is not true, it should be. It involves two Illinois folk heroes, Abraham Lincoln and the traveling evangelist, Peter Cartwright. Most counties in Illinois have Lincoln and Cartwright stories. We Rock Islanders deserve ours. The story began as unsubstantiated rumor, but by the time Carl Sandburg wrote his biography of Lincoln, it had become fact. Other Episodes ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Circuses and other entertainments seldom live up to their billing, but the five thousand spectators who streamed into the City of Rock Island on October 29 th , 1845, to enjoy its first public hanging were more than satisfied, despite jangled nerves created by traffic jams of wagons on every road into town. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. If you passed through fourth grade any time before 1947, you, too, memorized Eugene Field’s poem, “Little Boy Blue.” That was where you learned about “the little toy dog” covered with dust, “but sturdy and staunch he stands” in the old armchair alongside the toy soldier red with rust, whose musket molds in his hands—faithful even in death. Other Episodes ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Safe in the Vatican, Pope Leo the Thirteenth was probably not aware in the spring of 1887 that a stack of lumber in front of the W. J. Young Lumber Company in Clinton, Iowa, was about to cause him some grief. That lumber was the first domino in a chain of bigotry that got out of hand. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition ... 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

Scott Eyman talks about his latest book, Cary Grant: A Brilliant Disguise, and how the Hollywood star’s tragic upbringing shaped his career and life. The discussion includes Grant’s death in Davenport in 1986 as well as his rise to stardom, top performances and other topics. Other Episodes May 2, 2024 War for the Soul of American Christianity ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. By 1850, fifteen years after their founding, the three small villages around Rock Island were on their way to becoming frontier Edens—if not spiritually in the Genesis sense, then certainly within the framework of the American Dream. For Davenport, Rock Island, and Moline, waterpower was plentiful to make goods, and the Mississippi was there to ship the goods via the Ohio to eastern markets. The supply of labor exactly matched the demand, due to the stream of families moving west toward the farmlands of Iowa and Minnesota. If there was work, some of the westward... Read More