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 16, 2024 Nobel-winning Economist Joseph Stiglitz New Book Offers A New... 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

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Remember that Weekly Reader joke: “what does a fifteen-hundred-pound gorilla eat? Answer: “Anything it wants.” Substitute a 2,500-mile river for the gorilla, and you’ll have some idea of the awe in which we valley dwellers hold the Mississippi. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 The Special Edition ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Of at least one Rock Islander, Benjamin Dann Walsh, it can truly be said that there was some good news and some bad news. The good news was that early on the morning of November 12, 1869, as he was collecting bugs along the Chicago and Rock Island railroad tracks near 34 th Street in Rock Island, a Chicago bound train ran over his left leg. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Less than a hundred miles north of this island lies a cornfield made popular by the movie Field of Dreams . It’s not alone. Travel a hundred miles in any direction up or down the Mississippi Valley, and you will find the remains of dreams—of Edens and Utopias—wherever you go. As if the Mississippi itself were a magnet drawing dreamers to its banks. Other Episodes ... Read More

This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island. Even today, Easterners view the Midwest as far better ground in which to plant corn than culture. They would almost certainly have held out little hope that Edward Spencer would make something of himself in this world. Edward was the first child born in Stephenson—the town that later became Rock Island. Other Episodes December 27, 2023 ... 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 May 11, 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 May 11, 2024 Bird Migration and Light Pollution Listen · 2:56 ... Read More

Other Episodes May 10, 2024 The Cities 5/11/24 The Cities 4/11/24 Listen · 27:15 ... Read More