PODCASTS

Tag: #history
The Presidency: A Conversation – 10/31/24

The Presidency: A Conversation – 10/31/24

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The Presidency: A Conversation

a Family Life News Feature

As two candidates race toward the end of this year’s campaign for the White House, what can we learn from all the Chief Executives who came before?

In this podcast from Family Life News, you’ll hear from a best-selling author and presidential historian. David M. Rubenstein has compiled stories, records and reflections on all 46 presidents so far, and says the American presidency is “The Highest Calling” in the world.

Rubenstein tells interviewer Greg Gillispie about how the presidency has been reshaped across U.S. history, the uniqueness of Americans choosing their own leaders, and how his broad scope across history provides insights into the 2024 election. He is concerned that 80 million citizens who are eligible to vote and shape their governance choose not to take part.

David M. Rubenstein is a lawyer, businessman, philanthropist, author and host of a history program on television. He has served as a government official, and is a co-owner of the Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball.

His book The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency includes interviews with most of the living presidents, essays by other commentators and journalists, and anecdotes about the people who were chosen to lead their nation.

 

10/31/2024

 

 
Staycation – Niagara Power Vista – 8/23/24

Staycation – Niagara Power Vista – 8/23/24

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” from Family Life

The beauty and majestic power of Niagara Falls draws tourists from all across the region and all across the world. The power of those millions of gallons of water has powered the generation of electricity which now accounts for all the electrical power used in New York State.

The history and the science of hydropower has been captured by the Niagara Power Vista, a free visitors center at Lewiston New York, at the dam just north of the Falls. Guests have dozens of interactive exhibits to demonstrate how inventors like Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison used hydropower for their engineering work. Visitors can play-act a simulation of how to build a community electric grid and keep it functioning. Plus, the Power Vista has some memorable views of this natural wonder of the world.

Lou Paonessa, community affairs director for the New York Power Authority, describes the uniqueness of the Niagara Power Project since its founding, and what families, individuals and school groups can see and do at the Power Vista.

 

“Staycation Destinations“ is a weekly Friday feature through the summer on the Family Life radio network. Host Greg Gillispie maps out unique opportunities for you to discover somewhere unique in Pennsylvania and New York, fairly close to home and fairly affordable. These Staycation features air during the Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report on the radio and on our live streaming. You can also find our features on FamilyLife.org and the Family Life Now mobile app. You also can search for “Family Life News“ on most popular podcast platforms. Listen, subscribe, share or download them.

 

 
Staycation – Drake Well Museum & Park – Titusville – 8/16/24

Staycation – Drake Well Museum & Park – Titusville – 8/16/24

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

The last week of August marks the anniversary of a milestone that transformed northwest Pennsylvania — and transformed the world.

It was 1859, when “Colonel” Edwin Drake struck oil at his new well south of Titusville. As he and his team developed the infrastructure to drill, store and transport oil, the petroleum industry mushroomed. So did “oil boom” towns throughout the region.

The Drake Well Museum & Park is at the site of that first well. It tells the story of this discovery which directly led to huge changes in the local economy, the world of transportation and so much more.

Executive Director Emily Weaver tells us about this history and about what modern-day visitors to the site can see at the Drake Well.

https://www.titusvillenewsjournal.com/news/friends-of-drake-well-incVisitor information about the museum and grounds are available at www.DrakeWell.org. There you can find for about the exhibits, history and upcoming events.

 

 

 

We also have separate podcast-only bonus content, as Emily Weaver gives us a radio tour of a town which went from almost nothing to a population of 15,000 — back to almost nothing. The Friends of Drake Well historical organization has a twin attraction about 20 miles further south:  Pithole City.

This extended interview has that story, and information about what visitors can see there too. The biggest annual event there happens in mid-Autumn, the Pithole Lantern Tour.

Listen, download, or share this bonus content here.

Newspodcasts  

Staycation Bonus Content – Drake Well & Pithole City – 8/16/24

Staycation Bonus Content – Drake Well & Pithole City – 8/16/24

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This week’s “Staycation Destinations” feature took you on a radio tour of Edwin Drake’s Well #1. It essentially became the birthplace of the modern petroleum industry.

The Drake Well Museum and Park, with its indoor and outdoor exhibits, tells of this history.

In this additional interview segment, Emily Weaver of the Friends of Drake Well Incorporated makes about 20 miles further south of Titusville, to another historic site in the Oil Creek Region.

 

In the 1860s, Pithole City sprung up and grew to a population of 15,000 as people flooded in there, in an oil-focused version of a gold rush.

Weaver tells us more of that story, and describes what people can see at the Pithole visitors center (open seasonally on weekend).

 

Pithole City is operated as a tourist site in conjunction with the Drake Well Museum.

If you haven’t yet heard the primary episode of this week’s Staycation, find that feature here among our news podcasts on FamilyLife.org.

 

 

“Staycation Destinations“ on Family Life maps out unique opportunities for you to discover somewhere unique in New York or Pennsylvania, fairly close to home and fairly affordable. These Staycation features aire during the Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report each Friday during the summer. You can hear the broadcast on the air and streaming online. You can also find our features on the Family Life Now mobile app, on FamilyLife.org, and search for “Family Life News“ on most popular podcast compilations.

 
Staycation – Theodore Roosevelt Historical Site – 8/09/24

Staycation – Theodore Roosevelt Historical Site – 8/09/24

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It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

This week, we give you a radio tour of the Theodore Roosevelt Inaugural National Historic Site

In 1901, President McKinley — and thousands of others — were in Buffalo for the Pan-American Exposition, a world’s fair celebrating the promise of the dawning century. There, an assassin shot the president, who died about a week later. Vice President Theodore Roosevelt was rushed by stagecoach to Buffalo, and at the home of friend and attorney Ansley Wilcox was administered the oath of office to become America’s 26th president.

The Wilcox home is now an official historic site operated by the National Park Service. The museum commemorates the 1901 exposition, the dawn of new identities for the United States, and the life and work of this “Rough Rider” President.

TR Site Executive Director Spencer Morgan talks in this podcast about the exhibits and stories visitors will find.

 

By Dunn, Robert Lee, photographer - Library of CongressCatalog: via Wikimedia Commons

  Newspodcasts
Staycation: The Jello Gallery & Museum – 7/26/24

Staycation: The Jello Gallery & Museum – 7/26/24

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The JELL-O Gallery – Le Roy NY

It’s “Staycation Destinations” on Family Life

The hometown of Jell-O brand gelatin continues to celebrate the century-plus of fun, wiggly food.

The Le Roy Historical Society intentionally chose a more-fitting name for its museum — this is an art gallery. As you’ll hear in this podcast, some of the most prominent displays at the Jell-O Gallery are the forms of colorful and vibrant marketing which introduced the product to the American public, and demonstrated the ease of making instant Jell-O … so simple even a child could do it.

Listen as well for other parts of the history, and other parts of the displays which focus on vehicles and a wider view of Le Roy’s history.

The Jell-O Gallery is at 23 East Main Street in Le Roy, which is about halfway between Batavia and Rochester.

 

Here is the winner of their 2024 Photo Contest on the Gallery’s Facebook page:

 

“Staycation Destinations” airs Fridays on Family Life during the Noon Report and 5 O’Clock Report.

Each week, all summer long, we map out a unique opportunity for you to discover somewhere unique, in New York or Pennsylvania — fairly close to home, and fairly affordable.

Previous destinations are linked from www.FamilyLife.org/newspodcasts.
Staycation – PA Trolley Museum – 7/19/24

Staycation – PA Trolley Museum – 7/19/24

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It’s Staycation Destinations on Family Life

We take a Trolley to this week’s Staycation Destination.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum offers a ride into pre-automobile history. Most people think of the Land of Make-Believe in Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood when they think of trolleys. However, the electrified mode of transportation was real-world big business, shaped the development of metro areas, and expanded ways people could go beyond their neighborhoods to go to work, medical appointments and social events.

Volunteer tour guide Gary Malaskovitz gives Greg Gillispie and our listeners a vision of that history, plus a ride on one of the nine fully-restored trolleys which still offer rides to the museum’s visitors (and guests of the annual Washington County Fair!). You’ll also hear from some of the children who enjoyed a simulator which allows them to drive a trolley.

In addition to what aired during our Family Life Noon Report, you also have bonus content where Malaskovitz talks more about what young families enjoy about the Trolley Museum (many are fans of Daniel Tiger’s Neighborhood, Donkey Hodie and Thomas the Tank Engine) — plus his own story, growing up and riding the trolleys of Pittsburgh.

The Pennsylvania Trolley Museum is at 1 Electric Way in Washington, Pennsylvania. During the summer, it is closed Mondays, but open on holidays. Outside of summer, the museum operates Friday through Sunday. Their website is at www.PA-trolley.org.
National Soaring Museum – Elmira NY – Staycation Destinations – 7/05/24

National Soaring Museum – Elmira NY – Staycation Destinations – 7/05/24

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National Soaring Museum – Elmira NY – Staycation Destinations

The Soaring Museum is an interesting placed to visit any time, but the week ahead (July 6-13) has a unique event while comes to our listening area only once every four years.

 

Some two dozen motorless aircraft “descend” on Elmira, New York for the International Vintage Sailplane Meet. The event is free and open to the public.

Sailplanes are more than “gliders”. Gliders are towed into the air and remain aloft only as long as they can resist gravity. Sailplanes though are specially engineered to catch the updrafts and wind currents so they can stay aloft much longer.

Local aviation historian Traff Doherty is our guest for this week’s “Staycation Destinations”. He provides:

  • details about the experiences for spectators of the Sailplane Meet
  • history of how the unpowered planes were used, especially in wartime
  • why Harris Hill and Elmira became the center of the national Sailplane community
  • more about the National Soaring Museum, for anyone who wants to visit — during the Meet, or beyond those eight days

 

For further information:

This month’s Sailplane Meet:  details about July 6-13

National Soaring Museum:  guest information (the museum is open year-round, Wednesdays through Sundays)

America’s “Soaring Capital”:  the history of how motorless aviation developed in the Elmira region

The U.S. Soaring Hall of Fame:  the people & their stories
Family Life Noon Report – July 4, 2024

Family Life Noon Report – July 4, 2024

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Family Life Noon Report – July 4, 2024

“Freedom & Faith”

On this special edition of the Family Life Noon Report:

  • Actor Gary Sinise tells his story of how portraying Lieutenant Dan changed his life, and how he and his movie character has changed the lives of those in military service, their families, veterans, and — especially — disabled veterans.

[Spoiler alert: Forrest Gump’s commanding officer became a paraplegic because of his military service in Vietnam.] 

The award-winning, generational-touchstone movie Forrest Gump entered America’s consciousness — and our national conscience — when it debuted 30 years ago this weekend.

  • Christian professor Caleb Verbois gives us insight into how the Christian faith shaped America’s founding generation and their documents. The Declaration of Independence and the U.S Constitution are rooted in Biblical tradition and Christian priorities.
  • Political History professor Jeff Bloodworth talks about the extreme personal risks taken by Colonists who chose to rebel against the British king. He also told us that modern-day political turmoil and divisiveness is nothing new. Debate, derision and name-calling are a quintessial aspect of being a democracy — and has been throughout two and a half centuries of U.S. history.
  • The “free exercise” and “establishment” clauses are the parallel protections of religious freedom in the First Amendment. But, as we hear from Biblical scholar Paul Kemeny, the United States might have come close to having one official religion for at least some colonies in the new nation, but it was stopped by protests in the decade between the Declaration and the Constitution. Without that early advocacy for full religious liberty without government entanglements, freedom of religion would have been shaped very differently.

 

Our guests for this Faith & Freedom-themed holiday special:

       

Dr. Caleb Verbois is Professor of Political Science at Grove City College (Erie, Pennsylvania)

Dr. Jeff Bloodworth is Professor of History and Director of the Public Service and Global Studies Program at Gannon

Dean Paul Kemeny leads the School of Arts and Letters, as well as teaching Bible and Religious studies at Grove City College

Academy-award-winning actor Gary Sinise portrayed Forrest Gump’s commanding officer (and First Mate on Gump’s shrimp boat) in the 1994 movie Forrest Gump. His Gary Sinise Foundation is active in supporting current and previous American service personnel.

    • The American Veterans Center conducted the Gary Sinise interview. You can listen to or watch his longer conversation about Forrest Gump, Apollo 13, his full acting and directing career, and how disabled veterans have given him spiritual renewal and a meaningful life purpose.

 

Family Life’s News Producer Greg Gillispie hosts this July 4 half-hour special.
July 4 Special – Family Life News – 7/04/24

July 4 Special – Family Life News – 7/04/24

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The Founders & and the Influence of Faith

Partisanship in Revolutionary Times … & in Ours

What Forrest Gump’s Lieutenant Dan shows veterans & civilians about Vietnam & about Hope

Colonials & the Earliest Debates on Religious Liberty

This is our Independence Day Holiday Special from Family Life News.

Greg Gillispie is your host for this series of special interviews for this patriotic weekend.

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