Diverse radio for Minnesota’s communities
18 Unique Stations from Border to Border
18 Unique Stations from Border to Border
Roy Wilkins earned his professional chops as a Twin Cities journalist. But it was as an activist and director of the NAACP, says producer Britt Aamodt, that Wilkins helped change history with the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
In 1865, Theodore Hamm established Hamm’s Beer in St. Paul. This beer became known for its cartoon bear and catchy jingle. But in 1973, Hamm’s sent a film crew to Northern Minnesota. Britt Aamodt relates the history of those commercials, featuring animal trainer Earl Hammond and his Kodiak bear Sasha.
Justine Kerfoot never intended to stay in Minnesota. But the Great Depression led her to the lodge on the Gunflint Trail and the wild spaces that would become her life. Britt Aamodt remembers the Woman of the Boundary Waters.
Beavers live in every county in Minnesota. Their large teeth can cut through a tree in minutes. Britt Aamodt wonders why beaver teeth are orange and why the skeleton of one excavated near the Mississippi River weighed over 200 pounds.
Jeno Paulucci had a flair for deals and an eye for opportunity. Britt Aamodt has the story of the son of Italian immigrants who made it big with his packaged Chinese food business, Chun King.
Sister Elizabeth Kenny wasn’t a nun. She got the title sister from her work as a nurse in Australia. But she’d remembered today, says Britt Aamodt, for the polio treatment she brought to Minneapolis in 1940.
Chris Fisher was teaching anthropology when he was invited to be part of an expedition. Britt Aamodt follows Fisher on his quest to locate an ancient city in the Honduran rainforest, a journey documented in Douglas Preston’s 2017 best-seller The Lost City of the Monkey God.
Peg Kehret was just a kid looking forward to homecoming when her leg muscle began to twitch. Britt Aamodt tells the story of Peg’s polio year.
Every year, the Library of Congress’s National Film Preservation Foundation selects 25 films for inclusion in the National Film Registry. Among the 2001 selectees were The Sound of Music, The Planet of the Apes (1968) and Jaws. Britt Aamodt’s segment focuses on the Minnesota home movie that made it in that year’s list.
