The DJ Rollie D Story

2016 had ups and downs for me.  It was a year of personal growth that saw landmark events in my life as well as some letdowns that thankfully didn't stop me from where I am trying to get to down the road.  I also some personal spiritual growth and met lots of new people, which are two goals I've been adhering to since 2014. Below are some highlights from the past calendar year, including pictures and a brief description of why it was so special to me.  They are not ranked in order of importance, but rather just tossed out in order of the calendar year (January-December) January: Emily Larson Interview Article In November of 2015, Emily Larson made local headlines and history when she became the first female mayor of Duluth, MN.  There have been countless newspaper articles and blog posts written about her election and plans for her first few months to years in office, and I had the opportunity to write one myself.  To check it out, follow...

Public Radio really has put an interesting spin on radio.  Rather than music 24 hours a day 7 days a week 365 days a year, or doing the same thing with talk radio, it finds a way to mix the best of both worlds and create a truly unique experience for the listener. Over time, listening to several different public radio stations, most recently KAXE, has helped me find some really interesting shows that are always worth another listen and that you may very much enjoy yourself.  Here are some of those shows The Splendid Table I first stumbled across The Splendid Table when I was looking to diversify Free Range Sports Radio last December.  The gist of the show is that it's basically a cooking show that goes on a "world tour of food", at least that's what I understood from the few episodes I listened to.  It takes your average cooking show and blows it out of the water.  You can listen to the show  here This American Life Hosted by Ira Glas...

In late April of this year I began searching out volunteer radio opportunities for the Summer in the hopes of building some career experience before heading off to college.  Through a Google search I stumbled upon Northern Community Radio, a station out of Grand Rapids/Bemidji that had volunteers at the forefront.  As I naturally do when trying to get involved with things, I sent an email and before I knew it I was signed up for a volunteer training session and all ready to get started. The volunteer training is really cool.  You meet a lot of people who will help you out with stuff later down the road and you get to see one of the studios depending on where the class is (for me it was Bemidji).  You also get to get a playlist ready and after that's reviewed you're all set for volunteer shadowing.  I got that done as well in late July, and was on the air by the end of that week, and the next three weeks before I left for Fargo.  It was a nice wa...