Hot Take From The Kitchen

Patrick swings by the Kitchen and talks with us all about #GivingTuesday and what all The Community Foundation of Northeast Michigan does. We learn more about Patrick, where he's from and his journey to Alpena. Then we breifly talk about CFNEM and learn about what all they do around Northeast Michigan. We then talk about the growth of Giving Tuesday and the power of giving. We wrap up the episode with our Top 5 Christmas songs! Be on the lookout this weekend for the playlist!

Preston braves the weather and meets us at the Kitchen this week! We learn about his background and what makes Preston such a unique person (in Steve's opinion of course!). We enjoy listening to his journey about what brought him to deciding on a career and then we spend a decent amount of time figuring out why he loves Alpena so much! We then round it out with our Top 5 TV Personalities of all-time! It's a fantastic episode and we hope you all give it a listen!

We take the Kitchen on the road again and this week travel to Harborside Cycle and Sport and talk with its owner--Tommy Dowd. We talk about the importance of voting, learn what brought him to opening a bike shop in Alpena and the future he sees for the shop. Tommy is extremely active in our outdoor community so we talk about Thunder Bay Trails Association and the plans for the future of the trails in our area. We round out the episode with our Top 5 Places We Want To Visit Before We Die. It's a great episode, with tons of stuff about the great outdoors of our area! Thanks for listening!

We "Get in Our Sanctuary" and sit down with Stephanie Gandulla from the Thunder Bay Marie Sanctuary and get ready for Halloween with learning about the shipwrecks in our area. We take some time and discuss the documentary she was a part of "Big Five Dive" that followed a group of women that dove a shipwreck in each Great Lake within 24 hours. It's a great pod, jam-packed full of information and fun and even candy! So give it a listen!

We got Cheese in the house! Steve Schulwitz from The Alpena News drops in and we talk about what's it like to work in the media these days. We discuss some of the difficulties they face publishing information for the public and and what drives them each and every day. We then pivot to our wheelhouse--sports and touch on a little bit of all Michigan sports. Cheese takes some well-earned ribbing from us after a MSU loss and then we get into our Top 5 QB's of all-time. It's a fun episode with lots to unpack so give it a listen!

Episode 30 is here and we are so thankful for all of our listeners sticking with us through the ups and downs. For our 30th Episode we are proud that the Mayor of Alpena, Matt Waligora, took time out of his busy schedule and made a pitstop at the Kitchen. We talked about what made him decide to run for mayor, some of the successes and failures he's had to endure and what he see for the future of Alpena. It's a GREAT episode and we appreicate you all tuning in.

Matt Cameron jumps into The Kitchen this week and we learn all about his journey from playing basketball at Alpena High to professional ball in Europe. We briefly discuss his time at Alpena and some of the things that he thought that team did well. We then spend time unpacking his college career and talk about some of the things that made his team so sucessful during his time at Michigan Tech. We then chat about his time leading up to playing in Luxembourg, and share a few stories about his time overseas. We then have one of our favorite Top 5 yet to date with a Top 5 Detroit Sports Moments that past 25 Years. It's a great episode hope you all give it a listen!

Head Coach of Men's ACC Basketball and Cross Country, Mark Jacobs stops by The Kitchen and talks with us about how he looks to finish up his XC season and how he got into running. We then transition to basketball and how his Men's team is looking for the upcoming season. We briefly discuss what it's like to recruit in Northern Michigan and finally round out the episode with our Top 5 College Basketball Players of all-time. It's a wonderful episode that had us missing basketball!

We are on the road this week and drop into our fanciest kitchen yet, The Culinary Arts Kitchen at Art in the Loft, in Alpena, MI. While there we sit down with Executive Director of Art in the Loft, Justin Christensen-Cooper who gives us the low down on all the things The Loft has going on! We discuss their community outreach programs for our area youth, the art in the downtown buildings, the Fish Mural and the Juried Art Exhibit that is coming up October 4th. It's a great episode with updates on the mural, things coming down the pipe for Art in the Loft and a Top 5 that had us grinning ear to ear: Dad Jokes! Hope you all enjoy!

Amy Martin drops by The Kitchen and we discuss all the things we love: Running Races, Michigan Football and sports! We first learn about the Mike Polaski Memorial 5K Run/Walk. A race in the memory of Amy's dad, is a great event coming up that gives the runner the option of making it a paint run! We then pivot and turn our thoughts to Michigan football and the Detroit Tigers and even sprinkle a little basketball in there. Our Top 5 this week is "What would you do if you won the lottery?" . We finish strong finding out what we each have planned for the weekend and look towards the future guest list on the pod for October! Don't let the lateness of the pod fool ya, it's a fantastic episode--give it a listen!!!

One of our best pods to date! Eric Peterson takes a break from The Fresh Palate kitchen and visits ours. We learn all about his journey to opening The Fresh Palate and why he decided to do it right here in Alpena. We then discuss his beer festival: Sunrise Suds Tap Takeover! We learn the inspiriation behind that, what he learned in year one and what he has planned for year two! We then talk about a Top 5 most crazy vacations we have ever done, and then Brad and I do a quick Top 5 about one of our favorite TV Shows--Big Brother and do our Top 5 Couples/Duos! It's a fantastic pod that had me and Brad texting each other the next day!

We have a Labor Day treat for you all this week! Alison Jakubcin, Marketing Specialist from AAACU and United Way of Northeast Michigan Fundraising Co-Chair, drops by and talks about a few things with us. We share her background with our listeners and then talk about some of the things she has learned in her job. One of the things that we find fascinating, is that she is one of the people who help run the Social Media pages for her job and she shares some tips to help increase our prescences on social media. We then talk about Celebrate for a Purpose, the items that are available and the organization we are fundraising for--United Way of Northeast Michigan. We then do a Top 5 of Women in History and round it out with a Battle of the Sexes between Alison and Brad. It's a fun episode, with a surprise drop-in from two mystery guests that caught us off-guard (well not Brad.)!

GREAT episode this week as we sit down with Christine Witulski and Maggie Malone of The Besser Museum of Northeast Michigan, and learn how lucky we are to have such a great museum right here in Northeast Michigan. We learn a little bit about each of them and then talk about the museum and learn a little more about each of them and their journey to the museum. We then get a little education about how difficult it truly is to not only collect items but maintain them and all the behind the scenes work that goes into a museum. We then close it out by Christine doing a Top 5 Things You Might Not Know About Jesse Besser Museum! Brad and I didn't want to leave our listeners hanging so we did a quick Top 5 Favorite Books of all-time! It's a great pod, jam-packed full of stuff, thanks for giving us a listen!

We are getting our groove on this week in the Kitchen and who better to lead us than our neighbor hippie Greg Konwinski, owner of the Hungry Hippie. We sit down with Greg and learn his journey that brought him to where he is today--serving food and "bomb-ass smoothies". The journey is intense, but inspiring. We then sit down and discuss books we've read about leadership and self-help and how much your mindset controls your success. That segways into our Top5--which is our Top 5 quotes of all time! It's a chill episode with a new segment! Head over to our Facebook page and comment with your answer to our trivia question for your chance to win a prize!

Friends of the pod, Matt Muszynski and Griffin James come to our rescue after a last-minute cancellation leaves Brad and Steve scrambling. After our most active mailbag yet, we sit down with Griffin and discuss a project that he has been helping Steve with all summer long. We then talk about a video Steve made about Griffin last week and expand on the questions that he asked Griffin that were left on the cutting room floor. Next, Steve & Matt countdown their favorite moments together and the shenigans they somehow get into. We then discuss our favorite story together that involves a bike, an epidural and a quote that has stood the test of time. Finally, our Top 5 this week is our Favorite Spots in Alpena. It's a fun, on-the-fly episode that left us wiping tears in our eyes and grateful for our friendships. We appreicate you all listening along with us so far and look forward to bringing you all a new pod to step to each week!

Our State Representative Sue Allor sits down with us and chats for a few. We learn a bit more about Sue and what motivated her to become a State Representative. Typically we shy away from political views on our pod but we did ask Sue about Pipeline 5 and her recent stand on it and how it plays in our own ecosystem. Finally we skip the Top 5, but sit down with Sue and bring a little old school, and break out a Myspace Survey that helps us get to know her a little better. It's a little bit shorter episode than normal, but it just means we packed more into it! Enjoy!

President/CEO of the Alpena Area Chamber, Jackie Krawczak stops by the kitchen and talks to us about what all the Chamber does and how its played a role in Alpena loving itself. Jackie then opens up and talks about some of the different things she's had to overcome in her life and how that journey led her to start Jackie Krawczak LLC--her very own consulting agency. We touch on leadership, how much she likes to study it and how important emotional intelligence can be to a leader. She then gives Brad a few large, group setting, speaking tips and then we discuss our Top 5 Shoes of All-Time. It's a great episode, check it out!

Producing Artistic Director of Alpena's own Thunder Bay Theatre, Jeff Mindock, stops by The Kitchen and shares with us his story on what brought him and his wife Paige to the Alpena area. He talks about the reciprocating relationship between a theatre and a community, and how the shared experience of a performance can improve empathy levels of those who attend--which echoes across our area. We do a "Top 5 Philly Sports Moments" that leads to Steve bringing in a surprise reliever, and we close it out with Jeff giving Brad some pointers on amping up the volume for our listeners. It's a fun episode with lots of laughs so kick back and enjoy!

Michael Beiermeister takes a break from the studio and drops into The Kitchen. We learn a bit more about him and what it's like to broadcast news for our community. We make sure he understands the significance of Die Hard 2 to Alpena, and then we each give 5 BOLD sports predictions for the upcoming year! It's fun episode make sure you give it a listen!

We hit the road for our second week in a row and hit Alpena's very own Austin Brothers Beer Co and sit down with Blake Austin and Scott Bays of Huron Distributing. We learn a bit more about both of them and then and find out how it's been since Austin Brothers has opened in Alpena and started distributed their beer. We then talk about the community of Alpena and all the amazing things Huron Distributors support in Northeast Michigan. For our Top 5 this week, we discuss our favorite professional wrestlers and listen along on how Blake deftly sneaks in a sixth wrestler! hahaha It's a great pod, so grab yourself a cold one and listen along!