Best Interlochen Public Radio Podcasts (2025)

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Presenting Up From Dust: Can We Save Millions of Migrating Birds? 23:48

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40m ago23:48

23:48

Buildings and light pollution are taking a heavy toll on migrating birds. Some cities in the Midwest and Great Plains are working to fix that. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you some cool Points North goodies in return. Subscribe to the Points North …

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Hopes and Fishes 22:05

16d ago22:05

22:05

In one of the most polluted parts of Lake Michigan, whitefish are thriving. Some people wonder if we should try to replicate that environment elsewhere to save the iconic species. But that could mean doing something untested and controversial. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show …

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Pushing the Boundary 23:28

27d ago23:28

23:28

In the early 1800s, a group of politicians decided part of the Ohio border should move farther north. It started a decades-long border fight between Michigan and Ohio. There were winners. There were losers. And in the end, it shaped the states as we know them. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can …

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The Pink Prairie Mascot 19:31

1M ago19:31

19:31

In 2014, a group of botanists discovered that a very rare plant native to the Kankakee River in Illinois, had vanished from its only known native habitat in the world. That set off a quest to bring back the missing Midwestern flower. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, …

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My Little Slime 18:18

2M ago18:18

18:18

What would happen if our devices were alive? Would it change the way we treat them? One researcher in Chicago wanted to find out. So she made a smartwatch that has to be fed and watered to work. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you some cool Points Nor…

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A Good, Not Great Lake 22:00

2M ago22:00

22:00

Lake Champlain is more than 16 times smaller than Lake Ontario, the smallest Great Lake. But in 1998, Congress designated Lake Champlain as the sixth Great Lake, teeing off a historical and cultural fight over which lakes can really call themselves Great. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can suppo…

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Once in a Blue Moon 30:04

3M ago30:04

30:04

Blue moon ice cream, this quintessentially Midwestern, bright blue dessert, is a mystery. No one can agree on what it tastes like, and no one with the info will say. We try to find out. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you some cool Points North goodie…

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Scratching the Right Itch 21:42

3M ago21:42

21:42

Ron Reimink knew how uncomfortable and annoying swimmer’s itch could be. He spent much of his adult life trying to eradicate it in lakes across northern Michigan. Then one day, he realized he was completely wrong. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you s…

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Presenting The Dirtbag Diaries: Winter Vacation 33:18

4M ago33:18

33:18

Emily Ford goes on a winter vacation. She doesn’t go to some warm beach location, though. She sets out to thru-hike Wisconsin’s 1,200 mile Ice Age Trail. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you some cool Points North goodies in return. Subscribe to the Po…

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The Good Thief? 18:23

4M ago18:23

18:23

Tom Farnquist is in the business of preserving underwater artifacts and displaying them in the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum. The problem is, a lot of those artifacts were technically stolen from the State of Michigan. And one day, the state notices. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the…

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The Longest Paddle 23:47

5M ago23:47

23:47

After Traci Lynn Martin’s mom died, she knew she couldn’t keep putting off her dream: becoming the first person to kayak around the Great Lakes in one year. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you some cool Points North goodies in return. Subscribe to the…

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My Lakes Are Better Than Your Lakes 16:20

5M ago16:20

16:20

Minnesota and Wisconsin are bitter rivals at just about everything. So in 2019, when Wisconsin’s secretary of tourism claimed her state had more lakes than Minnesota, the embers of an age-old debate were stoked. Minnesota is known as the “Land of 10,000 Lakes”, but does Wisconsin really have more? _______________________ Join the Points North Fan C…

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Between Myth and Migration 25:12

6M ago25:12

25:12

Cougars are making a comeback. The iconic wildcat hasn’t had a breeding population in the Great Lakes states since the early 1900s, but now they’re moving east. Experts say they could be back soon. Some people swear they already are. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, …

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Some Things Never Change 27:19

6M ago27:19

27:19

Inside rustic cabins and yurts at the Porcupine Mountains Wilderness State Park there are log books. For more than 70 years, visitors have written in them. We went into this time capsule to see if people’s experiences here had changed much over the changing decades. _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, yo…

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Bear Trouble 18:02

7M ago18:02

18:02

When a black bear in Minnesota woke up from hibernation in the middle of winter and attacked three people and a dog, researchers were left with one question: Why? _______________________ Join the Points North Fan Club today! For just $5/month, you can support the show you love, and we'll send you some cool Points North goodies in return. Subscribe …

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Presenting REAP/SOW: Buzzkill 28:55

7M ago28:55

28:55

Americans stepped up to do something about dying bees. Beekeeping is all the rage right now. But what if all those backyard colonies are making the problem worse?By Daniel Wanschura

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Back to the Boundary Waters 23:04

8M ago23:04

23:04

Erik Grams has been taking trips to the Boundary Waters in Minnesota for over 30 years. It’s his favorite place in the world. But last year, during a fishing trip, there was a fatal accident that left Erik wrestling with his feelings about the place he loved.By Daniel Wanschura

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A Sticky Solution for Microplastics 19:36

8M ago19:36

19:36

Microplastics are everywhere. But after accidentally combining materials in a lab, scientists at the University of Michigan are on the cusp of discovering a new method to capture and remove microplastics from water. Researching it takes time, money, and repeated set backs.By Michael Livingston

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Big Abe’s Net 22:17

8M ago22:17

22:17

One calm September day, Big Abe LeBlanc set his fishing net in Lake Superior. Then he called law enforcement and turned himself in. What happened next changed fishing in the Great Lakes forever.By Ellie Katz

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The Squeaky Sand Phenomenon 13:36

9M ago13:36

13:36

On April 8, 2024, Meghan Hetfield and her partner Roni Pillischer witnessed a total solar eclipse over Lake Ontario. But in the middle of this intense and beautiful experience, something else kept grabbing their attention: the mystery of the squeaky sand all around them.By Daniel Wanschura

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Complete With His Language 14:21

9M ago14:21

14:21

Kenny Pheasant first became a teacher of Anishinaabemowin at 14 years-old, teaching customers from behind the meat counter at a grocery store. Now, it's his life mission to get more people speaking the Great Lakes’ original and endangered language.By Daniel Wanschura

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The Iceman Giveth, The Iceman Taketh 18:46

10M ago18:46

18:46

This is a tale of two cyclists, one legendary race, and an unlikely rivalry.By Ellie Katz

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Saving David 22:22

10M ago22:22

22:22

One minute David Holtfreter was kayaking on Lake Michigan; the next he was in the water, fighting for his life. A fisherman saw David struggling from the shore and swam out about 200 yards to rescue him. But in the rescue commotion that followed, David wasn’t able to give the stranger a proper “thank you.”…

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Presenting Atlas Obscura: The Mysterious Sinkholes of Mount Baldy 12:28

11M ago12:28

12:28

One family’s visit to a famous Indiana sand dune turns into a wild tale of a missing boy and mysterious tunnels.By Daniel Wanschura

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The Biggest Buck That Maybe Never Was 17:44

11M ago17:44

17:44

In 1998, a hunter named Mitch Rompola claimed he’d shot the biggest whitetail in North America. It was all over the news, and people waited in anticipation for it to be entered in the record books. But then Mitch just went silent. And instead of becoming a famous hunter, he became an infamous one.By Maxwell Howard