CONNECTIONS
Good things happen when interesting people find one another.
One of the things we love most about the Great Lakes is how many interesting people, places, businesses, projects and ideas are tucked throughout its communities.
Great Lakes Radio gives us an opportunity to discover them — and to help our listeners discover them too.
Sometimes that happens through an interview.
Sometimes through a story.
Sometimes we visit a place, hear some music, learn a piece of history or meet somebody doing something that makes us think:
“More people should know about this.”
That's what Connections is about.
PEOPLE BEHIND THE PLACES
A business is usually more interesting when you meet the person who created it.
We're interested in the people behind independent shops, restaurants, farms, services, markets, studios and other locally created businesses throughout the Great Lakes.
How did they begin?
Why did they choose to do what they do?
What have they learned?
What makes what they've created different?
Rather than simply telling listeners that a business exists, we'd rather meet the person behind it and hear the story.
Those conversations may become part of What is a god?, The Lantern Tree, or other Great Lakes Radio programming.
FARMS, MAKERS & CREATORS
Grow it. Raise it. Bake it. Build it. Make it.
The Great Lakes are filled with people who create things with their own hands and minds.
Farmers.
Growers.
Homesteaders.
Artists.
Musicians.
Craftspeople.
Makers.
Writers.
Inventors.
Independent creators.
We're interested in what people are making, how they're making it, and the knowledge they've gathered along the way.
Sometimes what somebody creates tells you an even better story about the person who created it.
COMMUNITY & HISTORY
Every community has people carrying pieces of its story.
Local historians.
Longtime residents.
Libraries.
Museums.
Community organizations.
People preserving buildings, traditions and memories.
And people creating new chapters of that history right now.
Through The Lantern Tree and other Great Lakes Radio conversations, we want to explore the history, folklore, traditions, people and stories that give communities around the Great Lakes their individual character.
MUSIC CONNECTS US TOO
Reverend Chickie Haute and Minister John Collie are musical artists themselves, and music is an important part of Great Lakes Radio.
Through our own original music and Independent Music Hour, we can also connect with musicians creating throughout the Great Lakes and beyond.
A song can introduce you to a person you've never met.
A musician can introduce you to a community you've never visited.
And sometimes one creative connection leads to another.
GAMING BUILDS CONNECTIONS
Gaming has always had a remarkable way of bringing people together.
Through Great Lakes Games Network, we're building connections among tabletop gamers, gaming groups, game stores, venues and others who help create opportunities for people to gather and play in person throughout the Great Lakes region.
Great Lakes Radio connects with that world through Dungeons & Dragons Storytime and other conversations and stories inspired by tabletop gaming.
Sometimes the connection begins behind a microphone.
Sometimes it begins around a gaming table.
OUR CONNECTED PROJECTS
Great Lakes Radio is part of a growing collection of projects created by Chickie and John.
Quantum Inspirations
Love's Church
Great Lakes Games Network
Reverend Chickie Haute
and other projects as they develop.
Each has its own purpose and personality, but they don't have to exist in separate little boxes.
An idea discovered through one project may become a radio conversation.
A radio conversation may inspire another idea.
A gaming connection may bring new people together around a table.
A spiritual question may become an episode.
A community encounter may lead somewhere completely unexpected.
The connection between the projects is part of what makes them interesting.
MAKE A CONNECTION
Know someone interesting?
Is there a person doing something unusual in your community?
A business with a great story?
A musician we should hear?
A historian we should meet?
A farm, maker, artist, organization or community project doing something worth discovering?
Tell us about them.
You can even tell us about yourself.
We're not promising advertisements, endorsements or automatic features.
We're looking for interesting people and interesting stories.
And sometimes all it takes to start a new connection is someone saying: