Big Talk

Now more than a half century old, the Bloomington Symphony Orchestra continues to provide South Central Indiana with professional-quality symphonic music. When conductor Alejandro Gómez Guillén came aboard, he pledged to diversify the orchestra and broaden its playlist and has done so. The BSO concludes its 52nd season with two performances of Gustav Holst’s “The Planets” Sunday, May 22, 2022. …

She went from shoeing horses to playing a key role in preserving and administering Indiana’s art history. Rachel Perry’s new book, Painter of the Dunes: A Life of Frank Virgil Dudley, was published by the Indiana Historical Society Press late last year. Dudley’s oils depicting the state’s spectacular sand dunes off the southeast shore of Lake Michigan helped bring them …

Indiana University boasts some 10,000 graduate students, fully one quarter of whom are paid employees helping to teach undergrads among other tasks. More than 1700 of the paid grad students have signed union cards in the last six months. The Indiana Grad Workers Coalition is affiliated with the United Electrical, Radio & Machine Workers of America. The University so far …

Civil rights attorney, law professor, and now an author, Dan Canon has delved deeply into America’s assembly line justice system in his new book, “Pleading Out.” He’s found that rather than truth or justice, the system values speed and ease. He suggests that legislators create many useless laws that criminalize huge swaths of the population, overwhelming the courts and forcing …

The graffitist formerly known as Tom Cat Spray has erased the line between art and day-to-day life. Part 1 of our conversation with Ebbinghouse aired Thursday, March 24, 2022. Part 2 aired Thursday, March 31, 2022 Hosts Michael Glab and Alex Ashkin chat with Bloomington’s most fascinating people.

For years, few if any people knew who Tom Cat Spray was. The individual worked overnights, spraying colorful, provocative graffiti around downtown Bloomington. Tom Cat Spray eventually was revealed to be artist David Ebbinghouse. His street and wall work were only a small part of his vivid, lively portfolio of creative pursuits that included jewelry making, fashion design, sculpture, installation, …

WFHB News Director Kade Young joins host Michael Glab to discuss recent Bloomington news stories. WFHB citizen journalists have covered a series of demonstrations at Indiana University protesting the invasion of the Ukraine, the city’s pilot Leaf Program, the IU decision to end its student mask requirement, the decrease in COVID cases in Monroe County, Bloomington Mayor John Hamilton’s state …

Three of Bloomington’s most respected arts organizations — the Cardinal Stage Company, the Bloomington Playwrights Project, and the Pigasus Institute — have agreed to a merger, creating one of the largest arts entities in the state. The new mega-organization — its name will be announced at an April 23rd fundraiser — will continue to stage new and established plays, sponsor …

He touched countless students’ lives and hearts while teaching at Bloomington High School North. Steve Philbeck realized he had a calling back when he was a kid and he was assigned to help a less fortunate classmate. He studied urban planning in college but found the lure of teaching irresistible. Philbeck also hosts a Thursday overnight program on WFHB. Hosts …

In the last decade, he turned the long-time WFHB interview program, Interchange, into something more in line with his personal vision. Doug Storm stepped forward from a group of five Interchange hosts back in 2013 and has been a mainstay on Firehouse Broadcasting ever since. Doug has decided the time is right to step away from his role as  the …