Podcast Episodes
Back to Search
The rise and fall of ‘king of Portland saloonkeepers’
LATE ONE SPRING evening in 1917, a man named A.L. Sauvie was trying to sleep, and not having much success. The problem was his downstairs neighbor, who had gotten roaring drunk and was now verbally …
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Goofy, Bluto, Bozo were all Oregon’s ‘Pinto’ Colvig
One of the 20th Century’s most influential show-biz men, the Jacksonville native was a Beaver who made it big; he worked on Disney projects and Popeye cartoons and delighted kids as the first Bozo th…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Frontier journalists settled differences with gunfight
The nationally notorious “Oregon Style” of newspapering involved vicious personal attacks and a take-no-prisoners style of cutting invective; but it was ink being spilled, not blood. That is, until o…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
“Voice of Looney Toons” was the terror of his Portland high school
His teachers may not have appreciated Mel Blanc's humor and talents, but Portland radio listeners sure did — and later, so did generations of Bugs Bunny fans. (Portland, Multnomah County; 1910s, 1920…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
The Port Orford Meteorite: Was it all a big hoax?
If it's true, the 11-ton space rock is still out there — and worth over $300 million. But the guy who says he found it was in financial trouble, and many geologists today suspect he made the whole th…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Finn on KPNW's Wake Up Call: Minor political hack became opium king of West Coast
A recording of an on-air conversation with Bill Lundun and Gerry Snyder of the Wake Up Call on Eugene's KPNW Radio AM 1120. Topic: James Lotan's path from political fixer, to state party president, t…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
Missing gold suggests something sinister in shipwreck mystery
There were, so far as we know, no survivors. But when the upside-down hulk drifted ashore, it was 200 miles off course — and there was no sign of the 40-pound keg of gold it had been carrying. What h…
Published on 3 months, 3 weeks ago
“Shorty” Davis may be Oregon’s oldest cold case
Shorty Davis was a popular sheepman who one day in 1900 disappeared ... and no one has ever seen a sign of him since. Virtually everyone suspects foul play. (Prineville, Crook County; 1900s) (For tex…
Published on 3 months, 4 weeks ago
Filming of “worst Western ever” was a real spectacle
It was no 'Heaven's Gate' -- 'The Way West' was more like the 'Ishtar' of the late 1960s. It was spectacularly and expensively shot on location in Oregon, but plans to celebrate its release here foun…
Published on 3 months, 4 weeks ago
Boys’ summertime shipwreck adventure couldn’t happen today
They pedaled their bicycles from Portland to Astoria, snuck aboard a wrecked ocean liner, and spent the night marooned on board, with breakers crashing all around them. (Peacock Spit, Pacific County …
Published on 4 months ago