Door County Pulse Podcasts

While the Green Bay Packers have announced the succession plan for retiring team President Mark Murphy a year in advance, most nonprofits don’t have the luxury of planning for succession in leadership positions. Northern Sky Theater is one of the few that had a plan in place for the transition, and new Managing Director Holly Feldman joined the podcast to talk to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about the process and the benefits of putting a plan in place. She also discusses highlights of the 2024 season, and how Northern Sky handles the ever-unpredictable Door County weather at a theater in the woods.

There are some 1,000 music performances happening in Door County between June and October and we have them all for you in the Peninsula Pulse’s Summer Music Preview – Part I (June through July, out now) and Part II (August through October, out July 26). Pulse arts & entertainment reporter Sam Watson joins Debra Fitzgerald to talk about what it takes to pull that together. We’ll also introduce you to the Pulse’s summer intern, Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism student and Gibraltar High School graduate, Betsy Lecy.

When Kevin O’Donnell moved to the Southern Door town of Clay Banks seven years ago, he immediately found himself drawn to the people and scenes of the peninsula. He turned his lens and his pen increasingly toward the overlooked stories of the county, particularly those south of the bridge. O’Donnell joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about his new book about those discoveries – Behind the Door.

Should music education change? That’s the question Charlie Eckhardt has been mulling throughout his final year as the leader of the band at Gibraltar School, where he has taught for 24 years. He talks to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about leaving the classroom and how small-school music education might need to change to keep kids (and teachers) engaged.

Long-time member and leader of the Door County League of Women Voters, Susan Kohout, is retiring, and Ann Morgan has been selected to lead the non-partisan organization into the future. Both women talk with Debra Fitzgerald about the League’s founding, current issues of importance and what the future may hold.

Mark Villers, a Door County Environmental Council board member, talks with Debra Fitzgerald about the Door County Environmental Council’s history, current mission, what is and isn’t working to protect our water quality and the phosphorus testing the organization will do this summer.

This week’s Pulse features art and writing from Dor County students who took part in a project related to Rebecca Carlton’s new installation, “Are We Listening?”. Debra Fitzgerald joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about her experience working with local high school students to produce art, essays and mixed media about the issues they are most concerned about.

Freelancers and part-time writers help Peninsula Pulse staff round out coverage of the county and Mike Bacsi is the latest such member, covering Door County restaurants and the dining scene. Mike and his wife, Patti, transplanted to Door County during the pandemic, retiring to a vacation home they’d long loved. So many others also take this leap of faith, some doing so more successfully than others. Debra Fitzgerald talks with Mike about this journey (and they of course talk about Door County restaurants along the way).

Golf.com senior writer Sean Zak joins the podcast to talk about his new book, Searching in St. Andrews: Finding the Meaning of Golf During the Game’s Most Turbulent Summer. The Sturgeon Bay native (and former Peninsula Pulse golf contributor) talks to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about covering the battles between LIV and the PGA Tour, exploring the birthplace of the game, and the nuances of the tour the public rarely sees.

The Door Community Auditorium released a summer slate full of amazing new bands and old favorites this month. Cari Lewis joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the shows she is most excited for, how the schedule comes together, and standing out in a local music scene with more options than ever before.

Five of our 46 presidents came into office without winning the most popular votes nationwide. A movement to change that has gained momentum, with many states now signed on to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. The compact would change the way we elect our president from the winner-take-all Electoral College, to a one-vote, one-person popular vote. Debra Cronmiller, executive director of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin, and Dorothy Skye, president of the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin join Debra Fitzgerald to unpack it all.

Door County’s nonprofit community, like most of the country, is grappling with a shortage of volunteers at a time when their services are in more demand than ever before. Kelly Hellmann, the coordinator of Volunteer Connections for the United Way, joins the podcast with United Way Executive Director Amy Kohnle to talk about the need in Door County and the opportunities at the May 21 United Way Volunteer Fair at Door County Gala.

Myles Dannhausen Jr. gives a glimpse of the Early Summer edition of Door County Living and the pain of finding an error in his story about the fascinating cliff-hanging structure known as Shadowcliff. Then, he’s joined by Orson Dutmer, the 13 year-old co-host of Hot Takes Hoops, to talk about what’s next for the Milwaukee Bucks, the NBA Playoffs and how the league is consumed in the modern media landscape.

Water-born illnesses aren’t new to Door County, as Ephraim Historical Foundation director Cody Schreck wrote in a recent History Hub column in the Peninsula Pulse. He joins the podcast to talk to Myles Dannhausen Jr. about an e coli outbreak in Ephraim in the 1950s, plus a little history about an estate on Horseshoe Island and 75 years of the Ephraim Historical Foundation.

Sam Watson joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the weak ties and the value of connections in battling the “epidemic of loneliness” outlined in a 2023 Surgeon General’s report. The topic is the focus of the 2024 Door County Living Philanthropy Issue, on newsstands now.

This year’s edition of Door Wedding is now on newsstands, and editor Aleah Kidd joins Myles Dannhausen Jr. to talk about the stories and trends in the Door County wedding industry.

Myles Dannhausen revisits the words and advice of Ed McMahon of the Urban Land Institute, who visited the county 15 years ago and gave his advice on how the county could manage growth while preserving its essential character. Plus, a look at what the Door County Half Marathon has brought to the peninsula.

Tourism, housing and isolation rose to the top of areas of concern identified recently by a leadership team while developing the County of Door’s latest Community Health Improvement Plan. Shauna Blackledge, Door County Public Health strategist, joins Debra Fitzgerald to talk about those areas of concern, the focus areas they’ve adopted to address those concerns and the strategies developed to improve mental health, substance abuse and healthy lifestyle outcomes for Door County’s workforce and residents.

Julie Gilbert and Amanda Stuck of Destination Door County join Debra Fitzgerald to talk about Destination Door County's efforts to make local goals part of the organization's tourism picture.

That’s what we wanted to know for this year’s Peninsula Pulse Sustainability issue. We dig into almost 20-years-worth of data on test results, and research the improvements, programs and practices designed to protect the health of our groundwater, our drinking water and our beach water. Myles Dannhausen Jr. previews the issue with Debra Fitzgerald on what readers can expect and about some of the surprise findings.