A Finely Tuned Machine
On this edition of The Spark: Skilled piano technician John Schaldach shows there’s more ways than just performance to be involved in making beautiful music.
View ArticlePressing On
On This Edition of The Spark: Emily Hancock loves language and words, and also loves old-fashioned methods of printing them. She revels in using vintage foot-powered or hand-cranked presses, and...
View ArticleGetting Your Duck Pins in a Row
On this episode of The Spark: Cory Lay tells us how he stumbled upon an opportunity to become a Duck Pin Bowling technician at Harrisonburg's new Ruby's Arcade.
View ArticleThe Dreaded BluesLady
WMRA's Martha Woodroof meets Waynesboro blues singer Lorie Strother, who grew up living on the streets of Boston. Now, even though she’s got five children, a master’s degree and a good job, she still...
View ArticleThe Very Visible Lulu Miller
On this edition of The Spark, Martha Woodroof sits down for a chat with Lulu Miller. Lulu lives half her life in Charlottesville, half in DC, and spends all her time making NPR’s wildly popular new...
View ArticleReflecting on a Career with C-SPAN, Pt. 1
On this episode of The Spark: Connie Doebele retired to Staunton after 25 years on C-SPAN as a host and producer. In the next two installments of The Spark, she talks about how she went from her...
View ArticleReflecting on a Career with C-SPAN, Pt. 2
On this episode of The Spark: Connie Doebele retired to Staunton after 25 years on C-SPAN as a host and producer. She talks about how she went from her childhood on a Kansas farm, through radio news to...
View ArticleMaking Trouble in the Theater
Amanda McRaven was born and raised in Free Union. She’s a country girl, who fell in love with theater at an early age, and now she runs her own company Fugitive Kind in Los Angeles. She’s in Staunton...
View ArticleUp On the Roof
On this episode of The Spark: Twenty-one year old Richy Rohrer took his first roofing job for a paycheck. He’s still at it because: a) he likes the challenge of the job; and b) he wants to be as good a...
View ArticlePruning Love
On this episode of The Spark: Mary Stickley-Godinez, of Countryside Farm and Nursery in Crimora, tells how she and her husband Raul met over plant pruning. And a bit about the art and science of...
View ArticleAn Operatic Life
On this episode of The Spark: Australian-born Miriam Gordon-Stewart, who sang all over the world before moving to Charlottesville to co-found Victory Hall Opera.
View ArticleFrom Chocolate to Hope
On this episode of The Spark: Harrisonburg’s Brad Burrow’s business adventures in the world of fair trade chocolate.
View ArticleAmerican Revolutions
On this episode of The Spark: Alan Taylor, Pulitzer Prize winning historian, speaks with Martha about his new book, "American Revolutions: A Continental History, 1750-1804."
View ArticleA Sheepish Way of Life - Part 1
On this episode of The Spark: Hillary 'Bill" Clemmer spent several years working mostly alone on isolated New Zealand sheep stations. This is part one of her adventures.
View ArticleA Sheepish Way of Life - Part 2
On this episode of The Spark: Hillary 'Bill" Clemmer continues her conversation about a day’s work on a New Zealand sheep station.
View ArticleESPN "Cheat Sheet" Maker
WMRA's Martha Woodroof and college football "spotter" Tony Britt (bonus: also CBS Sports/ESPN legend Brent Musburger) discuss Tony's special "cheat sheets" he developed for ESPN reporters and other...
View ArticleChoosing the Writing Life
On this episode of The Spark: Martha speaks with Books & Brews author, Rebecca Kauffman.
View ArticleInto IT
On this episode of The Spark: Waynesboro's Ian MacRae was a bit of a computer wunderkind. He began his first computer business while he was still in high school. Twenty years later EN Computers employs...
View ArticleA Lens to the Heavens
On this episode of The Spark: Martha Woodroof learns more about astrophotography from college senior Daniel Stein. Daniel loves nothing better than spending entire nights photographing the night sky....
View ArticleA Poet's Life After Cancer
On this episode of The Spark: Charlotte Matthew’s talks about her third collection of poems, Whistle What Can’t Be Said.
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