The sky near the Rock River in Wisconsin is a major flight path for birds and has been busier than O'Hare Airport lately. The Rock's Horicon Marsh has 266 species and is a "Globally Important Bird Area" according to the American Bird Conservancy.
Dec 30, 2011
Looking at the sky in Janesville (Click on the title below to see video properly)
Dec 29, 2011
Dec 22, 2011
Catch the Christmas Train in Janesville
A dear little girl, electric trains, and a Christmas lighting masterpiece at Rotary Botanical Gardens. Music by Kevin MacLeod.
Dec 16, 2011
BBB Warns of Scam Website Selling Puppies
This is a common scam in Wisconsin and around the country.
Building Yellowstone Park with 1933 Chevrolet trucks
This is the final video in our series commemorating Chevrolet's 90 anniversary in Janesville, WI.
So far we've talked about cars, but Janesville made trucks, too. For example, 1933 trucks.
Twelve 1933 Chevrolet trucks were used by the Civilian Conservation Corps to build the roads and facilities at Yellowstone Park, this country's first national park..
You will see the trucks, but most of the vintage video is a beautiful 12 minute travelogue of Yellowstone.
You Can Buy Blockbuster Gift Cards Again, But Your Old One's Still Worthless
A reminder not to buy gift card
Dec 9, 2011
Selling Janesville Chevrolets with Technicolor cartoons in the 1930s
Starting almost 90 years ago, Janesville, WI relied on General Motors advertising to sell Chevrolets made there. GM used Hollywood film makers and Chevrolet became the best selling car in the country.
Dec 3, 2011
Janesville made Chevrolets that went West
Chevrolet became America’s best selling car in the 1930s and began a long-lasting advertising campaign encouraging consumers to see the country…especially the west. Janesville, WI General Motors workers made many of those cars. The vintage color Chevrolet travelogue here is pristine and exquisite. It is still capable of tempting you to visit Arizona this winter.
Dec 2, 2011
6 Financial Nightmare Vacations
Bankrate.com
As a consumer reporter, I received many vacation complaints. Be wary of free vacation offers... like the ones being offered now at your local shopping mall.
Nov 25, 2011
Nov 19, 2011
Film of Chevrolet workers in Library of Congress
75 years ago, General Motors made wonderful films promoting Chevrolets. Workers in GM cities like Janesville had starring roles.
The company hired the best movie makers and Hollywood music composers. I love the music in this week's 8-minute film and the way it follows the action.
The company hired the best movie makers and Hollywood music composers. I love the music in this week's 8-minute film and the way it follows the action.
Nov 11, 2011
Nov 5, 2011
A killer revisited and my portrayal in a CBS-TV movie
As TV news troubleshooter years ago, I was contacted by Corrine in Green Bay who believed her missing sister, Vonnie, had been murdered by Vonnie’s husband, Ron Rickman.
Although Vonnie was never found, Rickman was eventually convicted of her murder. And we all ended up being portrayed in the CBS-TV movie “The disappearance of Vonnie.”
I tell the story in my online memoir Glen Loyd On Your Side in Wisconsin: Chapter 1/Portrayed in a CBS-TV Movie with a clip from the movie of Corrine asking me for help.
Recently this story electrified me again. Throwing the switch was a post on my memoir from a woman saying that Ron Rickman also shot and killed her father and grandfather, Wisconsin loggers who encountered him as he hunted. Rickman was found not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect. Although her main point was that the movie wasn’t accurate, it blew me away that I had once again been contacted by someone who lost family to this killer.
Here are more details and photos of the people in involved in this story:
The Disappearance of Vonnie
Rickman, the killer, lived close to my family in Green Bay. I was concerned about retaliation until he was arrested.
Oct 30, 2011
Oct 29, 2011
Oct 24, 2011
W.W. II Poet Warrior Festival
Janesville Gazette\
Two well-written World War II documentary films and Glen Loyd’s childhood memory of the time
Oct 22, 2011
Coming Attractions-WW II Poet Warriors starring Carl Sandburg
The death of eloquent radio writer Norman Corwin this week reminded me how America harnessed the power of poetry to conquer the evil empires of Germany and Japan in World War II.
Writing patriotic dramas, Corwin was inspired by Walt Whitman’s poetry of the Civil War era. Another one of our foremost poets--Carl Sandburg--wrote propaganda during World War II.
Carl Sandburg is most identified with Illinois, but he started his career as a Wisconsin newspaper reporter. Later, he was an editorial writer for the Chicago Daily News. He was awarded two Pulitzer Prizes for his poetry and his books about Lincoln. ( I'm proud to say that I had an investigative story published in the Chicago Daily News in the 1960s that resulted in Chicago banning sprayed asbestos used in the construction of skyscrapers.)
Oct 21, 2011
Oct 16, 2011
Glen Loyd Video: Student fashion at University of Wisconsin (HD)
I've always enjoyed the students at the University of Wisconsin as a speaker in their classrooms and as a teacher from the professional community. I had so much fun with this video I going back to University Avenue with my camera.
Oct 9, 2011
7 things to look for in a winter beater
Bankrate
No matter what kind of a vehicle you are looking for, always check the April (car buying) issue of
Consumer Reports. They recommended reliable used cars and tell you what you should pay for them.
Odometer rollbacks on the rise
Consumers in Wisconsin get ripped off by rollbacks. In fact, there's a state office that investigates these cases.
Oct 2, 2011
Oct 1, 2011
Mark Twain's Wisconsin
As a Mark Twain fan, I was delighted to find his footprints in Wisconsin. I have documented his visit to Janesville in a previous video. Here is another about his love affair with Wisconsin and the other Upper Mississippi River states
Sep 25, 2011
FTC Asks Court To Halt Defendant from Impersonating Federal Agencies While Steering Consumers to Mortgage, Tax, and Debt Relief Services
I contacted the Wisconsin Broadcasters Association about similar questionable ads running on some--not all-- Wisconsin radio stations and asked them to run public service ads warning consumers. They said no. Here is exactly what they said: "We understand the request and the concerns but we are not in a position to run ads questioning the honesty of our advertisers. We'd rather handle upfront with clients as they come in." My opinion: Some out of state advertisers and some Wisconsin broadcasters are preying on people in Wisconsin who already have more than their share of trouble. Shame!
The honest business people in Wisconsin who advertise on these stations lose credibility when lumped in with the dishonest out of staters. I would not advertise on these stations
Dishonest advertising is bad for consumers, business and broadcasters. The Better Business Bureau wasn't created by the consuming public or government. The BBB was created by businessmen losing money because of skeptical buyers.
FTC
Family of psychics charged with tricking victims out of $40 million
This ripoff happens in Wisconsin, too. Victims may be older people in pain or younger people trying to get back lost loves. Spirited away - WWW.THEDAILY.COM
Sep 18, 2011
"Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows until the last"
The last line of a Walt Whitman poem reminds us that a beautiful sunset is a struggle between light and darkness. Darkness always wins, but for a brief moment beauty reigns. As Whitman wrote, "Pure luminous color fighting the silent shadows until the last."
Enjoy Whitman's poem read by a person with an exquisite voice. And see the luminous colors of a stormy Southern Wisconsin sunset.
Sep 10, 2011
Sep 3, 2011
Janesville girl welcomed to Maryland by earthquake and chased home by hurricane
A nine-year-old girl from Janesville recently traveled to the Chesapeake Bay area of Southern Maryland to get acquainted with an aunt and uncle and cousins she had never met. The trip started with an earthquake and ended with a hurricane, but mostly it was family fun. The Van Buren fourth grader saw the Washington Monument just after it developed cracks and she had to leave five hours earlier than planned to escape Irene. Her Maryland family said they wished they had left, too, because their property was getting beat up and they didn't have electricity
Aug 28, 2011
You may have some money coming
For information about unclaimed funds in Wisconsin, go to http://www.facebook.com/WIUnclaimedProperty
Aug 20, 2011
Aug 19, 2011
Aug 13, 2011
When WI fostered the Delta Blues and Mississippians settled in Beloit
Did you know that Wisconsin was instrumental in popularizing the Mississippi Delta Blues and that 75 percent of Black migrants to Beloit came from Mississippi?
The Mississippi migrants brought along the blues to the Midwest. From 1922 until 1932 one-fourth of all blues recordings were made in Wisconsin!
One of the pioneer bluesmen was Son House who recorded for the Paramount record company in Grafton, WI.
Born in 1902 in Riverton, Mississippi, House
began recording for Paramount in 1930. He performed at the Beloit Blues festival in 1970.
In this video I've combined a Wisconsin Son House recording with old Mississippi photos from the Library of Congress.
A good source of information about Beloit migrants is Lucas W. Knowles of Beloit who just graduated from U.W Eau Claire. For an award-winning thesis project, Knowles spent weeks listening to oral histories from migrant families recorded during Beloit's Bicentennial History Project. Many Mississippi men were recruited to work in a Beloit factory during World War 1.
ABSTRACT
The Great Migration of southern Blacks to northern cities in the first half of the twentieth century is a well documented historical topic. Southern Blacks who had grown restive of the Jim Crow south headed north to urban settings seeking employment and a better life. As a result of this process, many Midwestern cities such as Chicago and Milwaukee experienced drastic social changes. Another city which became a destination during the Great Migration is the small city of Beloit, Wisconsin. Early twentieth century Beloit was a lively manufacturing locale centered on Wisconsin's southern border. At the onset of the First World War, Fairbanks, Morse and Company was experiencing a manpower shortage. To fill the void Fairbanks, Morse and Company began recruiting southern Black men to work in their factory. By offering jobs and housing, Fairbanks, Morse and Company established Beloit as a destination for southern Blacks seeking to leave the south. The research will focus on the events that led to Beloit becoming a Great Migration destination. The role of industry, individuals, and family will be examined to provide the reasoning behind Beloit as a destination during the Great Migration. Overall, the focus will be on the factors that led to Black migration to Beloit in the first half of the twentieth century and the early development of the Black community.
Following is a pdf of Knowles' paper. Be careful to click only "quick view" if you do not want to download the document.
http://minds.wisconsin.edu/bitstream/handle/1793/44608/Knowles_Lucas.pdf?sequence=2
Greenville Wedding Photographer Convicted
WYFF Greenville
We've had similar case histories in Wisconsin. Choose your wedding photographer carefully. Try to put as little money down as possible.
Aug 6, 2011
Jul 30, 2011
Fun at the Rock County 4-H Fair
It was hot and humid, but I'm glad I made it to the Fair this year. In this video, you will see someone hosing down a goat and then herself. I almost asked her to sprinkle me!
Jul 23, 2011
Wild Life in Chicago
I was pleasantly startled in Chicago by a brilliant full moon that popped out of the clouds and blushed orange. You will see it at the end of this video.
Jul 16, 2011
Southern Wisconsin Sights
I’ve had the pleasure of working with a number of Wisconsin photographers, but none has traveled more than Galen R. Frysinger of Sheboygan.
I’ll bet you Galen has been around the world as many times as Mark Twain or more.. His photos are found in publications such as National Geographic.
Galen has supplied photos for a number of my videos including “Mark Twain’s Egyptian Journey.”
I have invited Galen to do a photo shoot of Janesville. He said it was a possibility. Meanwhile here are some of Galen’s photos of Southern Wisconsin.
Jul 15, 2011
Jul 8, 2011
Watching newspapers
“Who would have thought 25 years ago that we would be part of a video project for a newspaper?" asked a retired videographer I worked with at a Green Bay TV station. My old TV friend was letting me use some of his beautiful video in the Janesville Gazette.
I wanted to say something eloquent this week about how the Internet is changing newspapers, books and magazines... But a TV commercial says it better than I ever could.
Although it’s an iPad commercial, it sums up the amazing things that a lot of us are doing now with computers in general…Like when grandma and I see a telephone call from our Janesville fourth-grader calling on Skype.
Jul 6, 2011
Jul 5, 2011
Jul 1, 2011
Sandhill cranes in Walworth County, WI
I stopped by a farmer's field a few years ago to watch Sandhill cranes doing their wonderful jumping-wingflapping-floating mating dance. If I only had my camera.
This time I did when I saw parent Sandhills escorting their offspring in Walworth County.
Sandhills are like some of us in that they can live to be 80, stick with the same mate for up to 30 years, and fly to Florida for the winter.
The WI Dept. of Natural resources says females lay one or two eggs. Chicks are born in 30 days and have fuzzy yellow-brown feathers. Born in May, they fly by July. Families feed together on seeds, tubers, grasshoppers, snails, frogs, snakes, birds and mice. Cranes can be a problem for farmers when they pull up sprouting corn in spring and eat large amounts of field grain in the fall.
Birders love Sandhills and count them as they come back from Florida. They look for a wingspan of up to 8 feet!
Jun 25, 2011
Eddie Doucette's Hall of Fame induction
As a young TV broadcaster in Green Bay, I got to see a lot of the Packers greats up close and personal.
I was thrilled when Bart Starr greeted me with, “Hi Glen,” in his southern accent before we were even introduced. Later he dressed me down for an investigation I was doing about some of his players. And still later, Bart assisted me in a project helping kids without fathers.
Later, I worked at another Green Bay TV station where massive Forest Gregg did his show as coach. I was kind of scared of him when he stormed passed me in hallway with his eyebrows twitching.
I was even a guest in the home of Ray Nitschke. He had a big oil painting of himself in uniform hanging in his beautiful living room....
Now as an old, wrinkled member of the Wisconsin Broadcasters Hall of Fame, I am still meeting famous Wisconsin sports personalities.
At our annual dinner this week, I got to shake hands with Eddie Doucette who called the games when the Milwaukee Bucks won their 1971 national championship with 7-2 center Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Oscar Robertson.
Jun 24, 2011
Looking for a good newsroom administrator?
I worked with Lee Hitter when he was Chief Photographer at WFRV-TV in Green Bay.
Excellent photographer...even better father of two...and a friend to every one who knows him.
What kind of man is Lee Hitter? When he was filming two kids close drowning in a dangerous river, he put down his camera, jumped in and rescued them!
Lee Hitter is one of the best men I know.
He has been news director at WFRV since the early 1990s, setting a record for longevity. He needs a new job because his station has new owners who are letting go more than 20 people.
You can get in touch with Lee Hitter at WFRV-TV in Green Bay: (929) 437 5411
Jun 17, 2011
Jun 10, 2011
Because he attended Beloit College, I wanted to make a video about actor James Arness. And I wrote to him a month before he died.
His web site said he enjoyed letters from fans. I am a fan, having just watched 174 of his old TV Gunsmoke shows on Netflix.
Although these westerns were made a half century ago, they are still good stories. But when you watch an episode or two a day for months something else happens to you along with being entertained.
You find yourself becoming a resident of that dusty frontier community of Dodge, Kansas with its cattle herds, horses, mules, buggies, stagecoaches, covered wagons, telegraph offices, hard drinkers, brawls and gun fights.
Your family is James Arness aka the stern Marshal Matt Dillon, Kitty, Doc, Chester, and Festus. These characters care a lot about each other and you care for them, too. It is almost too much to endure when outlaws take kind Kitty or grandfatherly Doc hostage.
Gunsmoke has strong stories and characters and occasionally first rate music by movie composers such as Franz Waxman.
But the show used the same background over and over again… no matter where the location is supposed to be--Kansas, Texas, or Mexico--you always see the same cabins, meadows, trees, and the same mountains. The horse with the white neck spot shows up with a different owner every episode. I'm not complaining about this. It made me feel at home.
In the saddle, Marshal Dillon is a rugged giant and his spurred heels almost scrape the ground. Yet he rides a beautiful horse with a fluffed up hairdo. The animal prances along the prairie during those long trailing-the-bad-guy scenes.
At the end of the trail, Dillon almost always wins the gun fight, but is often bloodied. His New York Times obituary said he was wounded 30 times in Gunsmoke.
James Arness was actually severely wounded in the leg during World War II.
He remained a patriot the rest of his life. Here is an excerpt from an Armed Forces film he made in his prime.
Jun 2, 2011
May 27, 2011
Snorkeling a crystal clear river
I enjoy the Rock River at my son’s home on Riverview Drive in Janesville and have fun making videos about the river's interesting history.
And I like to discuss the Rock with a Florida friend who also lives by a river.
Exchanging river videos with him recently, I got to see why he retired on the Rainbow River and goes snorkeling there every morning--the crystal clear water which comes out of the ground from Florida’s fourth largest spring.
May 21, 2011
On the Apple Store's 10th Anniversary, a Look Back and Forward
Dealnews
I stopped at an Apple store recently and was impressed by the sales reps and how the organization dedicates itself to helping customers learn how to operate their products.
These days a person with little or no computer experience can buy a good netbook for under $250 at Wal-mart and get into computing. But I can see someone paying for those fine Apple products and the accompanying education to make sure there is someone there to help them solve computer puzzles.
May 14, 2011
May 7, 2011
May 1, 2011
Man on the Moon
Not only will the space shuttle be grounded after its current flight, a program returning man to the moon has been scrapped.
TV coverage was blurry 40 years ago during the Apollo man-on-the-moon missions, but I recently discovered some high quality photos of them.
Apr 30, 2011
Apr 22, 2011
Electric sunset on the Rock River
I was in Fort Atkinson recently and found the east River Walk deserted...except for a solitary man playing an electric guitar.
Bill Breitsprecher told me he grew up in the city and likes to come back to the Rock River. "The water is peaceful," he said, "and gives me a sense of stability."
I get what Bill says about the Rock River. It does roll on peacefully and paints familiar pictures with intermittent mists, rippling reflections, and scarlet sunsets.
Apr 15, 2011
Guiding children: Big Brothers, Big Sisters and Van Buren School
Last weekend, I got to thank two women helping children…a Big Sister volunteer in Fort Atkinson and a music teacher at Van Buren Grade School in Janesville.
Oreck to pay $750,000 and to stop making health claims
ConsumerReports
I investigated another vacuum cleaner company that claimed its vacuum would protect you from illnesses like AIDS.
Apr 9, 2011
Rock River boy becomes dinosaur hunter
This video documents how important the Rock River was to a boy who would grow up to lead important scientific expeditions around the world.
Roy Chapman Andrews mentions the river a number of times in his books. For example, when he told of his dislike of snakes--something he had in common with the fictional character he is often associated with--Indiana Jones:
I have tried to remember when I began to dislike snakes so actively because I am interested in almost all other living things, and I am sure it dates from the time when I was about fourteen years old.
I was shooting along the banks of the Rock River in Wisconsin and spent the night in the open. After my dinner of bacon and bread I curled up to sleep with my head on a coat at the root of a great tree. During the night I felt something wriggling in my hair and sleepily put up my hand. A cold body curled about my wrist and bare arm. You could have heard me yell for at least seven miles and I leaped up shaking with fright. It was only a garter snake but if it had been a rattler I couldn't have been more scared. I didn't get over it for weeks. I used to have snake dreams even though I had never even smelled the cork of a whisky bottle at that tender age.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)