WYSO Weekend: February 14, 2016

WYSO | By Jerry Kenney

Published February 15, 2016 at 3:34 PM EST

On today’s WYSO Weekend we’ve got Culture Couch – this week Lauren Shows looks at the Victoria Theatre as it celebrates 150 years. Community Voices Producer, Jason Reynolds, continues his report on Vietnam Veteran turned anti-war protester Barry Romo in Rediscovered Radio, and WYSO Music Director, Niki Dakota, talks TechFest with her special guest on Excursions.

Imagine you wake up and go to get in the shower, or brush your teeth...and there’s nothing coming out of the tap. Imagine this happens with no notice...and sometimes goes on for days. Well, this scenario is real—and we’re not talking about Flint, Michigan. A trailer park south of Dayton has been battling problems with the water for years. And asWYSO’sLewis Wallace reports, that’s part of a larger trend. See pictures of thePineviewEstates trailer park at w-y-s-o dot org.
This week, Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley delivered the annual State of the City address. In the 20 minute speech, the Mayor outlined the city’s progress in job growth, infrastructure improvements, and investments in revitalization projects like the Dayton Arcade, Welcome Dayton and the rise of residential housing in the downtown area. But the Mayor said education, including kindergarten readiness continues to be a struggle for the city. She also said more work needs to be done on vacant and abandoned residential and commercial structures, particularly on the city’s west side We spoke to her about both of these issues after the speech. Dayton Mayor Nan Whaley – you can hear the full State of the City Address on our website.
Ohio Governor, John Kasich came in 2nd in the New Hampshire Republican primary election on Tuesday. It was good news for his campaign but now the candidate, who’s established himself as a moderate in the GOP field of presidential hopefuls, moves on to tougher territory – South Carolina and beyond. To figure out what this means for Kasich’s bid for the White House, WYSO’s Jerry Kenney Spoke to Mark Caleb-Smith, the director of the Center for Political Studies at Cedarville University.
On the last installment of Rediscovered Radio, we heard from Barry Romo, who spoke at Antioch College in 1973 as a member of Vietnam Veterans Against the War. But Romo wasn’t always against the war. He volunteered for the Army out of high school, became an officer, led men in battle, and earned a bronze star for valor. In short, Romo was a model solider, so when he spoke out against the war, people paid attention. Community Voices Producer Jason Reynolds has the story of Romo’s second wartime trip to Vietnam, when he went back as a civilian. *Rediscovered Radio is made possible by the generous support of Ohio Humanities.
Victoria Theatre celebrates 150 years in downtown Dayton this year. For WYSO’s Culture Couch, Community Voices producer Lauren Shows takes a tour of the theater—which has a reputation for being haunted. For pictures and more information, go to our website, w-y-s-o dot org. Culture Couch is our occasional series on arts and creativity in the Miami Valley.
On Miami Valley StoryCorps we bring you conversations between local people who went to the StoryCorps booth in Dayton in 2014. Today, we hear Jamie Krull interview her mother, Thelma Beam about her childhood and her education. *This Miami Valley StoryCorps interview and many others can be found at WYSO dot org. Today's interview was edited by Community Voices producer and Antioch College student Mari Smith.
TechFest the science and technology continues Sunday at Sinclair Community College. WYSO Music Director Niki Dakota is a big fan of the event and this week she had a guest in the studio to talk about it. Here’s part of that conversation.