Audio Essays

Series produced by Northern Community Radio - KAXE & KBXE, Minnesota

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Radio essays recorded in the writer's own voice about topics related to Minnesota arts culture and history.

Programming is supported by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Arts, culture and history essays by Grand Rapids poet and writer Steve Downing recorded in the writer's own voice.

Programming is supported by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.


61 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
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Steve Downing shares his essay on Northern Community Radio, the Mississippi River Fest and gophers.

Bought by KPIP-LP


  • Added: Aug 10, 2017
  • Length: 10:02
  • Purchases: 1
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Steve Downing shares his thoughts after attending a class reunion for his summer-of-love high school class---the class of 1967-- in Grand Rapids.

Bought by KPIP-LP


  • Added: Aug 15, 2017
  • Length: 05:14
  • Purchases: 1
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Steve Downing talks about his late in life hunting adventures.

Bought by KPIP-LP


  • Added: Sep 18, 2017
  • Length: 07:32
  • Purchases: 1
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Steve Downing shares an essay on the much-debated divide between urban and rural populations in Minnesota.

  • Added: Oct 27, 2017
  • Length: 03:54
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Steve Downing talks about weather, travel and being a holiday curmudgeon.

Bought by Angelica Community Radio, RadioStPete Florida, and WTIP


  • Added: Nov 27, 2017
  • Length: 04:07
  • Purchases: 3
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Steve Downing shares his thoughts on the holidays in Las Vegas.

  • Added: Dec 29, 2017
  • Length: 04:38
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Steve Downing talks about his resolution to be more open to experiences, opportunities and surprises.

  • Added: Feb 09, 2018
  • Length: 04:29
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Steve Downing shares his essay on the origins of Valentine's Day.

Bought by WHCP-LP Cambridge


  • Added: Feb 16, 2018
  • Length: 04:33
  • Purchases: 1
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Steve Downing shares his essay, covering a review of the dictionary and a recipe for blueberry-flavored venison meatloaf, all folded into the same ...

  • Added: Mar 13, 2018
  • Length: 04:50
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Steve Downing shares his thoughts on poetry and wishes everyone a Happy National Poetry Month!

  • Added: Apr 19, 2018
  • Length: 04:10
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Steve Downing laments on the many facets of the month of May.

  • Added: May 29, 2018
  • Length: 04:25
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Steve Downing shares his theory about how the word “dig”, as in shovel, came to be synonymous with the word “like”, as in like.

  • Added: Jun 14, 2018
  • Length: 04:09
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Steve Downing talks about a night-sky phenomenon called STEVE - an acronym for Strong Thermal Emission Velocity Enhancement.

  • Added: Sep 04, 2018
  • Length: 05:17
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Steve Downing congratulates Jeff Johnson, the proprietor of Verse Like Water, a poetry performance series, at Central Lakes College in Brainerd.

  • Added: Sep 17, 2018
  • Length: 04:00
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Steve Downing shares his essay about the many chores and happenings that let a person know fall has arrived.

  • Added: Oct 09, 2018
  • Length: 03:59
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Steve Downing shares his essay about a Thanksgiving turkey dinner devolving into a political food fight.

Bought by Angelica Community Radio


  • Added: Nov 19, 2018
  • Length: 04:12
  • Purchases: 1
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After a trip to Prague, Steve Downing shares his thoughts and comparisons on the Old World versus the New World.

  • Added: Dec 04, 2018
  • Length: 04:36
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After spending two months in Mexico, Steve Downing wonders if he might credibly be called a snowbird.

  • Added: Feb 08, 2019
  • Length: 05:16
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Steve Downing remembers the ‘duck and cover’ campaign used in the 50's and 60's, teaching school children what to do if a nuclear attack should tak...

  • Added: Mar 08, 2019
  • Length: 05:02
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Steve Downing uses knuckles and Darwinism to convince us that we are closing in on a time when women will be the undisputed leaders, in governance,...

  • Added: Apr 18, 2019
  • Length: 04:42