Big Blend Radio

Big Blend Radio Network
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Viva Variety! Hosted by Nancy J. Reid and Lisa D. Smith, the mother-daughter travel team and publishers of Big Blend Magazines, Big Blend Radio educates, entertains and inspires! Topics include: Music, Books & The Arts; Travel & Recreation; Food & Drink; National Parks & Public Lands; History & Culture; Nature & Environment; Home & Garden; Family & Education; Business & Career; and much more!

  1. 17m ago

    How to Gift Wine, Even If You Don't Drink It

    Heading into the holidays with a bottle on your list and no idea what to buy?  On this episode of Big Blend Radio's "Wine Time with Peggy" Podcast, Peggy Fiandaca, co-owner of LDV Winery in Arizona, shares easy, thoughtful ways to gift wine, even if you don't drink it, and what to bring to Thanksgiving dinner. Plus: new 2019 Grenache and 2019 Signature Petite Sirah releases, why bottle glass color matters, wines for a vegan Thanksgiving, and Peggy's Sweet & Spicy Carrots. LINKS & RESOURCES - Get the recipe: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/sweet-spicy-carrots-recipe  - LDV Winery: https://ldvwinery.com  - Wine Time with Peggy Podcast: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/wine-time-with-peggy  - Wine & Bites Digital Podcast & Recipe Magazine: https://online.fliphtml5.com/yhwzg/fmlb/

  2. 6h ago

    Travel Writer Success Insider with Sharon K. Kurtz

    Travel writer and photographer Sharon K. Kurtz, host of Big Blend Radio’s "Wander the World with Sharon" Podcast, turns the microphone around in this conversation with Lisa D. Smith. Sharon shares how a midlife pivot became a travel-writing career, why she’s been to about 70 countries and still walks out the door with no plan, and her advice for new writers: write from your heart, don’t mimic anyone, and sleep on it before you submit. Then it’s seven fun questions: her spirit animal, who she’d invite to a dream dinner party, what she’d never eat, and what she wants in the new Big Blend Media House. Along the way, Lisa gives a tour of the house, including the wine cellar, the travel mapping room, the speakeasy and the Cabinet of Curiosities. LINKS: - Read Sharon’s Success Insider Q&A: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/travel-writer-success-insider-sharon-k-kurtz  - Explore more Wander the World with Sharon episodes: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/wander-the-world-with-sharon  - Visit Sharon’s website: https://sharonkkurtz.com  - Check out the "Wander the World with Sharon" Digital Podcast Magazine: https://online.fliphtml5.com/yhwzg/gyoy/#p=1

  3. 1d ago

    Asheville Music Scene: Venues, Festivals & Legends

    Asheville’s music scene is so much more than fiddles and bluegrass. On this episode of Big Blend Radio’s “Adventures in Asheville” Podcast, producer Lisa D. Smith joins cohosts Steve and Karen Wilson (“Mr. and Mrs. Wild”), owners of The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast in Asheville’s Montford Historic District, for a lively tour of where to hear live music in the Blue Ridge Mountains and why plenty of people plan a whole music week around it. Along the way they share: 🎸 Where to catch a show: The Grey Eagle, Asheville’s longest-running live music venue, where you can stand right up at the stage; The Orange Peel and its great acoustics; Asheville Music Hall and The One Stop; Thomas Wolfe Auditorium; and the underground rooms Third Room, Eulogy and Revival. 🍺 Breweries with music: Burial, Wicked Weed Funkatorium, One World West, Highland Brewing’s meadow stage, and shows at Sierra Nevada, in a city that’s earned the name Beer City USA. 🎤 Famous Asheville names: Roberta Flack, Jermaine Dupri, Luke Combs, Warren Haynes, David Holt, Marcus King, Balsam Range and Bob Moog, plus a look at the Moogseum. 🎄 Plan ahead: Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam on December 12 with Greta Van Fleet, The War on Drugs, Gov’t Mule, JJ Grey & Mofro and more, Billy Strings’ five nights in February, and Christmas at the Biltmore. 🎨 The Orange Peel’s story: from roller rink to auto parts warehouse to famed music hall, and the Lionel Richie mural by Gus Cutty. 💿 Vinyl, listening rooms and street music: Records in the RAD, the Joyful Noise listening lounge, Montford Porchfest, Hillbilly Jam, busking and the Friday-night drum circle. Whether you love blues, bluegrass, funk, jazz, hip hop or symphony, this episode is packed with ideas for planning your own Asheville music getaway. LINKS & RESOURCES: 🧩 Piece together the online jigsaw puzzle of the Grey Eagle mural, and see the photos and venue links: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/asheville-music-scene  🛏 Stay at The Lion & The Rose Bed & Breakfast: https://www.lion-rose.com/  🎤 More from Steve and Karen, their “Beyond the Stage” series: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/t/beyond-the-stage  🎧 Adventures in Asheville Podcast: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/adventures-in-asheville  📖 Digital Podcast Magazine: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/adventures-in-asheville-magazine

  4. 1d ago

    Inside Mobile’s Historic Battle House Hotel & Spa

    Step inside one of the South's grand historic hotels with Big Blend Radio's "Travel with Terri" Podcast. On location in downtown Mobile, Alabama, travel journalist Terri Guthrie sits down in the lobby of the Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa with General Manager Margo Gilbert, who has led the hotel since 2004. Margo shares the hotel's remarkable story: built in 1852, lost to fire in 1905, rebuilt in 1908, shuttered in 1974, and brought back to life as a Historic Hotels of America member and AAA Four Diamond property. You'll hear about the two-story lobby and its hand-painted trompe l'oeil portraits, the whispering arch where there are "no secrets in the lobby," and the Crystal Ballroom, where Mobile locals still stop by to remember their proms. Terri also explores the amenities: 238 rooms, restaurants and bars, a 10,000-square-foot European spa, a pool deck with pickleball and tennis, and a location right on the Mardi Gras parade route. Along the way, Margo shares the movie stars who have stayed here, and Terri explains why this one is now a favorite. This episode is part of Terri's Mardi Gras Train series along Amtrak's route from New Orleans to Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and Mobile. Coming up next: what to see and do in Mobile. LINKS  & RESOURCES: - Battle House Renaissance Mobile Hotel & Spa: https://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/mobbr/  - Start the series with Knox Ross of the Southern Rail Commission: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/mardi-gras-train-gulf-coast-amtrak  - Last time, Bay St. Louis by Train: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/bay-st-louis-mississippi-mardi-gras-train  - Plan your ride on the Mardi Gras Train: https://www.amtrak.com/mardigras  TRAVEL WITH TERRI - Travel with Terri on Big Blend Radio: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/travel-with-terri  - Travel with Terri: https://www.travelwithterri.com  - The Luxe Explorer Digital Podcast Magazine: https://www.travelwithterri.com/magazine

  5. 2d ago

    Author Robin Rosenbluth – Education, Water & Belonging in Kenya

    Author Robin Rosenbluth joins Big Blend Radio’s “Table & Compass” Podcast hosts Joelle Machia and Ryan Slough of Wanderers Compass, and producer Lisa D. Smith, for a conversation about her new memoir, "Living with Strangers: Healing a Wounded Heart in a Distant Land" (She Writes Press). Robin was eight when her mother died. Her father placed her and her younger sister in foster care, even though relatives had offered to take them. With help from a high school guidance counselor and a few scholarships, she made it to college. At nineteen she traveled to Songa, a remote village in northern Kenya near Marsabit, to teach elementary school. She lived there for nine months among the Samburu and Rendille people, and found more connection than she had known with her foster family or her father. The conversation follows her story through the UN Sustainable Development Goals: quality education (SDG 4), clean water (SDG 6), reduced inequalities (SDG 10), and life on land (SDG 15).  Robin shares: - the story of a boy who asked only for a jar of water; - the adult literacy class she started by candlelight; - what a cup of chai says about welcome; - how vulnerability mended a friendship; - the difference between tourism and connective travel; - what people misunderstand about Africa; - a message for older foster youth; - how the Northern Rangelands Trust brought Songa into its conservancy network. LINKS & RESOURCESl - Robin Rosenbluth: https://www.RobinRosenbluth.com  - Robin’s Substack, My Jagged Journey as a Debut Writer: https://robinrosenbluth.substack.com  - You Gotta Believe: https://www.yougottabelieve.org  - Northern Rangelands Trust: https://www.nrt-kenya.org  - UN Sustainable Development Goals: https://sdgs.un.org/goals  - Wanderers Compass: https://www.WanderersCompass.com  New episodes of Big Blend Radio’s “Table & Compass” Podcast air every first Monday. Listen to more episodes: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/table-and-compass

  6. 3d ago

    American Jukebox with Johnny Schaefer - Songs for Positive Change

    Join host Lisa D. Smith and co-host Johnny Schaefer, an award-winning singer-songwriter, who joins us every first Sunday of the month, for Songs for Positive Change on Big Blend Radio’s "American Jukebox," part of our America 250 celebration. Autumn is a season of change, and these songs remind us that change is inevitable, that ordinary people have real power, and that it all starts with love. We spotlight Nina Simone, Tracy Chapman, Blind Melon, Patti Smith, Aloe Blacc, the late Joey Stuckey, and Johnny’s own “Love Shines On,” plus a special interview with Grammy-winning singer-songwriter Melissa Manchester about her song “‘Til We Remember Who We Are.” 🎵 Hear the episode with every song, and enjoy both playlists, and check out all the links mentioned: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/p/american-jukebox-songs-for-positive-change  🎙️ Keep up with Johnny Schaefer: https://hearjohnny.com/  🎙️ Listen to all of our American Jukebox episodes:  https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com/t/american-jukebox

  7. 4d ago

    Debbie Levitt: Moving to Italy Dream vs. Reality

    Have you ever scrolled past a gorgeous old stone house in Italy and thought, “I could live like that”? Our guest Debbie Levitt did more than dream. An American who now lives full-time on the island of Sardinia, Debbie is an Italian citizen who calls herself the Italian Inpat: an immigrant who came to Italy and found home, not an American who left. In this candid conversation on Big Blend Radio, Debbie shares what it really takes to make the move. She talks about how two days added to a 2017 vacation turned into a self-employment visa, five suitcases and a new life, and why she kept her move easy to undo for the first two years. You’ll hear about: - The difference between an “expat” and an “inpat” - The visa paths Debbie mentions, from self-employment to investment, retirement and digital nomad visas - Why citizenship takes years, and what Debbie understands about recent changes to citizenship by ancestry - Paperwork stories, including the flight to Rome to swear she is really herself - Why a geometra (a local surveyor) belongs on your team before you buy, and how zoning can surprise you - The truth about one-euro houses: distressed properties, hidden costs and villages with no grocery store - The residence permit (permesso di soggiorno) wait - Everyday life in rural Sardinia, from the village butcher to the driving school saga Today closes out Italian American Heritage Month, and we’re marking it with the real story of moving to Italy. Debbie shares her personal experience and general information. This is not legal or immigration advice, so check current rules with an immigration attorney or official sources. Links: - Debbie Levitt, Italian Inpat (the first call is free): https://ItalianInpat.com  - Follow Big Blend Radio on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BigBlendRadio

  8. 5d ago

    Filmmaker Gina LeVay Goldstein – Blind AF

    October is Blindness Awareness Month and Emotional Wellness Month, and this conversation fits both. Director and filmmaker Gina LeVay Goldstein joins Big Blend Radio to talk about "Blind AF," the award-winning documentary following blind Paralympian, Army veteran and world-record holder Shawn Cheshire on a 60-day, 3,600-mile solo bike ride across America. Shawn lost her sight to a brain injury in 2009 while working as a paramedic, and the film goes far beyond the miles. Gina explains how she met Shawn in 2015, how the story grew from an endurance ride into a film about trauma, healing and reclaiming your authentic self, and why trauma “tells no time.” She also talks about the filmmaking, the team behind it, and the moment on the road when a stranger reminded Shawn that blindness isn’t a disability, it’s a difference. Among others, Gina thanks executive producer Jeff Zimbalist, editor Michael Culyba, and cinematographers Cristobal de Alba and Benjamin Soto of Zenith Adventure Media. "Blind AF" premiered at the Bentonville Film Festival, won Best of Fest at the 2025 Sedona International Film Festival, and is now streaming on Amazon Prime, Apple TV, Tubi and Documentary+. LINKS & RESOURCES: Watch the film: https://www.blindafdoc.com  Meet the team: https://blindafdoc.com/the-team  Shawn Cheshire: https://www.shawncheshire.org  Big Blend Media House: https://www.bigblendmediahouse.com

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Viva Variety! Hosted by Nancy J. Reid and Lisa D. Smith, the mother-daughter travel team and publishers of Big Blend Magazines, Big Blend Radio educates, entertains and inspires! Topics include: Music, Books & The Arts; Travel & Recreation; Food & Drink; National Parks & Public Lands; History & Culture; Nature & Environment; Home & Garden; Family & Education; Business & Career; and much more!

Information

  • Creator
    Big Blend Radio Network
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    111
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Big Blend Radio and Magazines
  • Show Website
    Big Blend Radio