Kaatscast: the Catskills Podcast Silver Hollow Audio

Radio Catskill hit the airwaves in 1990 and operated out of a hydro-powered station in Jeffersonville. But when a building was recently offered in nearby Liberty, WJFF shed its 30-year skin and relocated to the now fully-renovated, modern production facility. Technological advances aside, this small public radio station is still very much focused on local news and Catskills culture.

Many thanks to our sponsors:

Briars & Brambles Books

The Mountain Eagle

Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway






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As Catskills black bears emerge from hibernation, we spoke with three bear experts –– wildlife rehabilitator Kristine Flones, and conservationist couple Patti and Bill Rudge –– who shared some handy tips for coexisting peaceably with our Catskills bears, including ...


the best time to wrap up your wild bird food (and why)
the importance of taking out the trash (at the crack of dawn)
equipping your Catskills home with a ... marine signal horn? 
resisting the urge to run from a bear!
identifying a mom with cubs
creating "space" on the trails

Congratulations to listener Douglas Black, winner of the Attwood Bellow Signal Horn!

Thanks to our sponsors:

Ulster Savings BankCentral Catskills Chamber of CommerceBriars & Brambles Books

Thanks also to The Mountain Eagle, and listeners like you!


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support

As any skier knows, squeezing into a pair of ski boots can be quite the challenge. For skiers with physical and cognitive disabilities, though, preparing for a day on the slopes can require exponentially more time and effort. But that doesn't stop skiers like Todd Reid, who lives with spina bifida, from savoring a day on skis.  

At the base of Windham Mountain, the 7200 square foot Gwen Allard Adaptive Sports Center is headquarters for the Adaptive Sports Foundation, which, for almost 40 years, has provided "profound and life changing experiences for children and adults with physical and cognitive disabilities and chronic illnesses through outdoor physical activity, education, support, and community."

Join us as we ski along with ASF's dedicated staff and volunteers, and hear from a few of their extraordinary clients.

Thanks to our sponsors:

Briars and Brambles Books
The Mountain Eagle
Central Catskills Chamber of Commerce


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If the Catskills seem busier lately, you're not imagining it. According to a new report, visits to the Catskills more than doubled between 2018 and 2021, when the region welcomed an estimated 12 million travelers––that's roughly equivalent to the Grand Canyon, Yosemite, and Yellowstone, combined!

The ongoing deluge, it turns out, is the very reason for this report, prepared over two years by the Catskill Advisory Group, or CAG, and recently delivered the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Goals include: 1) balancing the increasing recreational use of the Park with 2) the continued protection and science-informed management of our natural resources while 3) ensuring the experience of using the Park is welcoming, accessible, and inclusive.

To get a handle on all this, we spoke with Jeff Senterman, executive director of the Catskill Center, and a member of the advisory group that authored the report.

Download the report here.

This episode was sponsored by:

Ulster Savings Bank
Catskill Mountain Scenic Byway
The Mountain Eagle

And listeners like you!




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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support

Washington Irving was an early author to set his fictional tale in the Catskills, but he certainly wasn't the last. If Rip Van Winkle were alive today, he'd have no shortage of contemporary Catskills suspense stories to help keep him awake. Kelli Huggins is on a mission to read all things "Catskills," and she hankers for horror. If a novel features a Catskills town, hotel, or reservoir, it will likely make it onto Kelli's reading list. 

Here's a short list of Kelli's recent faves:

Just Like Mother, by Anne Heltzel
The Hotel Neversink, by Adam O'Fallon Price
Echo, Thomas Olde Heuvelt
The Grave Keepers, by Elizabeth Byrne
Bellweather Rhapsody, by Kate Racculia
Night Film, by Marisha Pessl

Kelli was a speaker on one on Lize Mogel's Walking the Watershed tours, where she recommended some watershed horror tales! She's a social media specialist for the Fenimore Art Museum and the Farmers' Museum in Cooperstown. 

Thanks to our sponsors: 

Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway
The Mountain Eagle


Photo by rikka ameboshi: https://www.pexels.com/photo/opened-book-on-tree-root-3358707/


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There's a "herd" of sewing machines in the hundreds, in Delancey, NY, and they're in the loving and capable hands of one Billy Hancock, owner of Billy's Make & Mend, an outpost for sewing machine repair and maintenance, sewing work, machine lessons, and plenty of history. 

Thanks to our latest sponsor, Ulster Savings Bank, which was established the same year as the Singer sewing machine company, 1851! Thanks also to the continued support of the Catskill Mountains Scenic Byway and The Mountain Eagle. 




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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/kaatscast/support