If you frequented the Round Up variety show and open mic that played on Thursday nights at the Hayloft Inn on M-72 between 2004 and 2020, you might recognize the new public address announcer’s voice at Traverse City Pit Spitters’ minor league baseball games this summer. That’s Cedar resident Bill Dungjen—a musician, sometime DJ at the WNMC college radio station, former Glen Lake School theater director, and now the baritone in the booth behind home plate.
Winters in Leelanau County also can be a little lonesome and isolating. To remedy the winter blues, Glen Arbor Wines holds a Thursday Blotter Night. So, what exactly is Blotter Night? Every week, Darci Ricker meticulously reviews the Leelanau Enterprise’s blotter section for light-hearted entries—only the innocuous ones are selected to be read aloud. At 6 pm sharp on Thursdays, locals and tourists alike gather at the counter of Glen Arbor Wines. Ricker’s aim is to provide a bright space in which to share those blotter entries that are amusing (someone’s chickens are loose out on Bodus Road!?)
Despite rumors to the contrary in recent years, the medium of radio is alive and well. In Leelanau County, independent radioheads share their love of music, practice citizen journalism, and produce feature segments over the airwaves and online, on venues such as Interlochen Public Radio and college radio station WNMC. Here are some of their stories.
Mark your calendars for the next Empire Area Community Emergency Fund Concert on Sunday, March 29, from 4-6 p.m. at Art’s Tavern in Glen Arbor. This will be a very special performance by featured artists Sue and Bill Dungjen.
“Ignore my fingers. I work on an organic farm and was pruning tomato plants. It turns your fingers black.” Tyler Bradley holds up his hands to show his darkened fingers. “It’s hard to get off, but don’t worry, I washed my hands.” He’s in front of the crowd at the Hayloft Inn on a recent Thursday evening, getting ready to play a few songs on his guitar. But before Bradley starts to play and right after the black-finger explanation, he asks, “What time is it?”