KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

Before you hit the town on New Year's Eve, take time for great radio. We'll air a pair of stories, one from reporter Alan Johnston on his 114 days in captivity in Gaza and the other a portrait of a Singing Salvation Army Bellringer. Read more about both in posts located just below this one.

Alan Johnston is an experienced foreign correspondent working for the BBC. But nothing could have prepared him for the day he was snapped up by a group of men with guns in Gaza. They held him captive for 114 days while his family in the U.K. wondered whether he'd live or die. He wondered the same thing. On December 31 at 7 p.m., we'll air a 22-minute essay from Alan Johnston on his life as a hostage. He speaks about the boredom, the food, his captors and fear. I listened to a podcast of the story the other day and cried.

I met Alan Jackson while reporting a story for The World. I was hanging out with Icelanders at the Mall of America when I noticed an engaging Salvation Army bellringer. Had he been a run-of-the-mill bellringer, I would have recorded him for a bit and moved on. But he was fantastic. He opened doors for shoppers. As they scooted out of the mall, he reminded them to wear seat belts. And he sang. This story aired on NPR's Day to Day on December 19. You can hear it on the Listening Lounge on December 31 at about 7:20 p.m. Cheers.

It's the hippest church in the city. Musicians Ralph Stanley and a member of the Violent Femmes have performed at House of Mercy church in downtown St. Paul. Take a visit there yourself. Listen to Joel Grostephan's story on this quirky house of worship. It's available at the KFAI archives until December 30. Just click on Listening Lounge and enjoy.

I f you could tell any story about people and the natural world, what would it be?" That's the question radio curator Jay Allison asked his favorite producers and they went ... all over. All this month on the Listening Lounge, we'll air Stories from the Heart of the Land , collected by Jay Allison On December 3 and December 10 , we air the following stories: 1. Out in the Great Bear Rainforest, Elizabeth Arnold discovers that, though she may be ready for the "Great", and for the "Rainforest", she is not so ready for the "Bear." 2. Armed only with a tent, a pack of hot dogs, and a twelve-year old, Jonathan Goldstein confronts his fear of the woods. 3. The Kitchen Sisters' portrait of activist Mark DuBois and his dramatic effort to save a wild river in the west. 4. What is it like to be exiled from a landscape that you can see from your window? When his legs fail him, Chris Brookes finds out. 5. The story of one man's prairie, and his w...