Buffalo Toronto Public Media Blog
Explore the latest stories, innovations, and community voices shaping public media. From behind-the-scenes looks at groundbreaking productions to in-depth features on local culture and initiatives, the BTPM Blog keeps you connected to the heart of public storytelling. Dive into inspiring narratives that amplify the power of media to inform and engage.
BTPM Blog
Kathryn's Must-Sees on BTPM PBS in May
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
Kathryn's Must-Sees on BTPM PBS in April
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
Kathryn's Must-Sees on BTPM PBS in March
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
NYC Theater Trip 2026: Five Shows, Endless Applause
Explore the BTPM Travel Club’s NYC Theater Adventure, featuring five unforgettable shows, behind-the-scenes access, iconic New York landmarks, and meals worth their own standing ovation in this BTPM Blog with Heather Hare.
Kathryn's Must-Sees on BTPM PBS in February
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
Kathryn's Must-Sees on BTPM PBS in December
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
Kathryn's Must-Sees on BTPM PBS in November
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
The Faces Behind the Fair: How BCAT’s Community Resource Event Brings Buffalo Together
What made the BCAT Community Resource Fair stand out wasn’t just its size, more than 30 community organizations participated, but its purpose. It was about connection, access, and collaboration.
Reading Rainbow Returns and So Does the Magic of Reading
The beloved Reading Rainbow returns, inspiring a new generation to discover the joy of books, imagination, and lifelong learning through the power of story.
Kathryn's Must-Sees for October on BTPM PBS
Kathryn’s Must-Sees is your guide for the most compelling and thought-provoking programs on BTPM PBS. Curated monthly by Kathryn Larsen, our Vice President of Content Distribution with over 40 years of programming experience, these standout programs entertain, inspire, and spark conversation.
Top 5 Things To Do in Buffalo this Fall
The fall season is right on our heels in Buffalo, but it's the perfect season to enjoy what the city has to offer. For some suggestions on what to do this fall, here's our list of top 5 things you can do to embrace the new season.
Helping Kids Adjust After the First Days of School
Back-to-school in Buffalo and WNY brings excitement and anxiety. Discover expert tips and resources from Buffalo Toronto Public Media to help kids ease into routines and thrive this school year.
The BTPM Classical Blog is presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
BTPM Classical Blog
Reflections on Toscanini
Arturo Toscanini was... Well, there’s really no modern equivalent. In this blog, BTPM Classical host Ed. Simone reflects on Toscanini during a trip to Parma.
March Birthday Madness!
BTPM Classical loves March too, not only for basketball, but for birthdays!
Music to Recharge Your Batteries
Music doesn’t always have to bring you to tears, or motivate you to shoot off fireworks in victory over something. It can also just be respite.
The School Piano: A Salute
Do you remember your elementary school music teacher’s name? What was it? I’ll never forget mine. BTPM Classical Host Marty Wimmer reflects on his school piano memories.
Five Classical Music New Year’s Resolutions
Have you ever made a classical music New Year’s resolution? I know. Odd. But I’ve found that classical music New Year’s resolutions are easy to keep – and a heck of a lot easier than dieting or going to the gym!
Christmas Wreaths | BTPM Classical Blog
Ed. Simone reflects on his traditional Christmas wreath in this BTPM Classical blog.
13 Musical Forms of Life | BTPM Classical Blog
Music has a lot in common with architecture. It relies on solid structures called “musical form.” Marty Wimmer tells you more in this BTPM Classical blog.
Abominable Snowmen | BTPM Classical Blog
No Christmas season was complete for me in the 1970s without watching "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. But where did the song come from? Find out in this BTPM Classical Blog.
Change | Marty Wimmer BTPM Classical
November is, indeed, a month of change. But then again, so is every other month. Grandpa was right; the only constant in life is change.
Music, Emotions, & Memories
BTPM Classical Host Marty Wimmer reflects on his three favorite symphonies that connect to him emotionally in this Classical blog.
The Organ Trail
BTPM Classical held a walking tour featuring some of the city's most beautiful and historic pipe organs. Marty Wimmer, BTPM Classical Host, recounts the tour in this blog.
Why Classical?
BTPM Classical Host Ed. Simone answers the question of "why classical?" in this blog. Hear why classical music is so gravitating to Simone!
BTPM The Bridge Blog
The Scene Playlist for May 3
Check out the playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O and learn about the artists and their music, including Talking Violet, Altered by Mom, and Pluck.
The Scene Playlist for May 3
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including VOYAGR, Pretty, and Ace of Wands.
Upcoming Local Shows for 5/1 - 5/7
Check out local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Alison Pipitone Band, SpookyGuava, and more!
The Scene Playlist for April 26
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including Laila, Garrett Shea, and Pluck.
Upcoming Local Shows for 4/24 - 4/30
Check out local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Ace of Wands, Noah Lee, and Alex McArthur.
The Scene Playlist for April 19
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including trick pinky, Chores, and kami.
Upcoming Local Shows 4/17 - 4/23
Check out local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Renay x Space Boy, Birddog, and Bad Bloom.
The Scene Playlist for April 12
Check out the playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including
Upcoming Local Shows for 4/10 - 4/16
Check out the local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Alex Exists, Meagan Aversa, and Roger Bryan & the Orphans.
The Scene Playlist for April 5
Check out the playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including CJ Wiley, Personal Style, and Maiden Lane.
Heritage Moments
Heritage Moments: Louise Blanchard Bethune, Buffalo’s Gift to Architecture and Women’s Rights
Buffalonians don't say much about the most significant architect Buffalo ever produced: Louise Blanchard Bethune, America’s first female professional architect, and a woman who designed many of the city’s signature edifices.
Heritage Moments: Northeastern Ohio, Western New York, Paradise—The World of Charles Burchfield
Charles Burchfield, 28, was already an accomplished watercolorist when he moved to Buffalo from Salem, Ohio, in November 1921 to take a job as a designer at the M.H. Birge & Sons wallpaper company. But in 1925, he really found his home.
Heritage Moments: Father Baker’s Miracle at Our Lady of Victory
Father Nelson Baker — the “padre of the poor,” the man who built the Our Lady of Victory complex in Lackawanna into an astonishing city of charity that featured an orphanage, a boys’ protectory, a home for unwed mothers and their infants, a hospital, a grade school and high school, a nurses’ home, a farm to help feed the hungry, a soup kitchen that served more 450,000 meals during the first three years of the Great Depression, and finally the great basilica that has become a national shrine and pilgrimage site.
Heritage Moments: Frank Grant, the Buffalo Bisons and the drawing of baseball’s color line
The chronicle of baseball’s color line usually focuses on the triumphant story of its breaking by Jackie Robinson in the 1940s. Rarely told is the bitter story of how the color line was established, way back in the 1880s — in places like Buffalo, at the expense of black men like Frank Grant, the star second baseman of the Buffalo Bisons.
Heritage Moments: How Jay Silverheels, the man who played Tonto, got his name
Tonto is one of the most famous and enduring characters ever to come out of American television. And the actor who made Tonto come alive during the entire TV run of The Lone Ranger (1949-57) was a handsome, dark-haired, sometimes-Buffalonian named Jay Silverheels.
Heritage Moments: At UB, a Flag Is Born for the Six Nations
Everywhere you go in North America these days, it seems, you see the Six Nations flag. You’d think it’s been flying forever. But in fact, it is less than 40 years old.
Heritage Moments: Chauncey Olcott, WNYs 'Wild Irish Rose'
Chauncey Olcott, a son of Buffalo and Lockport, did not set foot in the Emerald Isle until he was 40 years old.
Heritage Moments: Deerfoot, the World Champion From Cattaraugus
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the sport of running was dominated by Indigenous men. Such famous runners as Tom Longboat (Onondaga), Jim Thorpe (Sac and Fox), Louis Tewanima (Hopi), Deerfoot-Bad Meat (Siksika), and Ellison Brown (Naragansett) were all winners of Olympic gold, the Boston Marathon, and other prestigious races of the era. But the first among them was a Seneca from the Cattaraugus Territory… the original Deerfoot.
Heritage Moments: A ‘Fugitive Slave’ Fights for a Family’s Freedom
William Wells Brown took part in a 1835 brawl in which black Buffalonians, he said, “assembled to protect a brother slave and his wife and child from being dragged back into slavery, which is far worse than death itself.”
Heritage Moments: ‘Time, to Think of It All’ — Robert Creeley in Buffalo
Robert Creeley (1926-2005), one of the most important American postmodern poets of his era, belongs to the world. But he also was — and continues to be — a Buffalo treasure.
Heritage Moments: Mary Elizabeth Johnson Lord Takes a Stand for the Animals
Mary Elizabeth Johnson Lord was a prominent Buffalo matron. “Kind to all animals herself, it pained her to see them abused,” as one local newspaper put it. Now, more than a century and a half later, if they could, they’d still be thanking her.
Heritage Moments: Fredonia’s Eternal Flame
It’s right there on Fredonia’s village seal: a lamp with five small flames and the words “First gas well”---a shorthand way of laying claim to the proud distinction of being the first place anywhere in the world to be lighted by natural gas.