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
More Than Static: Why Public Media Still Matters to Me
A personal reflection on how public media shaped my life — and why we can't afford to lose it.
Community Voices: A Spotlight on Local Creatives and Changemakers
Highlighting the local poetry community as amplifiers for community voices.
Pitch, Play, and Public Media: What Baseball Taught Me About Storytelling
A trip to the ballpark turned into a reflection on the timeless power of public media — and why its evolution matters as much as the game’s.
Buffalo’s Hidden Histories: What We Forget, What We Remember
Explore how history lives around us in everyday places and conversations.
The Art of Storytelling: How Public Media Shapes Local Narratives
Explore how public media serves as a vital storyteller for local communities, preserving history, amplifying underrepresented voices, and fostering a shared cultural identity.
Absolutely No Big Changes Here... Except Everything
Big changes (but not really)! Buffalo Toronto Public Media is officially unifying all our brands under the BTPM name.
Honoring Trailblazing Women: Catherine Flon Honors Exhibition Celebrates Buffalo’s Changemakers
Recognizing the Legacy of Revolutionary Women Who Elevate and Inspire Their Communities
The BTPM Classical Blog is presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
BTPM Classical Blog
Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT Returns to Delaware Park for SiDP’s 50th Season, But Is It “Free”?
So, some thoughts: Just as we at BTPM Classical try to avoid playing only single movements and excerpts in favor of the entire concerto, symphony, or opera, why not enjoy the entire play? Your attention span is longer than the duke’s.
Cloud Music
Ed. Simone reminisces on a trip to Costa Rica and how nature's music became the soundtrack to his trip.
How It Started Vs. How It’s Going: Spring Edition
The average last frost date in Western New York is April 30 to May 15, some sources say May 11-20 for Southern Ontario. On the calendar, March 20 is the official start of spring.
Video Game Music Weekend: March 21-23, 2025
Imagine you are a composer tasked with creating the score for a new movie. You have about one hundred minutes of time to fill and your music must enhance what is happening on the screen. Now imagine that movie is 20+ hours long!
Ravel at 150: The Fonzi of Classical Music
March 7th marks Ravel’s 150th birthday. We’ll celebrate on WNED Classical with several Ravel masterworks. RAVEL is cool – always has been – always will be. But what makes Ravel the Fonzi of classical music?
BTPM Classical salutes WNY’s High School Musicals
High school musicals are a tradition in WNY and once again BTPM Classical is celebrating them on the air!
The Rainbow Connection
“Why are there so many songs about rainbows and what’s on the other side?” That’s the opening line of a song from The Muppet Movie sung by Kermit the Frog as he sits in his swamp on a log with his banjo.
Two big composer birthdays
We’re celebrating two big composer birthdays in 2025 on BTPM Classical – Giovanni Palestrina and Johann Strauss, Jr.
Holiday Music Redux
Listeners of BTPM Classical are sometimes surprised to learn that I listen to not only what we call classical but to other types of music as well. And never more than at Christmas.
Riding the Bus
I had a milestone birthday in June. I talked about it in my recent blog post, The BINGO Card of Life. Since then, I’ve made changes. Not big changes – just small ones to make this decade a little healthier and more interesting than the last.
La Valse on Rye
Ed.'s 50th high school reunion sparked memories when he belonged to the Arts and Science club, where he would attend concerts and movies and grab bites to eat afterwards.
Patter Songs and Rhubarb
Some folks are more aware than others of viral TikTok dances. I was made aware of one that came out towards the end of 2023 because of my minor in German back in college.
BTPM The Bridge Blog
Upcoming Local Shows
Check out our list of upcoming live performances from artists with roots in Western New York and Southern Ontario and catch a show near you!
Upcoming Local Shows
BTPM The Bridge aims to amplify the local music scene by highlighting live local music and featuring local artists on our station. Check out our list of upcoming live performances from artists with roots in Western New York and Southern Ontario and catch a show near you!
Heritage Moments
Heritage Moments: That’s why we call it Buffalo. Maybe.
We know why most cities have their names, but not Buffalo. New York City is named after York, England; Los Angeles is the city of Our Lady, Queen of the…
Heritage Moments: Annie Edson Taylor, Falls daredevil and a widow’s hard choices
In the days before death benefits, pensions and social security, an aging widow had to fend for herself, even one who was a trained, experienced…
Heritage Moments: Mary Jemison of the Seneca Nation, the ‘White Woman of the Genesee’
In 1823 along the Genesee River there lived an old woman who was quite famous in the region. She was Seneca, yet her features were European and her…
Heritage Moments: Mortally wounded, William McKinley thinks of his assassin - and his wife
The Pan-American Exposition of 1901, a world’s fair that marked Buffalo’s arrival as a major city — it should have left a legacy of joy. Instead, it left…
Heritage Moments: The Attica Prison Uprising — 43 dead and a four-decade cover-up
The Attica Prison Uprising of 1971 is one of the most disturbing episodes in the history of New York State and, indeed, the nation as a whole. It lasted…
Heritage Moments: Marilyn Bell, the teenager who conquered eels, exhaustion and Lake Ontario
Overnight sensation — that term gets bandied about from time to time. But Marilyn Bell literally was one. At 11:07 p.m. on Sept. 8, 1954, when she dove…
Heritage Moments: Frederick Law Olmsted and the stroll that saved Niagara
Niagara Falls in the 1800s was an industrialist’s dreamland and a huckster’s paradise. Cheap waterpower abounded — all you had to do was build a channel…
Heritage Moments: In an ocean of horror, Father Conway’s courage
The sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis in the early morning hours of July 30, 1945, is the worst disaster to befall a single ship in the history of the US…
Heritage Moments: Mark Twain, Buffalonian
Samuel L. Clemens’s time in Buffalo was short. But it was also by turns pivotal, tragic and, of course, funny. The young man who would go on to become…
Heritage Moments: Stanley Spisiak, LBJ and a bucket of Buffalo River sludge
It’s the early 1960s, and you’re summering at Crystal Beach. You walk across the sands to take a dip in the warm waves of Lake Erie. But before you get to…
Heritage Moments: An Ode to Bridges
The Niagara Frontier is a land of bridges. And if the bridges themselves are not particularly spectacular, the places they span are — rushing waterways…
Heritage Moments: Grover the Good, in a time before #MeToo
In a mere four years Grover Cleveland skyrocketed from Buffalo lawyer with a penchant for hanging out in beer halls to president of the United States,…