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 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.
Kathryn's Must-Sees for September 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.
Shaping the Future: A Q&A on BTPM’s Young Adult Advisory Committee
Discover how young voices are shaping public media through BTPM’s Young Adult Advisory Committee in this Q&A with BTPM Learning & Engagement Specialist Samantha Kittinger.
Kathryn's Must-Sees for August 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.
Defunded, not defeated: What's next for Buffalo Toronto Public Media
The House and Senate voted in favor of the recessions proposal, which eliminates federal funding for public media. In simpler terms, we are defunded. Though we are not defeated.
Top 5 Things To Do in Buffalo in July
Here's a list of festivals, tours, and farmers markets happening in Buffalo in July to help you get through the Dog Days of Summer.
Shakespeare Under the Stars: 50 Years of Theater in Delaware Park
Discover how BTPM PBS’ Shakespeare’s Greatest Hits shines a spotlight on Western New York’s most iconic landmarks through the power of Shakespearean performance.
The BTPM Classical Blog is presented by the Toronto Symphony Orchestra
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!
The Music of Amy Beach
If you are reading the BTPM Classical Blog, chances are that you have an interest in classical music and may even like to share that interest with others. Today, we're talking about Amy Beach!
Who is Your Favorite Composer?
BTPM Classical Host Marty Wimmer goes through his favorite classical composers in this blog. Today, it's Debussy. But it could change next week, or tomorrow!
EN BATEAU: A BTPM Classical Blog
BTPM Classical Host Marty Wimmer explores how boats have inspired many songs in the history of music. And that inspiration even goes so far back in the history of classical music.
Presto! The Tempo of Summer
Our perceptions of time and tempo are affected by many things. In this blog, BTPM Classical Host Genevieve Randall wants us to slow down the time this summer.
Piano Teachers Teach Music & More
BTPM Classical Host Marty Wimmer reflects on piano teachers who have made him the piano player that he is today.
Long Playing
Ed. Simone still listens to vinyl records. He delves into his passion in this BTPM Classical Blog.
BTPM The Bridge Blog
The Scene Playlist for Dec. 7
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including Passed Out, VANCAMP, and Jay Aquarious.
Upcoming Local Shows for 12/5 - 12/11
Check out local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Golden Feather, Mosh 4 a Cause, and Music is Art Showcase.
The Scene Playlist for Nov. 30
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including Lower Pony, The Mookies, and Chuckie Campbell.
Upcoming Local Shows for 11/28 - 12/4
Check out local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Ellen Pieroni, Tom Stahl & The Dangerfields, and John Bacon Jr.
The Scene Playlist for Nov. 23
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O, and learn about the artists and their music, including Elen Pieroni, Pink Leather Jackets, and Whisper Gang.
Upcoming Local Shows for 11/21 - 11/26
Check out local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including at Milkies on Elmwood, Hot Mama's Canteen, The Biltmore Theatre, and The Art Gallery of Hamilton.
The Scene Playlist for Nov. 16
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O and learn about the artists and their music, including Passed Out, Sydney Riley, Soyfruit, and Growl Bear.
Upcoming Local Shows for 11/14 - 11/20
Check out the local shows happening in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Silver Reeds, Personal Style, Little Liar, and more.
The Scene Playlist for 11/9
Check out this week's playlist from The Scene with Chelsea O and learn about the artists and their music, including Jay Aquarious, Wren Cove, and Cheap Peach.
Upcoming Local Shows for 11/7 - 11/13
Check out local shows coming up in Western New York and Southern Ontario, including Alex Cousins, TJ Zindle, and Robyn Ottolini.
Heritage Moments
Heritage Moments: Bowling, Desegregation and ‘the Buffalo Experience’
Heritage Moments: Pop Warner, All-American
Western New Yorkers LOVE their football, but how many know that the man dubbed the “Father of Modern Football” came from Springville in southern Erie County?
Heritage Moments: Why Do People in the Midwest Sound Like Buffalonians? Blame It on the Erie Canal
Why Do People in the Midwest Sound Like Buffalonians? Blame It on the Erie Canal
Heritage Moments: Robert H. Jackson, Western New Yorker at Nuremberg
It’s a long way from the Chautauqua County Village of Frewsburg to the Supreme Court of the United States, and longer still to Nuremberg, Germany, and the trial of the most vicious murderers of the 20th century. But Robert H. Jackson successfully and masterfully made those journeys.
Heritage Moments: Out, Proud and Defiant, All the Way to the Supreme Court
Hard to believe it today, but until 1984, a man could be arrested for asking another man to sleep with him. That intrusive law wrecked the lives of hundreds of men in New York State before it was finally abolished, thanks to the courage of two Buffalonians.
Heritage Moments: The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 in Buffalo, an Uprising Against Locomotives in the Streets
The Great Railroad Strike of 1877 was a landmark event for the labor movement, its impact still felt by every worker in America today.
Heritage Moments: The Niagara Frontier, Awash in Blood
Along the Niagara Frontier the War of 1812 was a special kind of hell, a futile succession of battles and skirmishes that left death and devastation in their wake.
Heritage Moments: The Buffalonian Who Wrote the Mexican National Anthem
There isn’t a soccer fan on earth who is unfamiliar with the Mexican national anthem, and how stirring it sounds when tens of thousands of Mexico fans sing ¡Mexicanos, al grito de guerra! at stadiums around the world. But how many know that this rousing tune was written by a Buffalonian?
Heritage Moments: A Distinctly Canadian Art Movement, Born in Buffalo
For over a century, the Group of 7 has had an almost mystical hold on the Canadian imagination.
Heritage Moments: ‘My Name Is Allegany County!’ How Rural Western New Yorkers Stopped a Nuclear Dump
Allegany County is as rural, Republican, and conservative as any in New York State. Yet in the winter and spring of 1989 and ’90, its people banded together to successfully resist the placement of a nuclear dump within the county’s borders.
Heritage Moments: John Lewis’s Boyhood Trip to Buffalo, and How It Changed America
When John Lewis, the last of the great figures of the Civil Rights era, died at age 80 in 2020, Americans reflected with near-universal admiration on a life well lived. And, thanks to Lewis himself, they knew of the pivotal role that Buffalo played in molding this national icon.
Heritage Moments: A Black poet's 'song of fiercest passion'
James Monroe Whitfield was a remarkable figure in a remarkable time: a free Black man who owned his own home and his own business in pre-Civil War America; a renowned Romantic poet; and a leading voice in the abolitionist movement.