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The Good News Show was born on Christmas Eve of 2004, when Utah Phillips and I were discussing our dismay over the amount of negative news flooding the airwaves and the media as a whole. We knew then that a new vehicle was needed to showcase positive news stories. Following that conversation, a quick pitch to Program Director Steve Baker was made and just over a month later in February 2005 the Good News Show started airing once a month on KVMR FM Nevada City.
Producers Mikail Graham and Julia Boorinakis Harper have created a series of timeless Good News Bites focusing on uplifting stories that showcase the positive aspects of life on this planet that are so often overlooked by the mainstream media. The stories range from the local to international scale, with such topics as environmental breakthroughs, modern-day heroes, the potential of technology to make the world a better place, our ongoing progress toward a more sustainable planet, the current renaissance in eco-friendly food and backyard farming, and people who are making a difference in their communities. In the community spirit of KVMR and the Good News Show, all of the Good News Bites feature a diverse group of guest presenters such as: composer Terry Riley; former Mott The Hoople keyboardist Morgan Fisher; poet and radio commentator Molly Fisk; along with many past and present KVMR broadcasters. This program is produced with support from the KVMR National Radio Production Grant Fund through the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. To contact The Good News show click here to send an email. To Listen* to a Good News Bite just click on the listen button found with each story below.
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Growing Vegetables Year 'Round Want to amaze your children and impress your friends? Try using Cold Frames to grow vegetables in all seasons! 
Phyllis Boorinakis is co-owner of Boorinakis-Harper Ranch in Auburn, California. She also produces The Homestead Radio Hour on KVMR FM Nevada City with her daughter, Julia. She is always on the lookout for ways to gain freedom from the Food Machine.
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Growing Food in an Urban Desert MacArthur Foundation Genius Will Allen turns a "food desert" into a growing community food center. 
Amigo Bob Cantisano is the co-host of Organic Matters, a monthly radio program on gardening & ecological issues heard on KVMR FM. One of the founding members of California Certified Organic Farmers, Amigo also helped start the Committee for Sustainable Agriculture, which sponsors the Ecological Farming Conference, one of the most important annual events in the world of organic farming.
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Bring Your Dog to Work Several studies recently revealed that dogs in the workplace encourage cooperation, trust, and teamwork.  Edy Cassell is the bi-weekly host of Road Dog Radio, a Conscious Hip Hop music program heard on KVMR FM Nevada City. Edy has many animal pals, and always brings her own dog Rona to work with her.
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The Queen Has a Sense of Humour She's known for her dignity and poise, but behind closed doors, British monarch Elizabeth II is said to have a magnificent sense of humour and of the absurd. |
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Styrofoam from Mushrooms Styrofoam is not only ubiquitous, it's toxic. But it may become a thing of the past as scientists find ways to grow lightweight, eco-friendly packaging material using mycelium.
Thea Chesney is a micologist who studied at the University of California, Berkeley. She is active in both mycology and forestry and on occasion teaches classes on mushroom identification.
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Can Mushrooms Save the World? Healing the planet by using mushrooms to help clean up oil spills and more.
Carolyn Crane is an award-winning journalist and playwright. She and her husband own Lightcap Farm where they are learning to grow mushrooms.
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Trash Zappers Human beings are creating more trash everyday than we know what to do with. So what to do? How about zapping all that waste with ten-thousand-degree giant plasma lighting bolts?
John Deaderick is an award-winning actor, and formerly the drama teacher at Colfax High School in northern California. His favorite pastimes are kayaking and listening to great music.
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Dandelion Rubber Did you know that dandelions, which most of us think of as just those pesky yellow-flowered weeds, contain latex which can be harvested for making rubber?
Dawn Fischer was formerly the producer of the Trans Global Sound System, a program heard weekly on KVMR FM. She also loves the sound of bowling balls hitting a strike.
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Skyscraper Farms There is a promising new possibility for the future of food production: Vertical Farming. Simply put, that means growing crops in skyscrapers dozens of stories high.
Morgan Fisher lives in Tokyo, Japan and is the former keyboardist for Mott The Hoople. These days he is a photographer, performer, composer, arranger and producer, and has become one of the leading TV commercial music writers in Japan. Background music by Morgan Fisher from the CD rebalance
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Sex As Stress-Buster When it comes to relieving stress there are countless techniques that can help such as yoga, meditation, or even laughter. But you may be surprised to hear that sex is one of the best ways to fight stress.
Molly Fisk is an award- winning author and poet laureate who also writes weekly essays for a News Hour program heard on KVMR FM Nevada City. She teaches an online and in person Poetry Boot Camp called A Voice of Your Own.
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Laughter — The Best Medicine It's official: A good laugh is literally heartwarming. Several studies have found that laughter can reduce the levels of chronic stress in your body, enhance your lifespan, and even help protect your nervous system and your sanity.
Annie O'Dea Hestbeck is a high school librarian and the host of Celtic Cadence, a weekly music program heard on KVMR FM Nevada City. She enjoys traveling to and fro as much as possible.
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Tommy the Cat Dials 911 Police aren't sure how else to explain it, but it looks like Tommy the Cat called 911 and saved the life of his human pal Gary Rosheisen.
Eleanore MacDonald is a peace worker and one half of the modern folk duo Paul Kamm & Eleanore MacDonald. She enjoys her many animal friends and is a staunch advocate for equality for all sentient beings. Background music by Paul Kamm & Eleanore MacDonald from the CD Like Water
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Whale Poop Fights Climate Change A single sperm whale will produce around 150 pounds of excrement per day. So how much methane and CO2 does that translate to? The answer, surprisingly, may be a negative number.
Menlo Macfarlane is a visual artist residing in Northern California. His art can be found in museums, galleries and private collections throughout the United States, Canada, Western Europe, Mexico and Russia. He is also one half of the performance art duo known as Two Minds Working.
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Magic Water Imagine a cleanser that is 10 times more effective than bleach in killing bacteria, yet contains no toxic chemicals whatsoever. This dream is now a reality and consists of just simple clean ionized salt water.
Randy McKean is a musician and composer. He is involved in many musical projects and productions. Some of his current albums include So Dig This Big Crux and, with the Great Circle Saxophone Quartet, Child King Dictator Fool.
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From Farm To School What happens when school cafeterias team up with local farms? Healthy, fit kids come back for seconds of fresh carrots and tomatoes, but leave the french fries untouched.
Wendy Van Wagner & Joe Meade own and operate In The Kitchen, a cooking school located in Nevada City, California. Their goal is to provide a unique experience in an intimate setting, striving to bring people together through cooking and breaking bread.
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Art for Homeless Kids She's only 13 years young, but Taylor "Tae Tae" Davis has made it her mission to collect donated art supplies for homeless kids in Florida.
Jake Michael is a college student working toward a major in music and the former host of Across The Universe, once heard as a bi-weekly music program heard on KVMR FM Nevada City. An aspiring young actor and singer, Jake loves technology, but not more than great music.
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Swimming Pool Farming A swimming pool may be great fun when it's full of cool, sparkling water, but what about when it's empty, or untended? A family of four has answered that question by transforming their unused swimming pool into a sustainable urban farm.
Jenny Michael is the bi-weekly host of the Wednesday Music Magazine heard on KVMR FM Nevada City. She is also deeply involved in the California College of Ayurveda and a firm believer in holistic healing.
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A Musical Instrument Museum A new museum is now home to more than 3,000 musical instruments and related artifacts from around the world.
California composer Terry Riley launched what is now known as the minimalist movement with his revolutionary classic IN C in 1964. His work spans the past 50 plus years, and the London Sunday Times named him as one of the one thousand makers of the twentieth century. Background music by Terry Riley from the CD A Rainbow In Curved Air
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Hempcrete Hempcrete, or hemp-based concrete, is a self-insulating waterproof material that is not just carbon-neutral — it is actually carbon-negative.
Skip Alan Smith is a voiceover artist and a retired engineer who worked on projects like the International Space Station, the Stanford Linear Accelerator and various spy satellites. He also hosts Dreamwalk, a radio program about Native American and Indigenous People's music heard on KVMR FM Nevada City, and is the eccentric drummer in The Bob Woods Trio, a Northern California rockabilly band.
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Caboodle Ranch Originally Craig Grant didn't like cats, but now he runs a 25-acre sanctuary ranch for more than 660 homeless cats to live in, complete with its own City Hall.
Sasha Soukup is the guitarist and singer in the three-piece gothic/ garage rock band Sasha and the Shamrocks, based in Grass Valley, California. Sasha shares a home with her two black cats Mooch & Zoo. Background music by Sasha and the Shamrocks from the CD One Way Ticket To The Zone
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Bicycles = Clean Air Transportation The bicycle alleviates traffic congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, doesn't emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is affordable for billions of people.
Al Stahler is the host of Soundings, a bi-weekly program that looks into how the natural world works, and how we interact with it, heard on KVMR FM Nevada City. Alan has been using a bicycle for his transpiration rain or shine for much of his adult life.
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Switched At Birth Two Brazilian men switched at birth due to hospital mistakes discover one another and end up merging into one big happy family.
T.E. Wolfe is an actor and the host of A Word In Edgewise, a spoken word "storytime for grownups" program heard weekly on KVMR FM Nevada City. Background music by Ivan Najera from the CD Malagueña
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