In 1997, local historian Dan Hurley launched a talk show on WKRC-TV that went in-depth with leaders and community voices for an hour each week. For the next two decades, Local 12's Newsmakers had just about everyone from the region on, and when it came to elections, the big names in politics were heard from but so were the fringe candidates.
"With 20 years of interviews about the demographics, census data, redistricting and partisan swings, ‘Newsmakers’ documents a sweeping period of change in southwestern Ohio politics," Hurley says.
Now the Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library is making more than 600 episodes of the show available to stream on its website with topics curated by the staff.
"Having this available to future citizens and historians of the Greater Cincinnati area will help us all the better understand our past so we can best plan for our future," Hurley says.
On Cincinnati Edition, we discuss this undertaking, the many years of Newsmakers and what surprised Hurley along the way.
Guests:
- Dan Hurley, local historian, Newsmakers executive producer and host
- Larry Richmond, genealogy and local history manager, Cincinnati and Hamilton County Public Library
Listen to Cincinnati Edition live at noon M-F. Audio for this segment will be uploaded after 4 p.m. ET.
Never miss an episode by subscribing to our podcast: