On Hand

Are Michigan's roads really so bad that we need to be repairing them all the time? What's really going on with our orange-barrel forests? For this episode of On Hand, we tackle a listener's question about road repairs by talking to two actual road engineers. We'll also get externally-verified facts about road quality, and hear some real talk about road politics in Lansing. We even bump into someone who started her own guerilla road...

For many Michiganders, Up North begins at the north end of the Mackinac Bridge. One listener defends the Upper Peninsula as true north. And another listener says the southern border of the mitten is also Up North for many people.

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

Ken Raisanen, retired teacher and lifelong Upper Peninsula Michigander

Keith Baker, City Manger of Coldwater

Want to submit your own story or question to On Hand? Do it here!

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It's a great Michigan debate; what is the line or the place that marks the end of the southern part of the state and the beginning of that mystical land we call Up North?

The answers vary from emotional to philosophical. But there's also an ecological answer that helps us better understand why we feel different when we go Up North. 

Check out the Michigan Natural Features Inventory website for a ton of cool stuff about our nat...

Many of us have a road that's more than a line on a map—it's a memory. Maybe it’s the street you grew up on or the dirt road that leads you to a cottage Up North. 

For listener Tom Topolski, it’s Lake Michigan Drive.

GUEST: 

• Thomas Topolski, Hudsonville resident

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form

• Call us: 734-764-7840

• ...

If you’ve ever gotten directions from a metro-Detroiter, you have probably heard a ‘9 Mile’ or a ‘10 Mile Road’ mentioned. Or maybe even the most famous of them all: 8 Mile. But where did all these boring road names come from? And how did they become a kind of cultural shorthand in the region? 

GUESTS: 

Paul Sewick, amateur Detroit historian and part-time Lyft driver. Check out his blog Detro...

We recently weighed the costs and benefits of Michigan's bottle bill. Today, a listener shares just how much the 10-cent bottle deposit meant to Central Michigan University students in the 70s.

GUESTS:

• Andrea Haupt, listener

• Michael Lehnert, listener

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Online Submission Form
• Call us: 734-764-7840
• Email us: onhand@michiganpublic.org

If ...

Is it really worth our time to haul returnables to the store for just 10 cents each? And is it worth it for Michigan's recycling industry to maintain a bottle deposit system when we already have curbside recycling?

• See Shelie Miller's "Comprehensive Ealuation of MIchigan's Bottle Deposit System" here
• Read more from the Container Recycling Institute here
• See a Reloop and CRI study about the impact of bottle deposits on beverage...

In last week's episode, we dug into the history of euchre and whether the quintessential Michigan game was actually created in the mitten. Turns out, not quite. The trick-taking game came to the Midwest — including Michigan — through farmers who visited New Orleans and Pennsylvania and came in contact with Alsatian immigrants, from a region along the Rhine River where France and Germany meet. T...

For many Michiganders, euchre (pronounced yoo-kur) feels like a quintessentially Michigan game—but was it actually created here? Long story short, no. But the story of how the trick-taking game made its way to the Mitten state and became one of its most popular card game is an interesting one.

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

Jamie and Becky DeVries, hosts o...

Michigan is the only state in the country with two distinct peninsulas. How did it come to be this way? We share an episode of the Points North podcast that digs into the history of our states boundary lines. They story of our peninsula "up north" actually begins with a boundary dispute down south - in Ohio.

• Find a transcript of the episode here
• Check out more episodes of Points North from Interlochen Public Radio

GUESTS...

Rory McHarg was so intrigued by the trout label on Bell's Two Hearted Ale he tracked down the artist and made a documentary about him. The film is screening in Traverse City May 1-2, 2026.

GUEST ON THIS EPISODE:

• Rory McHarg, filmmaker, A Two Hearted Tale

Take our Michigan Beer Quiz to test your knowledge.

Have a question or story for On Hand? Submit here:

• Online Submission Form
• ...

Ask just about any beer drinker in the state and they will tell you their favorite Michigan brewery and craft beer. That's because our state has many high-quality breweries to choose from, often ranking high among all states for craft beer culture. But why? And how did it get like this? We break down Michigan's beer history.

Take our Michigan Beer Quiz to test your knowledge.

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

Mickey Lyons, journalist, histor...

Ask 10 different Michiganders where the best coney is and you'll get 10 different answers. But where does this dog with meat sauce come from, and why do we call our diners Coney Islands? We dig into the debate about who does coney dogs best, and dig deep into the coney history. 

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

• Damon Smith, coney enthusiast, TikTok and IG content creator, westside Detroiter with an opinion
• Katherine Yung, journali...

West Michiganders Kate Lynnes once ran as a Democratic candidate for Congress against GOP incumbent Rep. Vern Ehlers, in an era when the district was deep red. Lynnes and Ehlers had a fine and cordial repertoire, but during a debate their distinct positions on whether medical marijuana should be legal made their political differences glaringly obvious.

GUEST ON THIS EPISODE:

Kate Lynnes, west Michigan resident and former Democratic...

"Under the oaks" of Jackson, Michigan, is a birthplace of the Republican Party. But is it THE birthplace? Ripon, Wisconsin, lays claim to the founding of the political party started by abolitionists. But the Jackson Historical Society has the receipts in favor of our Michigan community. 

GUESTS ON THIS EPISODE:

Maurice Imhoff, president, Jackson Historical Society

Linda Hass, author and vice president, Jackson Historical Socie...

We recently dug into how the robin become Michigan's state bird, and why it hasn't changed in nearly 100 years. Today, we reveal the result of our state bird poll, and hear from a listener who witnessed the circle of life unfold among the bird gathering at her neighbor's backyard pond. 

GUESTS:

• Tracey Walker, West Michigander

Want to submit a question to On Hand? Do it here:

• Onl...

The American Robin is our state bird - but why? You can find Robins everywhere, including most states in the U.S. So should we reconsider our state bird and pick something more unique to Michigan? Like, say, the Kirtland's Warbler? A debate!

• Vote in the On Hand state bird poll here!
• Check out our other state symbols here
• ...

In the last episode of On Hand, we dug into why people in Michigan say “ope.” And we found that “ope” likely traces back to European immigrants who settled in the Midwest—long before Midwesternisms were ever a thing.

Since then, we’ve heard from a few of you who say our Michigan way of speaking is about much more than just “ope". Today, we’re diving into the ...