Destination Downriver Podcast

Destination Downriver Podcast is an interview show about Downriver, the group of Michigan communities that includes Romulus, Southgate and Trenton. Its episodes come in two kinds. Some carry a town in the title, such as 'All things Romulus, MI', 'All things Southgate, MI' and 'All things Trenton, MI', and are built from the businesses and leaders of that one place. Others, like 'Birding Downriver', 'Economics Downriver moving into the 2025 new year.' and 'Season of Giving', follow a subject across the area. In Romulus, a sub shop owner explains why the shop counts as a destination: people back for a wedding or a funeral stop there first, and some carry a sub onto the plane home. Mayor McCreight is then asked whether having the city split by the airport is good or bad, and answers that it is both, since it creates separate pockets. Southgate's episode visits a golf course with a junior program of more than forty years, where kids get the whole course for the first hours of summer Friday mornings. Its regulars, the guest says, are mostly local, with Canadian golfers crossing the border and occasional visitors from northern Metro Detroit. Trenton brings a family restaurant that credits consistency and a staff that tends to stay until retirement, including a chef of twenty years whose son is a sous chef and another chef who started as a dishwasher. The themed episodes move beyond the storefronts. In 'Birding Downriver', a guest named Kevin points to Detroit River spots where migrating birds return each year, including an antenna farm off Hagerman Road where short-eared owls draw photographers. Birding is presented as friendly to novices, and the stated aim is simply to have fun with it. The economics episode brings in Ron, who leads a local chamber, and Sue; together they describe an organization of nearly 600 members run by a small staff, and they are asked what excites them about 2025. Ron places the chamber alongside nonprofits such as Fish and Loaves, a name that also turns up in 'Season of Giving'. There, Stephanie McNeese of Fish and Loaves credits a garden for fresh produce and says feeding neighbors takes all hands on deck, and the episode then turns to Nancy Zak of the Wyandotte Clinic for the Working Uninsured Foundation and the Downriver Community Clinic. Carl welcomes listeners and signs off, the City of Taylor's Media Center produces a video version, and sponsor thanks go to a Wyandotte print and design business and a family of funeral homes. Episodes open with a short invitation to Downriver's parkland, rivers and wildlife. The interviews that follow are friendly and practical, down to asking whether easy access from I-75 matters to a golf course. Anyone tied to Romulus, Southgate or Trenton can start with that town's episode, while 'Birding Downriver' suits someone more curious about owls than storefronts. Across the run, the region is described by the people who work in it.