WYSO Weekend: Get the details on our upcoming listener appreciation concert with Buffalo Nichols

First, and we started last week, YSO won a few awards for our 2023 reporting and we’ll be spending some time over the next few weeks revisiting some of those stories.

School Bus Seat Belts: Today we hear from Kathryn Mobley about school bus safety. Her report follows the death of an 11-year-old boy who died on the first day of school when a minivan struck his Northwestern Local Schools bus, causing it to overturn. The bus did not have seat belts. Ohio Governor Mike DeWine then created a new task force to study school bus safety, and Kathryn’s report examined all aspects of the issue. Kathryn’s report was awarded #1 by the Ohio SPJ Association for Best Education Issues Reporting.

Resuming bulletin board logs: Our Bulletin Board Diaries series was awarded No. 1 for Best Business/Consumer Reporting by the Ohio SPJ, and this story is also nominated for the Ohio Associated Press Media Editors’ Best Use of Sound award. It first aired on the anniversary of 9/11, 2023, and originated from a business card found at a Belmont grocery store. That led us to a business owned by an Iraq War veteran in a nearby neighborhood.

WYSO Listener Appreciation Concert: Join WYSO staff and listeners for an unforgettable evening of music at Levitt Pavilion in downtown Dayton. This year, our Listener Appreciation Concert features Texas blues innovator Buffalo Nichols. Nichols reinvents classic blues storytelling and guitar for today’s audience, blending traditional elements with modern production. WYSO Music Director Juliet Formholt stops by to tell us more.

A conversation with Dave Berry: If you’ve seen any of the Star Wars, Star Trek or Indiana Jones movies of the 1980s, you’ve seen the work of Dayton native David Berry. He was at the forefront of special effects in the early days of the revolutionary special effects company Industrial Light and Magic. He won an Oscar for the 1985 film Cocoon and has worked with filmmakers George Lucas, Steven Spielberg and Ron Howard. WYSO’s Mike Frazier spoke with David at the Berry Foundation offices about his career and what sparked his interest in film.

Our weekly walk on the wild side: Our program concludes today with Bill Felker’s Poor Will’s Almanack.