AADL Talks To Veteran Ann Arbor News Reporter Bill Treml

Thu, 10/20/2011 - 1:00pm

Bill Treml spent forty years at the Ann Arbor News working the police beat--"chasing cops and robbers," as he puts it. In that time he saw and reported on many of the stories we remember: the Coed Murders of John Norman Collins, UFO sightings, a bank robbery in Ypsilanti that left one police officer dead. Much of what we remember we remember from what he wrote. We got a chance to talk to Bill about some of those stories and what kept him at it through all those years. Treml's self-effacing manner cannot hide the fact that he went places most of us have never gone and witnessed things most of us never want to see. He stood in mud in his pajamas at murder scenes. He chased down paddy wagons. He took a front row seat to riots. He sat across the table from one of the worst serial killers in Michigan's history. Treml shared his stories of years as a reporter and told us what it takes to be a great reporter in any age of news reporting. 

AADL Productions Podcast: Grace Shackman

Wed, 06/24/2009 - 1:05pm

AADL talks with local historian, author and teacher, Grace Shackman, about how Ann Arbor has changed over the years. Throughout the discussion, Grace looks back at articles she's written; how she got her start writing about Ann Arbor history; the importance of preserving local landmarks; and her memories of early Ann Arbor art fairs. Over 130 of Grace's articles are featured in Ann Arbor Observer: Then & Now, a new website with full text searching and browsing access to articles on local history from the Ann Arbor Observer.

AADL Productions Podcast: John Hilton, editor of The Ann Arbor Observer

Wed, 06/17/2009 - 11:53am

We had the privilege of talking with Ann Arbor Observer editor, John Hilton, about the origins and development of the Observer, how Ann Arbor has changed over the past three decades, and the current state of the newspaper industry. John also joined us along with local historian and author Grace Shackman to talk about Ann Arbor history and help us launch an online collection of local history articles from the Observer dating back to 1982. You can read all of Grace's articles from the Observer online now in Ann Arbor Observer: Then & Now.

(Due to technical difficulties, the quality of the audio isn't quite what it should be, but please listen in as John has many interesting things to say about Ann Arbor!)