

City Cast Madison
City Cast
Join us every weekday morning for can’t-miss conversations about what’s happening in Madison, with a dose of local news to keep you up to speed. Host Bianca Martin collects people wherever she goes, like an endless conga line. On City Cast Madison, she peers into our city’s soul with a journalist’s skepticism and an optimist’s heart.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Sep 28, 2023 • 25min
5 Local Apple Orchards Worth Visiting 🍎
In the final installment of how to make the most of fall in southern Wisconsin, Cap Times Food Editor Lindsay Christians shares her reporting on local apple orchards. She provides her picks for where to get apples for pies, where to pick-your-own, and which varieties you gotta try. Who knew you could pickle apples?!Join us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.Apple orchards mentioned on the show:🍏 Alpine Ridge Orchard 5610 Alpine Road, Brooklyn🍏 Appleberry Farm8079 Maurer Road, Cross Plains🍏 Door Creek Orchard3252 Vilas Road, Cottage Grove🍏 Eplegaarden2227 Fitchburg Road, Fitchburg🍏 Munchkey Apples175 Drammen Valley Road, Mount Horeb🍏 Lapacek’s OrchardN1959 Kroncke Road, Poynette🍏 Ski-Hi Fruit FarmE11219A Ski Hi Road, BarabooAlso:🧀 Cheese Fair Off the Square is Sept. 30, 8 am - 1:45 pm, at East Washington Avenue and South Pinckney Street.

Sep 27, 2023 • 21min
Get Lost in Wisconsin's Wildest Corn Maze 🌽
It’s day two of our three-part series on how to make the most of fall in southern Wisconsin. On Tuesday’s episode, we gave you recommendations for majestic fall drives. On Thursday, we’ll give you the scoop on local apple orchards you can visit around Madison. But today, we’re getting lost. We’re catching up with Angie Treinen, co-owner and maze designer of Treinen Farm. The Treinen Farm Corn Maze and Pumpkin Patch is a 200-acre farm in Lodi, Wisconsin. It’s a third-generation farm famous for its intricate corn mazes. They’ve also got pumpkins, goats, horses, and walking trails to enjoy at the farm. Mentioned on the show:☕️ Natural Infusions: Herbal Tea Blend Workshop with Qwantese Winters 💉 Participant in UW Health's Lyme disease vaccine trial by emailing info@clinicaltrials.wisc.edu. Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 26, 2023 • 22min
Wisconsin’s Best Fall Drives 🍁
Happy fall! Welcome back to cool nights, crisp air, leaves crunching under our feet, bonfires and well, pumpkin everything. We’re all in. Welcome to the first in a 3-part series on fall getaways. Today, we’re sharing some of our favorite drives for catching exquisite fall colors. On Wednesday, we’ll give you a sneak peek behind-the-scenes at our absolute favorite local corn maze. And Thursday, we’ll roundup the best local apple orchards to visit around Madison. Today, travel writer Kevin Revolinski shares his favorite places around the state to see majestic fall leaves.Read more: 🍁 Backwoods & Byways of Wisconsin [The Mad Traveler]🍂 Wisconsin Fall Color Report [Travel Wisconsin]Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 25, 2023 • 16min
Justice for Rudi (and Other Madison Pigs)
When Rudi the pet pig was threatened with eviction, he became a cause célèbre. Friends, neighbors and local journalists rallied to his side. Pet pigs were not legal in Madison, yet he’d lived here for more than a year without incident. Until someone complained. But now, pigs are legal. The Madison City Council has changed the law to allow Madison residents to own pet pigs, with some limitations. Rudi’s owner Paula Niedenthal tells us what happened – and what it says about Madison that he was saved. Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 22, 2023 • 22min
Abortions are Back, Who Pays for the Brewers, and Introducing Ranked Choice Voting
The City Cast Madison team is here to round up the week’s news. Bianca Martin, Dylan Brogan and Molly Stentz recap the highlights: Planned Parenthood has resumed abortion services in Madison and Milwaukee, the Brewers want the public to pay $600 million to spruce up their stadium, and there’s a bipartisan bill to let voters rank their political choices.Read more: ⚕️ Planned Parenthood Resumes Abortion Services in Wisconsin [PPWI]⚾ Taxpayers could spend $600 million on American Family Field. Brewers would stay until 2050 [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]💸 This Small But Hated Tax Could Have Collected Millions for the Brewers’ Stadium [Milwaukee Magazine]🗳️ Bipartisan bill renews effort to introduce ranked-choice voting in congressional elections [Milwaukee Journal Sentinel]Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 21, 2023 • 24min
How to Cook and Eat Well at Home This Fall
Like many of us, Lauren Rudersdorf is busy. Between her day job at Edible Madison magazine, raising a toddler, and writing several food blogs, she doesn’t have as much time to cook as she used to. But she’s here to show you that you CAN do it. She shares her food prep hacks for cooking and eating well at home – and some delicious seasonal recipes for fall.Find Lauren’s writing: The Leek and the CarrotLocally Grown by Lauren RudersdorfEdible Madison Lauren’s Favorite Early Fall Recipes: 🥣 Cabbage Patch Soup 🍅 Tomato Soup🍲 Butternut Squash Soup🥗 Peanut Kale Salad🌾 Grain Bowls🥕 Join us every Thursday as we explore Madison's food culture, from the brewers and bakers to the chefs and cheesemakers.Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Sign up for the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads at citycast.fm/advertise.

Sep 20, 2023 • 22min
What’s Happening With the Madison Public Market
The Madison Public Market has been a dream for decades. Three mayors have tried. With a proposed opening in 2025, it’s now the closest it’s ever been to becoming reality. The city plans to remodel its former Fleet Service building on 200 N. First Street and turn it into a business incubator and mall for food-related businesses. It’s a mix of a food court, a shopping center, and a community event space. They’ve secured the space, hired architects and have building designs in hand. They’ve spent years recruiting and prepping vendors to be ready to fill it. They’ve raised millions in both public and private funds. But now, costly construction bids are threatening to derail the project. We speak with Madison Public Market Foundation Board President Karen Crossley about the vision for the market and where they are in the process. Note: We spoke to Karen Crossley on September 15, 2023, before she had reviewed the project construction bids. Crossley says, on behalf of the Madison Public Market Foundation, “We support the introduction of a resolution at the 10/3 City Council mtg that will address the current construction funding gap and allow the Madison Public Market project to move forward. Our commitment is unwavering. We will continue working closely with the City to fully fund the construction project, and to fulfill the goals and mission of the Public Market.”Read more: 🏗️ High construction bids threaten Madison Public Market [Wisconsin State Journal]Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 19, 2023 • 23min
The Most Sampled Drummer Lived in Madison. Why Don’t You Know His Name?
A new documentary explores the life of legendary drummer Clyde Stubblefield, often called the most sampled drummer in history. Stubblefield was best known as James Brown’s drummer, and came up with iconic backbeats that changed the course of music. But he wasn’t credited or compensated for his musical innovation and faced mounting medical debts later in life. He was a celebrated musician in Madison, where he lived and gigged for decades. Bianca Martin speaks with filmmaker Trevor Banks about why Stubblefield should get his due.See excerpts of the film at the fundraiser on Sunday, September 24 at the Majestic Theatre. Bianca Martin will lead a Q+A with filmmaker Trevor Banks.Read more: 🎥 “Give the Drummer Some” film website🎶 'Funky Drummer' Clyde Stubblefield documentary still coming; fundraiser is Sept. 24 [Wisconsin State Journal]Also mentioned on the show:💡 The Cap Times Ideas Fest is this week, Sept 17 - 23 [The Cap Times]🐷 Madison to vote on allowing pet pigs [City of Madison]Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 18, 2023 • 26min
What City Trees Do and Who Cares For Them
Madison is known as a Tree City for its efforts to care for urban trees. Keeping a diverse mix of healthy trees in the city requires constantly planting new ones every year as well as maintaining those planted years ago. City trees in Madison have to be able to withstand freezing winters, sidewalk salt, power lines above, concrete all around, and the occasional car crashing into them. Not to mention insect pests like Emerald Ash Borer. For all trees put up with in our urban environment, the benefits they deliver are enumerable: shade, shelter, beauty, fresh oxygen, homes for animals, planet cooling.But who speaks for those trees? City Forester Ian Brown does. City forestry staff advise on what and where trees get planted and how we, as a city, can care for some of the city’s oldest residents.Today, we’re peeking behind the curtain of Madison’s City Forestry department. Also on the show: 🌳 Madison’s Tree Inventory Starts Today! 🍂 Know where to go to peep beautiful fall leaves with Travel Wisconsin’s Fall Color ReportWanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Subscribe to the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads.

Sep 15, 2023 • 24min
Buses Are Late, Public Market’s Coming, Impeachment Drama Continues
The City Cast team is here to round up the news of the week. Bianca Martin and Molly Stentz recap the Madison school bus driver shortage, take a sneak peek of the Madison Public Market, and the discuss the latest in the ongoing tug-of-war between the Wisconsin Supreme Court and state lawmakers over political maps. And thanks for voting us Madison’s Best Podcast!! 💖Read more:Madison schools' bus provider 30 drivers short, has 16 in training [The Cap Times]Check out the Madison Public Market [Madison Public Market Foundation]Wisconsin Republican leader asks former state Supreme Court justices to review impeachment [AP]Republican redistricting proposal not quite what Democratic lawmakers asked for [Wisconsin State Journal]Wanna talk to us about an episode? Leave us a voicemail at 608-318-3367 or email madison@citycast.fm. We’re also on Instagram! Want more Madison news delivered right to your inbox? Sign up for the Madison Minutes morning newsletter. Looking to advertise on City Cast Madison? Check out our options for podcast ads at citycast.fm/advertise.