On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents archival sound from two radio stories he produced in search of the "Magic Radio Santa" of Centralia, Washington. The Magic Radio Santa appeared for decades on radio station KELA in the southwest part of the Evergreen State from the late 1940s until the 1970s, reading Christmas letters and wish lists of presents from local children.

The first part of this episode is from December 2018, when Banel produced a story for a Seattle radio station about a piece of vintage sound from 1950 – a giant, 16-inch diameter recording of a broadcast by Centralia’s “Magic Radio Santa.” The second part is from December 2022, when Banel presented an update to a search - described in part one - for the kids mentioned in the 1950 recording. The other voice alongside Feliks from the 2018 and 2022 audio is Dave Ross. The original 1950 recording came from John Jenkins at SPARK Museum in Bellingham, Washington.

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Lost & Found Sound of the "Magic Radio Santa" of Centralia, Washington

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Todd Scott, Preservation Architect and Planner with King County.

In a BONUS EPISODE conversation earlier this year with Todd Scott (about the Masonic Home in Des Moines, Washington) he spoke briefly about rising property values creating additional historic preservation challenges in a few specific communities in King County – and plans were made to circle back and go a little deeper on the topic. One particular area where Todd Scott has noticed this trend is on the east side of Lake Washington in a few specific neighborhoods in the City of Kirkland.

More information about the King County Historic Preservation Program:
https://kingcounty.gov/en/dept/dnrp/buildings-property/historic-preservation-program

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Challenges of Residential Historic Preservation When Property Values Rise

We kick off December 2025 with this ARCHIVAL ENCORE BONUS EPISODE from December 2024.

Feliks Banel's guests on this recording of a magical live broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY from Candy Cane Lane in Seattle on December 15, 2024 include roving correspondent/field producer Ken Zick; Vincent "Mister Candy Cane Lane" Miller on the origins of the grassroots decoration project; Phil Edlund with an update on Parkland School, now open once again and serving as a community center; Dan Evans, Jr., son of Daniel J. Evans, three-term Washington governor who passed away in 2024, helping share a recording from 1970 of Governor Evans reading "'Twas The Night Before Christmas" for KVI Radio (provided to CASCADE OF HISTORY by Benjamin Helle of the Washington State Archives); Candy Cane Lane recent-arrival Dave Kubiak on the year-round charms of the street also known as Park Road; and Nick Biermann with an update on saving the Ryan House in Sumner.

Special thanks to members of the Roosevelt Caroling Club and Northwest Girlchoir who performed Christmas carols during the show; extra-special thanks to Joseph and Dana Manalang for hospitably allowing this live broadcast from December 2024 to originate from their front porch in the heart of Candy Cane Lane. This is what live and local radio is all about - community at its best!

More information about Candy Cane Lane 2025 - which officially opens on Saturday, December 6, 2025:
https://www.facebook.com/SeattleCandyCaneLane/

This LIVE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY from Candy Cane Lane in Seattle was originally presented at 8pm Pacific Time on Sunday, December 15, 2024. CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Magical LIVE BROADCAST from Candy Cane Lane in Seattle from December 2024

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is world-renowned landscape architect - and renaissance man - Laurie Olin.

Laurie Olin has been associated with many high profile projects around the world, and taught at the University of Pennsylvania for decades. Earlier in his career, Olin studied architecture at the University of Washington, and spent several years in Seattle from the late 1950s to the early 1970s working with a range of architects and civic leaders, and later writing poetry. In those formative years for the modern city, he was part of a vibrant community of artists and scholars, and was involved with design projects and grassroots preservation efforts that still resonate today in 21st-century Seattle.

In a long conversation recorded on December 1, 2025, Laurie Olin covered a lot of ground, and helped evoke many well-known people and iconic places from a heady era in a young Seattle of the 1950s and 1960s.

For more information about Laurie Olin's teaching:
https://www.design.upenn.edu/people/laurie-d-olin

For more information about Laurie Olin's work:
https://www.theolinstudio.com/people#/laurie-olin/

Laurie Olin's October 2025 letter for The Cultural Landscape Foundation regarding Gas Works Park:
https://www.tclf.org/laurie-olin-threats-gas-works-park

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: The Heady Seattle Years of World-Renowned Landscape Architect Laurie Olin

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel tours the historic "U.S. Immigrant Station and Assay Office" on the south edge of downtown Seattle with Brian Lane, one of the many artists who have studio spaces inside the former U.S. government facility.

Brian Lane is a printmaker and letterpress artist who's had a studio in the building for 12 years. He's an arts educator, and is deeply committed to his art, as well as to sharing the history of the old immigration facility - and especially how that history intersects with his work, with current events, and with the work of others artists who have spaces there.

The non-profit group Friends of Inscape will hold the holiday season edition of their twice-a-year-only open studios event on Saturday, December 6, 2025 from 12:00 noon to 6:00 p.m. Admission is free. The event features dozens of artists and crafts vendors offering their wares, thought-provoking history displays about specific elements and places within the former immigration facility, and peeks inside some of the most distinctive studio spaces in the Pacific Northwest.

More information about Friends of Inscape Open Studios on December 6, 2025:
https://friendsofinscape.org/news/inscape-arts-open-studios-winter-2025

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Tour of Former Immigration Bldg in Seattle and Preview of INSCAPE Open Studios on Sat., Dec. 6, 2025

On this BONUS HOLIDAY EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel shares archival audio from his 25th annual holiday radio play.

"Northpole PM News" was conceived of, produced and directed by Feliks Banel in his role as founding director of Seattle Radio Theatre, a volunteer group he created in 2000 at the old Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI) in Seattle's Montlake neighborhood. The festive play is a parody of American drive-time radio news, and features several well-known and highly talented local radio voices. It was originally broadcast live - and commercial-free! - on a commercial station in Seattle on December 5, 2024.

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS HOLIDAY EPISODE: Archival Audio "Northpole PM News" LIVE Christmas Radio Play

Feliks Banel's guest on this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY is Elisa Renouard, Lecturer at the University of Washington Architecture Department and Associate at Olson Kundig Architects in Seattle.

After hearing about our conversation earlier this week with landscape architect Laurie Olin – where Mr. Olin described an assignment he did as a student at the University of Washington 65 years and which he assumed was lost to the mists of time - Ms. Renouard shared a copy of Mr. Olin’s work from the UW archives (parts of which have been posted at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page). There’s a lot to discuss about that assignment, and about the work Elisa Renouard is doing now with her students to explore and re-create parts of Seattle that were wiped off the map decades ago – as part of a recurring student exhibit called “CITY ERASED.”

I spoke with Elisa Renouard on Thursday, December 4, 2025.

For more information about Elisa Renouard:
https://arch.be.uw.edu/people/elisa-renouard/

For more information about the "CITY ERASED" project:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DLnDJBbJirQ/

To hear the BONUS EPISODE with Laurie Olin:
https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/bonus-episode-laurie-olin

To see Laurie Olin's 1960 UW study of the Kalmar Hotel:
https://digitalcollections.lib.washington.edu/digital/collection/archps/id/1544/rec/8

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Seattle Architect Elisa Renouard on Laurie Olin, Vic Steinbrueck, a homework assignment from 1960 - and "CITY ERASED"

Feliks Banel's guests on this LIVE BROADCAST of CASCADE OF HISTORY include Lt. Colonel Erik Flint (retired) LIVE from Pearl Harbor Day commemorations in Honolulu; Roving Correspondent Ken Zick with multiple LIVE UPDATES from Candy Cane Lane in Seattle; meteorologist Scott Sistek on storm history and his new Emerald City Weather Blog; and Frank Abe on Rachel Maddow's new podcast about Japanese American incarceration during World War II - and a preview of the live production of "We Hold These Truths" that Frank is participating in on Monday, December 15, 2025 at 7:30pm Pacific Time at Town Hall Seattle (and which will be broadcast LIVE as a special episode of CASCADE OF HISTORY).

More information about the LIVE BROADCAST of "We Hold These Truths":
https://townhallseattle.org/event/we-hold-these-truths/

More info about Lt. Colonel Erik Flint (retired) :
https://stephenambrosetours.com/historian/erik-flint/

Candy Cane Lane Official Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/SeattleCandyCaneLane/

Scott Sistek's Emerald City Weather Blog:
https://emeraldcityweather.com/

Frank Abe's RESISTERS Website:
https://resisters.com/author/frankabe/

Links to more information about all of these stories - and photos of Candy Cane Lane by Ken Zick - are available at the CASCADE OF HISTORY Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/groups/cascadeofhistory

This LIVE broadcast of CASCADE OF HISTORY was originally presented at 8pm Pacific Time on Sunday, December 7, 2025 via SPACE 101.1 FM and gallantly streaming live via www.space101fm.org from historic Magnuson Park - formerly Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

Ep. 128: LIVE REPORT from Pearl Harbor Commemorations in Hawaii; LIVE UPDATES from Candy Cane Lane; Meteorologist Scott Sistek on Storm History; and Frank Abe on Japanese American Incarceration

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents vintage audio – recorded by him by holding his Sanyo tape recorder near the radio speaker on the night of December 8, 1980. Former Beatle John Lennon had been assassinated in New York City.

In Seattle, on FM rock station KISW, legendary DJ Steve Slaton was on the air. Within minutes of the news reaching Seattle, he did what live and local radio used to do better than any other medium: he opened up the phone lines. In this long excerpt, we hear what amounts to a master class in how thoughtful, talented and local radio voices worked regularly to subtly build community, by connecting real live people in real-time to something bigger than themselves. Radio used to do this kind of thing every day of the week, and it was especially priceless during times of crisis or heartache.

As most people know in 2025, while it has some value, social media can often feel hollow and algorithmic. The humanity is often scrubbed away and re-packaged. In this tape - from a defiantly human era of radio and a particularly heart-wrenching night - we hear a real person, organic and unfiltered and serving a mass audience, and providing that "community glue” that radio, in the right hands, can still do so well. The sound quality is not great, and during pregnant pauses, music from another station can be heard. The content is surprisingly raw, with both Slaton and one of the callers uttering expletives – which have been bleeped out after the fact (those expletives, remarkably, went out over the airwaves on December 8, 1980).

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via flagship station SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Vintage Audio - Steve Slaton of KISW Seattle Opens the Phones after John Lennon is Murdered

On this BONUS EPISODE of CASCADE OF HISTORY, Feliks Banel presents his archival interview from 2009 with the late Bryan Johnson, longtime KOMO Radio and TV journalist in Seattle whose passing at age 89 was announced on December 8, 2025.

Just a few weeks ago, we featured a 2013 interview with Bryan Johnson about when he was on the radio in Seattle in 1963 breaking the news about the Kennedy assassination. With word of Mr. Johnson's passing, we went back into the archives for this conversation from October 9, 2009. The occasion was his unbelievable 50th anniversary at KOMO Radio and TV in Seattle, which would be officially marked the next day, October 10, 2009.

This interview has been lightly edited. It was conducted for a story I wrote for the old CROSSCUT website, and we cover a lot of ground about Mr. Johnson's career and the people with whom he crossed paths. The audio quality is not great; I have, thankfully, since upgraded the gear I use for recording phone interviews. It was an honor and a privilege to interview Bryan Johnson on the eve of his 50th anniversary at KOMO. We had a lot of laughs, too. RIP.

Link to earlier BONUS EPISODE with Bryan Johnson about covering the assassination of JFK:
https://soundcloud.com/cascadeofhistory/bonus-episode-komo-jfk

CASCADE OF HISTORY is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time via SPACE 101.1 FM in Seattle and gallantly streams everywhere via www.space101fm.org. The radio station broadcasts from studios at historic Magnuson Park – located in the former Master-at-Arms’ quarters in the old Sand Point Naval Air Station - on the shores of Lake Washington in Seattle.

Subscribe to the CASCADE OF HISTORY podcast via most podcast platforms and never miss regular weekly episodes of Sunday night broadcasts as well as frequent bonus episodes.

BONUS EPISODE: Interview with the late Bryan Johnson on his 50th Anniv. at KOMO Seattle - Oct. 2009

CASCADE OF HISTORY is the only LIVE radio show presenting news and stories about people doing cool things with and for history in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia. We talk about people, artifacts, books, maps, photos, places, landmarks, public lands, state and national parks, trails, highways, and the historic events that can bring us all together.

The show is broadcast LIVE most Sunday nights at 8pm Pacific Time on SPACE 101.1 FM (and streaming via http://www.space101fm.org ) from studios located on the shores of Lake Washington in historic Magnuson Park in Seattle, former site of Sand Point Naval Air Station (though sometimes CASCADE OF HISTORY originates from remote locations around the region). The podcast feed consists of the weekly broadcast, plus frequent bonus episodes with timely and topical interviews, vintage local audio or other Pacific Northwest history-related content - and sometimes even BREAKING NEWS.

Producer and host Feliks Banel is an Emmy-winning and Edward R. Murrow Award-winning broadcaster, and former deputy director of Seattle's Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI).

Send your questions, comments, guest suggestions, news tips and other correspondence to cascadeofhistory@gmail.com.

BONUS EPISODE: Tour of Former Immigration Bldg in Seattle and Preview of INSCAPE Open Studios on Sat., Dec. 6, 2025

Cascade of History

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