Excerpted from Decibel Points S1.Ep01.   

Voices heard: Dan Wanschura and Phil Ensminger.  Traffic sounds appear courtesy of many Chicago drivers.  
Music: Stock, American Music Co.

Catch the full episode on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/decibel-points/s1-ep01-chicago

S1.Ep01 CLIP "Parking"

Every class has one of them. Someone who just can’t help but be a magnet for all the attention and good natured ribbing. For Dan Wanschura's carpentry class of 2009, that someone was Pao Yang. Regardless of whether or not he was always deserving of the constant jiving he received, he rolled with the punches in such a way that endeared himself to everyone. In this particular episode, Pao gives a firsthand account of one of the tales which further solidified his legendary status within the St. Paul College Carpentry Program.

Music Credits: Jim and Jesse - “Diesel on My Tail”
Cover Art Credit: Benson Kua / CC-BY-SA-3.0 

Oh, and did we mention we are now on iTunes? Yeah, click that subscription button...

northernlightsmedia.wordpress.com / philensminger.com Twitter: @DecibelPoints @dwanschura @philensminger Google+/Facebook: Northern Lights Media

S1.Ep04 The Legend Of Semi Pao

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics are now behind us, but the performances of the athletes continue to awe and inspire us. What's especially fun about the Winter Games is the opportunity it provides us Americans, to watch and learn about the lesser-known athletic contests such as Skeleton, Luge, Biathlon, and the like. In this episode, Dan Wanschura and Phil Ensminger talk Biathlon with the US Women's coach. They then to decide to try their own hands at the sport in a much smaller, scaled down version- something they may or may not regret. 

Be sure to check out Episode 24 of How to Do Everything. Mike and Ian definitely provided some inspiration for us with that episode!

Big thank you's to: 
Jonne Kähkönen
Kimball Cummings Jr.
Marshall, Glorianne, James, and the rest of the Ensminger family
Our crazy "cheering" section, including the Henderson guys...  

Music Credits: 
Boston Pops Orchestra and NBC - "Bugler's Dream and Olympic Fanfare Medley"
Aloe Blacc – “The Man”
 Heidecker & Wood – “Cross Country Skiing”

Have something interesting you want to share with us? You should SO tell us about it…help us ideate!
decibelpoints.com / Twitter: @DecibelPoints @dwanschura @philensminger / Google+/Facebook: Northern Lights Media

S1.Ep05 An Exciting Combination

Here's a sneak, BTS-listen, into a feature for our upcoming Episode 06!

However, we need YOUR help!

We're trying to figure out which clip we should use for Dan's DJ stinger. 
It's been determined that his DJ handle would be "D-Dubs". 
"D" for Dan; "Dubs" short for the "W" at the beginning of his last name.

But, what spot fits him the best? The most popular one will be the one we choose for the podcast!
Give us your feedback, and we'll be BFF's...no, for real!

S1.Ep06 CLIP "Smooth Jazz"

S1.Ep06 CLIP "Disco Fever"

S1.Ep06 CLIP "Classic Country"

When Dan Wanschura traveled to Fort Myers, Florida, to watch his favorite team participate in Spring Training baseball workouts, naturally he brought more than just a ball and glove. Armed with his portable recorder, Dan set out to take advantage of his close proximity with the players by asking them very random, wacky, and even awkward questions. Instead of the same old mantra we consistently hear in sports interviews, enjoy a fresh new side of Minnesota Twins players that you will not hear anywhere else… So, whether or not you’re a die-hard baseball fan, come along for a fun listen. Also, don’t forget to come up with your own answers to the questions we pose in this episode of Decibel Points!

Be sure to check out Episode 38 of “99% Invisible, “The Sound of Sport.” Yeah, it’s as cool as it sounds…

Thank you’s go to:
Minnesota Twins players/coaches
Meagan Wanschura
Mark Genoski, Treasure Island Baseball Network
Alex Gage

Music Credits:
Mark Morrison - “Return Of The Mack - C & J Street Mix”
 Of Monsters and Men – “Dirty Paws”
Alison Krauss and Union Station - “Goodbye Is All We Have”
King Curtis - “Take Me Out To The Ball Game”
Dido - “End of the Night (Cedric Gervais Mix)”
Jason Aldean - “The Truth”

Do you have anything interesting you want to share with us? Please tell us about it…

Help us tell fun stories! Comment! Soundcloud has these awesome time-based comments - just click on the cool waveform thing above. Twitter is at @decibelpoints

S1.Ep06 Not Really About Baseball

As Season 1 concludes, Dan and Phil dabble with a totally different style of podcast. Instead of asking wacky, random questions to professional baseball players, or skiing across the country, we take a more serious tone to grapple with meaningful questions like: Who are we? Why are we here? And, Where are we going?

Ha! JUST KIDDING…that was a joke. (We already know the answer to those questions.)

The format of Episode 7 is a bit more buttoned up and straightforward as we invite local creative writer, Christina (Hall) Soukup to join us in studio, share her poetry, discuss her inspiration, and more! Plus, Grace Coleman returns with new music to accompany Christina’s work.

Listen for the poetry, the music, or to see if Dan falls flat on his face while trying to conduct an interview on a subject he knows little about! We’re glad to have you listening!
Our interviewing inspiration comes from Fresh Air, an NPR program hosted by Terry Gross…and she’s really good at what she does.

Please put your hands together for: 
Christina (Hall) Soukup - anoverflowoftheheart.wordpress.com
Grace Coleman - www.gracecolemanmusic.com

Music Credits:
Drew Barefoot - “Enjoy the Calm”                  																Grace Coleman - “The Looking Glass” 
Grace Coleman - “Equilibrium”
 Uncle Kracker - “Writing It Down”
Daft Punk, Todd Edwards - “Fragments of Time”

Do you have any poems you want to share with us? Please share your musings with us. Extra points for rhyming!  decibelpoints.com / Twitter: @DecibelPoints @dwanschura @philensminger / Google+/Facebook: Northern Lights Media

S1.Ep07 Writing It Down

Tune in to KFAI Radio on Sunday, October 5, 2014, at 10am CST, to hear Dan and Phil host the WAVE Project. The hour-long show will feature their podcast, Decibel Points!

Listen:
FM 90.3 in Minneapolis
FM 106.7 in St. Paul
and streaming LIVE across the globe at www.kfai.org
The show will also be archived at www.kfai.org/waveproject


Music Credits:
Podington Bear - "Now Son"

KFAI WAVE Project Promo

The project known as Decibel Points has ended. 

As another Minnesotan once famously sang, “The times they are a-changin’.”  Such is the case with (what we like to think of as) your favorite podcast, Decibel Points. Change is hard, but a necessary part of life. 

As you’ll hear in this mini-episode, Phil and I have decided to retire Decibel Points as we enter into new stages of our lives. But don’t worry, this is not because we had some dramatic disagreement over creative direction (a la “The Civil Wars”), but rather was due to the fact that DbP has served it’s purpose and run its course.

We started a podcast because we were two podcast junkies who wanted to enter the wild fray of the audio storytelling. We knew we had lots to learn, and so we figured the best way to learn, was to do. That’s what Decibel Points was all about. It was random, spur-of-the-moment, and always unpredictable. It’s funny, because if you talk to anybody in the world of podcasting about starting your own, they’ll tell you to be very specific with the scope of your show, be consistent with both your content and length of your episodes, and reliable with your dates of your releases… Well, we weren’t exactly any of those, but you kept listening anyway. Thank you!

What we are doing these days? Well… Phil is staying crazy busy traveling to exotic locations with his lovely wife, and is continuing to become your one-man stop for anything digital. He’s currently tapped into his software and web development side, in addition to still being my #1 recommended audio engineer. And now that I work in the radio world, I like to think that has more weight than it used to.

Yes, I’m doing what I love, and getting paid for it!  I’m the new arts and culture reporter at Interlochen Public Radio, in Michigan. I started out here as an intern in February, got hired on a short-term contract after that, only to accept a permanent position this past August. I’m stoked. It’s a great opportunity to continue to cut my teeth in the audio biz.

Again, Phil and I want to express our most heartfelt thanks for listening to our work. You make it fun for us. 
Right now, it’s about getting more experience, and brainstorming for our next “big thing.” 

Any Q’s, you know where to find us:

@philensminger - philensminger.com
@dwanschura - dwanschura.com (coming soon)

Take care, y’all…

 Music Credits:
Nina Simone - "Do I Move You?"
Coldplay - "Up In Flames"
Whiskeytown - "Don't Be Sad"

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