The Progress City Radio Hour

We begin our 40th anniversary celebration of EPCOT Center with a look at the theme of its signature pavilion, communications! We'll look back in time to see the history of the Bell System's past offerings at World's Fairs and Disneyland itself, and talk with Imagineer Peggie Fariss about the level of research that went into the creation of EPCOT's Spaceship Earth. To top it off, we'll examine how Spaceship Earth developed from the "Future World Theme Show" to the attraction we know and love today. History, music, and more - hug a Phoenician and beware the electronic babble, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

This is it, folks - our fiftieth episode! Can you believe it? To mark the occasion we're looking back at two fiftieth anniversary celebrations of the past, 1973's 50th anniversary of Walt Disney Productions and 1978's 50th anniversary of Mickey Mouse. History, music, and more - nifty at fifty, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

This episode we're bringing you part two of our Progress City Town Hall with veteran Imagineer Peggie Fariss! Peggie started at Disneyland in 1965 as an attractions hostess, and in her amazing fifty-year career she worked on any number of fascinating projects. In part two of our talk we discuss more of her role in putting together EPCOT's planning conferences, her work helping create the Disney Gallery, the art of dealing with corporate participants, and her time at Disneyland Paris! Head for Ice Station Cool, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

This month we're very excited to bring you a two-part Progress City Town Hall with veteran Imagineer Peggie Fariss! Peggie started at Disneyland in 1965 as an attractions hostess, and in her amazing fifty-year career she worked on any number of fascinating projects. In part one of our talk we discuss the origins of Peggie's Disney career, her time in Florida previewing Walt Disney World in 1969, her role there as the resort opened in 1971, and her work helping develop EPCOT programming in the 1970s. Meet you at the Sunshine State Exhibitorium, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

We're on the rails again as we continue our exploration of the production of the 1956 Disney feature The Great Locomotive Chase. Join us, Walt, and Fess in the mountains of Georgia and North Carolina for a look at the locals Walt recruited to take part in the film, some of whom he tried to bring back to California with him! We also look back at the film's multiple premiere events, and Jeff speaks to Bill Kurtz III, whose grandfather was technical advisor for the film and who himself made an actual appearance on the Disneyland television show! History, music, and more - pop open a Coca Cola, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

This month we're doing something a little different on the Radio Hour, and taking a deep dive into the production of the 1956 feature The Great Locomotive Chase. This film was a passion project for Walt, who spent two weeks playing with trains on location in the mountains of Georgia and North Carolina. Join us and our third co-host Fess Parker for a look back at the production, the locomotives, and life on set along the Tallulah Falls Railroad -  and for an in-depth assessment of just how handsome is Jeffrey Hunter anyway? History, music, and more - eat our dust Johnny Reb, it's the Progress City Radio Hour! 

It's time to hit the road for summer vacation, Disney style! We'll look at roadside Disney classics from Florida's welcome centers to Walt Disney World's preview center itself. We'll also hitch up our RVs at Disneyland's long-lost Vacationland campground. We revisit the Country Bear Jamboree Vacation Hoedown, and speak to artists Jason Grandt and Scott Tilley about their Little Golden Book about Disney's Orange Bird. History, music, and more - gas up the Airstream and grab all the brochures you can carry, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

This month, the Progress City Radio Hour is setting sail for adventure with tales from the golden age of scientific romances, and the grand old man himself Jules Verne! We'll look at the making of the 1954 Disney classic 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, and revisit how that film was first represented at Disneyland with a movie set tour. We'll also look at Verne's other brushes with Disney, from Tokyo's Mysterious Island to Paris's Discoveryland. And to top it off, we'll visit the greatest unbuilt land of them all, the fabled Discovery Bay. History, music, and more - cast off the bowline Mr. Baxter, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

This month, the Progress City Radio Hour looks at some of the creative geniuses who have worked with the Disney studio over the years. From surrealist legend Salvador Dalí, who worked at Disney on the film Destino in 1946, to composer legends like Stravinsky and Prokofiev, many famous names sought to work with Walt in his heyday. We also look at notables of later years, such as Michael Eisner's stable of world-renowned architects and Ray Bradbury's influence on EPCOT Center! History, music, and more - prepare to step into the Schweitzer centrifuge, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!

In this episode we welcome back veteran Imagineer Tim Delaney for part two of his town hall! We cover a lot of ground in this one, from EPCOT Center and The Living Seas to Discoveryland in Paris. There are also lots of personal stories about the boom days of Michael Eisner and Frank Wells. Hydrolators prepare for descent, it's the Progress City Radio Hour!