2 below zero: Recent Episodes
2 below zero
Diane Richard + Todd Melby = 2 below zero. We're a couple who make thoughtful, thought-provoking public radio stories and documentaries. They also make separate work: Both are writers. Todd's book—"A Lot Can Happen in the Middle of Nowhere: The Untold Story of the Making of Fargo"—will be published in 2021 by MNHS Press.
Kelly Reichardt’s films are full of pregnant pauses and extended silences. In fact, her movies often lack a background score. They’re shot in the American West and filled with open skies and people living on the margins.
In this episode of "The Drunk Projectionist" film podcast, Reichardt discusses why she substituted train sounds for soaring music in "Wendy and Lucy" and "Certain Women." The director of several widely-acclaimed films also tells us why she often shoots outdoors in natural light, how men and women sometimes view the scenes differently and why many of her movies are based in Montana and other western states.
Oh, and a personal note: Unlike a lot of artists, Reichardt is always in the moment during interviews. I loved her off-the-cut takes on trains, her behind-the-scene reveal of stealing trains sounds from Gus Van Sant, our comparison of "secret" places in South Dakota and her genuine openness.
— Todd Melby
An excerpt from the audio documentary "We Don't Talk Like That: 'Fargo' and the Midwest Psyche," co-produced by Todd Melby and Diane Richard for public radio.
An excerpt from the audio documentary "No Brother of Mine," co-produced by Todd Melby and Diane Richard for public radio.
The 1996 movie "Fargo" stirred widespread curiosity about snowy winters, funny accents and bloody mayhem on the frozen tundra of North Dakota and Minnesota. The film won two Oscar awards and inspired a popular television series. But how well did it actually capture and reflect the region? In this documentary, reporters Diane Richard and Todd Melby unravel the mystery behind the parkas, prowlers and wood chippers. Check out Todd's book on "Fargo" here: https://www.toddmelby.com/book
After moving from Wyoming to North Dakota during the height of the oil boom, Steve Brown started a water hauling company. Now it's the summer of 2015 and rig count has dropped to its lowest point in six years. As a result, Brown is struggling to keep trucks on the road.
Fewer rigs. Fewer trucks. Fewer jobs. With oil prices down, there's a lot less activity in North Dakota's oil patch. Don Williams, who lives and works in Ross, says the bust could have at least one positive aspect.
After moving to North Dakota, Kendra Hill's husband doubled his wages. Now the young couple have two kids and a new house. By the summer of 2015, the state's drilling rig count had dropped to under 80 rigs, meaning jobs was disappearing. No matter what happens in the oil industry, Kendra says her family is here to stay. (Photo by Ben Garvin)
Silent film may be a thing of the past, but scoring music to flickering screen classics isn't. This documentary focuses on three Minneapolis bands who are intrigued, perhaps even obsessed, by silents. Produced by 2 below zero's Todd Melby for KFAI's Minneculture program.
Every year thousands of birds migrate through Minnesota. And every year thousands of them collide with the built environment. Few people notice—except for those who pick up the carcasses. 2 below zero's Diane Richard shadowed Audubon Society volunteer and dead-bird artist Miranda Brandon on a tour through downtown Minneapolis. For the next half hour, they’ll give you a bird’s eye view of the obstacle course humans have built for our friends with wings.
Fewer Americans are watching movies in theaters—ticket sales fell by 11 percent between 2004 and 2013. For those attending the cinema, just about every movie available is projected digitally. 35-millimeter film, once the industry standard, is now a rarity. But there are still a few places you can watch a film flicker on a dark screen. 2 below zero's Todd Melby goes inside the projection room at the Trylon Microcinema in Minneapolis.
Lisa Westberg Peters is a children's book author who began investigating the Bakken boom after oilfield royalty checks began pouring into her mother's mailbox. Peters' grandfather, Oskar Westberg, purchased several parcels of farmland near Tioga, North Dakota, nearly a century ago. Today, that investment is paying big dividends.
In a conversation with Black Gold Boom's Todd Melby, Peters discusses her book, "Fractured Land: The Price of Inheriting Oil," and how her family's history and North Dakota's decades-long search for oilfield riches intersect.
Erdenechimeg “Chimgee” Haltarhuu is a Mongolian circus performer and crusader against domestic abuse. A teacher at Circus Juventas, in St. Paul, she takes her own troupe, Circus Manduhai, to rural Mongolia, where she educates circusgoers about the dangers of violence in the home. Produced by Diane Richard.
Her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents lived on this land in McKenzie County, North Dakota. Now she does. Years ago, when oil company representatives first knocked on her door asking for permission to drill, she welcomed them. But in the years since the boom exploded, she’s had second thoughts.
Story by Todd Melby
Photo by Ben Garvin
Oil tankers rumble on lots of roads near Mandaree and New Town, North Dakota. Both towns are on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, home to the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara. But another tribal town — Twin Buttes — is just east of the Bakken oil field, making it a quiet place.
Twin Buttes resident Cory Spotted Bear and friends recently constructed a traditional earth lodge there. Spotted Bear talked to Black Gold Boom’s Todd Melby about the project and his thoughts about the nearby boom.
Photo by Philipp Batta
Arkansas will always be home to Oscar Everetts, but that didn't stop him from coming to North Dakota to make ribs for roughnecks.
By Todd Melby
Photo by Phillip Batta
Black Gold Boom's Todd Melby on the public radio program "The Story." Originally aired in 2013. Audio courtesy of APM.
Retailer Target's unusual gift giving. Originally aired on Marketplace in 2004. By Todd Melby.
'Mad Men' era sex discrimination has ramifications decades later. Originally aired on Marketplace in 2004. By Todd Melby.
An odd sport gets its moment in the winter sun. Originally aired in 2008 on NPR. By Todd Melby.
Elsie Ejismekwu is a trucker and cabbie in Watford City. Divorced and a mother of five, she moved to the Bakken for the work, which pays more than most other places in America. Says Ejismekwu, "I wanted a fresh start so I came to North Dakota." Photo and story by Todd Melby.
The legal battle surrounding the death of Dustin Bergsing, a 21-year-old oilfield worker in North Dakota. It concerns whether or not Marathon Oil ignored repeated internal warnings about unsafe working conditions at the well site where the young man worked. Reported by Todd Melby. Photo of Dustin Bergsing's H2S monitor courtesy of OSHA.
First story in a series, titled "Oil Patch Code Blue," on injuries and deaths in North Dakota oil country. A day in the life of Ann Hafner, director of the Killdeer Area Ambulance Service. Story and photo by Todd Melby.
Second story in a series, titled "Oil Patch Code Blue," on injuries and deaths in North Dakota oil country. According to a 2008 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study, oil field workers are seven times more likely to suffer a fatal on-the-job injury than the average American worker. Todd Melby reports. (Photo by Ben Garvin)
Third story in a series, titled "Oil Patch Code Blue," on injuries and deaths in North Dakota oil country. Trauma admissions have doubled or tripled at hospitals in the western part of the state. More men are dying on drilling rigs and other oil industry workplaces than ever before. In this report, Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby examines how this is affecting families. (Photo courtesy of Lacey Breding.)
Tait Salzer works on drilling rigs in North Dakota. Before joining the oil boom a little more than a year ago, Salzer labored on a South Dakota cattle ranch. An audio portrait by Todd Melby. Photo by Ben Garvin.
Soaring athletes are sometimes compared to graceful dancers. Dancers in the Minneapolis-based company Black Label Movement might be compared to athletes, but grace won’t be the first word to come to mind.
Taryn Griggs and Chris Yon are a Twin Cities dance duo. They’ve both won McKnight dance fellowships. But if you saw them walking down the street, you might never guess they're dancers. Todd Melby tells us why.
For some people, love is hugs and kisses. Or moonlight walks on the beach. For one local punk band, love is a song about dead cats.
Have you ever dreamed of being someone else? Gilberto Vasquez Valle has. This story explores the tradition of Mexican wrestlers and their masks, including the glorious El Santo.
What do you get when you cross a poet and an oilfield worker? Mathew Henderson. He lives in Toronto, but his first job out of high school was in the oilfields of Alberta and Saskatchewan, Canada. The New York Times calls his book of poems ("The Lease") on the topic "spare and elegant." In an interview with Black Gold Boom's Todd Melby, Henderson talks about his time in the patch and reads several poems.
Remembering the Ethiopian singer Salah Hassan Galmo, who died of a heart attack at the age of 35. He sang in his native Oromo language. Before his death in 2002, he lived in Toronto and Minneapolis. Aired on The World, 2002.
Minneapolis is home to one of the largest concentrations of Somali immigrants in North America. For the past seven months, officials at the airport there have been struggling with how to accommodate the religious beliefs of Somali Muslim cab drivers without inconveniencing certain passengers. Many of the cabbies refuse rides to anyone carrying alcohol. The airport authority wanted those drivers to put special lights on the top of their taxis to identify them as alcohol-free. But that idea was scraped. Now there's a new rule that could put some drivers out of business. Aired on The World, 2007.
When Nathina St. Pierre moved to Watford City, North Dakota, she received lots of attention from men. "It was flattering at first," she said. But it never stopped. Everywhere she went, men of all ages hit on her. The sexual harassment became worse and worse. So St. Pierre took action. This is one story of the oil boom, as told to photojournalist Ben Garvin and produced by Black Gold Boom's Todd Melby.
Photo by Ben Garvin.
A blast from the past. Pretty much the first radio story by 2 below zero's Diane Richard and Todd Melby. On our honeymoon in Istanbul, we met a carpet seller and followed him into his shop.
Imagine you owned mineral rights in western North Dakota. And crude oil was stuck inside rock under the land where you owned those rights. You’d be rich, right? That’s what one Williston man thought too. Then the state came along and took that oil. Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby has the story of one man’s fight for oil he believes is rightfully his.
A crack addict finds Jesus, stays off drugs and rings bells for the Salvation Army. Oh, and he sings too. Audio portrait by Todd Melby
"This is what happens when Minnesota nice goes wrong." That's how Meghan McDonald-Heisserer describes the company she started with Christina Nguyen. Called "Maybe You Should Die," the Minneapolis firm sells handmade "Mean Bags" with nasty insults, cards written from the point-of-view of stalkers, kinky cards for lovers and cards that celebrate failure. Says Christine, "We take it to the extreme."
North Dakota’s oil boom has made lots of people rich, including workers. Many people are buying new toys: Pickups, boats and the like. But one Dickinson woman is spending her oil field cash on a possible pop music career. Story and photo by Todd Melby.
In the last 60 years, Williston has seen its share of oil booms. And with each boom, come lots of male oilfield workers. In 1952, a group of oilfield workers' wives decided to form a social group called the Ladies Petroleum Club. They've been meeting monthly to share meals, play cards, host dances — all kinds of stuff. Audio portrait and photo by Laura Candler.
Beth Hafele once lived on the western edge of Williston, North Dakota. Then the oil boom came. From the third floor of her apartment building, she's seen hundreds of houses and an oil rig pop up on the previously empty prairie. Now her apartment is pretty much in the middle of town. Audio portrait by Todd Melby.
How does a booming small town help its teachers find affordable places to live? In Stanley, North Dakota, they've built a pair of apartment buildings across the street from the school. In this story, you'll meet a trio of 24-year-old educators who share a two-bedroom apartment. Some people call them "The Triplets." Photo and story by Laura Candler.
A song by Jessie Veeder. Written and performed by Jessie Veeder. Added to Black Gold Boom with permission.
A song by Kris Kitko. Written and performed by Kit Kitko. Added to Black Gold Boom with permission.
A song by Wes St. Jon, the oilfield cowboy. Written and performed by Wes St. Jon. Added to Black Gold Boom with permission.
If you're hungry or lonely on a Sunday evening in Williston, North Dakota, First Lutheran Church is the place to be. Volunteers from many churches and civic groups take turns cooking meals and providing fellowship to newcomers and those who have been in town for decades. Audio portrait by Todd Melby and Diane Richard.
North Dakota's oil boom has forced many families to make tough decisions. Shannon Atwell is living proof. Shannon recently moved her four young boys from their farm in Missouri to a cramped trailer near Williston, North Dakota. The boys' father moved there two years ago to work in the oil fields and the family finally decided join him. This is Shannon's story. Audio portrait and photo by Laura Candler.
Kris Kitko, a singer/songwriter who lives in Bismarck, is worried about the societal and environmental effects of the oil boom. Kitko describes herself as an accidental activist who writes songs about the negative effects of the oil boom. "I write about whatever moves me," she says. "I felt very moved by ... what I heard people were going through." In this interview, Kitko sings "Frack That Oil" and "The EPA Hates Babies."
Boomtowns bring with them appetites. Restaurants catering to oil workers in western North Dakota try to meet diners’ demands. But waits are long, and so are lines for drive-thrus. One solution is the food truck. In Williston, one food truck is putting an authentic twist on Mexican takeaway.
Brian Martindale drives truck in North Dakota, but his family is back home in Minnesota. Martindale is married with three young children, all under the age of seven. (Audio by Todd Melby. Photo by Ben Garvin)
The oil boom of western North Dakota is mostly a man’s game. The number of men working on rigs tripping pipe far outweighs the few female faces found there. But women have found opportunity in oil country, tackling jobs men don’t traditionally do. Diane Richard has the story.
Share your thoughts on North Dakota's oil boom at blackgoldboom.com. It's easy to remember.
School buses have always had to share the road with other vehicles. But in oil country, country roads and highways now throb with traffic. And fatality rates are at an all-time high. A North Dakota Highway Patrol safety program called “Trooper on the Bus” helps buses reach schools safely. Black Gold Boom reporter Diane Richard has the story.
Fast food restaurants, grocery stores and motels in North Dakota’s oil patch have come to rely on student workers from abroad, places like China, Eastern Europe and South America, because of the ongoing labor shortage. But the company that coordinates visas for those temporary foreign workers is canceling the program, leaving local businesses in the lurch. Black Gold Boom reporter Diane Richard has the story.
Did you ever wonder what a toolpusher, roustabout or derrick hand does on an oil rig? Wes St. Jon, also known as "The Oilfield Cowboy," aims to tell you. Wes is a singer/songwriter from Nashville who fell in love with the oil industry while living in Oklahoma and Louisiana. He got to know roughnecks, truckers and others folks in the business. They taught him how things worked. And he wrote songs about it.
To make it in the Bakken boom, North Dakota newcomers need to work hard and make sacrifices. But what exactly are those sacrifices? Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby recently met a group of young men who came to the oil patch looking for work. What they found surprised them.
Most guys in the oil field try to maximize their sleep time. After a long shift, they go home and rest. But some prefer to get out and enjoy North Dakota’s great outdoors. Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby reports on one oil field hand who’d rather fish than snooze.
They arrive in oil country by train, bus and automobile looking for work. Or if they're like Robert Reid, they shove everything they own into a backpack and hitchhike to North Dakota. Reid shared his story with Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby.
Concealed weapons permits are on the rise again in North Dakota, especially in the west.
North Dakota Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem says crime in oil country is no worse than elsewhere in the state. But his analysis is missing key data. Black Gold Boom's Todd Melby reports.
Just about every month, North Dakota’s oil patch seems to reach some kind of personal best. It might be a new record for number of active drilling rigs, oil wells in production or number of barrels produced per day. Todd Melby, lead producer of Prairie Public’s Black Gold Boom oil series, has been pouring over data from government agencies lately. Those numbers tell another side of the Bakken boom.
While other boys were working on paper routes or not at all, Richard Karpe labored on drilling rigs. Today, he supervises a truck operation near Watford City, North Dakota. He spoke to Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby about life in the oil field.
Western North Dakota’s oil rush has meant big money for roughnecks and truckers. But it’s also meant big headaches for local residents. Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby has the story of one small town that longs for the quiet days before the boom.
Photographer Ben Garvin discusses how he photographed North Dakota's oil patch from the air. Garvin's strikingly beautiful photos appear on the Black Gold Boom website.
James Goeres sells pickup truck stickers from a mobile home. His motto: "Tattoo Your Ride, Not Your Hide." Audio portrait by Todd Melby. Photo by Ben Garvin.
Roughnecks, truckers and entrepreneurs of every stripe are cashing in on North Dakota’s oil boom. So is an industrial giant from the 19th century: The railroads. Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby has the story on how trains are being used to move crude out of the Bakken to refineries hundreds of miles away.
An audio postcard of the "Williston Basin Blowout," a mixed martial arts fight night held in Williston, N.D. on May 19, 2012. By Todd Melby. To see a slideshow created with this audio, go to http://blackgoldboom.com/
In the oil patch of western North Dakota, there aren’t many restaurants. So when truck drivers, construction crews and oil hands get hungry, they often turn to food trucks like the Gourmet Grill on Highway 85, not far from Alexander. Owner Adelle Hackworth calls the road the "highway of hope" because people who drive there want to turn their lives around. Audio portrait by Todd Melby. Photo by Ben Garvin.
In the oil patch of western North Dakota, there aren’t many restaurants. So when truck drivers, construction crews and oil hands get hungry, they often turn to food trucks. These makeshift trailers offer all kinds of fast, hot meals — hamburgers, breakfast burritos and the like. Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby loves the fries and pulled pork at the 4P, a shack located near a gas station in Keene.
Amtrak’s Empire Builder travels from Chicago to Seattle or Spokane every day, making several stops in North Dakota. Before the oil boom in the western part of the state, not many people got on and off the train around these parts. Todd Melby reports that a surge in oil field jobs has changed that.
About a year ago, Jessie Veeder returned to her family ranch near Watford City, North Dakota. Soon, change started to arrive. Oil wells and pipelines began dotting the landscape. And people from all corners of America arrived to work. So the singer/songwriter decided to write about her transformed hometown in a song titled, "Boomtown." Audio portrait by Todd Melby. Photo by Ben Garvin.
David Unkenholz works as a trust officer at First International Bank and Trust in Watford City. He has a bachelor’s degree and a law degree from the University of North Dakota. Before hitting the books, Unkenholz worked on a drilling rig. His job was in Worm's Corner, one of the dirtiest, most dangerous ones on the rig.
Roughnecks and other oil field workers make big money. But that money doesn’t come without sacrifice. Many workers are separated from families. The job can be dangerous. And the long hours can mess up a person’s life. As part of the Black Gold Boom series, reporter Todd Melby tells us how one oil worker copes with a lack of sleep.
North Dakota has the lowest unemployment rate in the nation. And the nation knows it. People are flocking to the Peace Garden state for jobs in the oil patch and elsewhere, but not everyone has a job lined up before they arrive. Story and photo by Todd Melby.
Bobcat John is a 57-year-old man from Idaho who came to the oil patch with his pickup truck and a trailer full of knives. His mission: Sell knives — all kinds of knives — to oil workers. Producer Todd Melby caught up with him in New Town, North Dakota.
Oil drilling on federal lands may soon happen faster. U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announces plans to decrease the amount of time it takes the feds to tackle oil permitting on U.S.-owned property from an average of 298 days to as few as 60 days. Currently, all federal oil permitting is done the old-fashioned way: On paper. By May 2013, the U.S. government promises to fully implement a new, online system. Salazar, a former U.S. senator, visited a so-called man camp in Dunn County, near Dickinson. Black Gold Boom reporter Todd Melby has the story.
Alfredo Cantu, Kelvin Lacey and Julio Pulido work together and hang out together. They drive truck in Tioga, North Dakota, but spend days off in Minot watching movies and shopping at Walmart. Audio portrait and photo by Todd Melby.
Jayce Mitchell and Logan Bice are stepbrothers who like to spend their free time roping steers. They’ve moved to North Dakota to clean tankers. Reporter Todd Melby bumped into the pair at a truck stop in New Town. The pair were practicing their roping skills on a dummy steer, a plastic replica with horns. When you hear the words “Gotta be an eight” in this audio portrait, the number eight refers to the length of time in seconds they’d like to rope a particular steer. Eight seconds is a very good time.
Bryan Johnson lives in Spearfish, South Dakota, and sells fire-retardant clothes to oil workers in Watford City, North Dakota. Before moving to Spearfish, he worked in Los Angeles as a police officer. He says traffic on the two-lane highways near Watford City is worse than in Los Angeles.
Rising oil prices and record production are boosting oil revenue for the state of North Dakota. But what impact is it having in the west — where trucks are rumbling down highways and some people can’t find a place to live. The North Dakota Economic Security and Prosperity Alliance held a public forum in Dickinson on Sunday to ask people that question. Todd Melby reports.
Shane Osborne arrived in boom country looking for work. He found it. But housing is too expensive so he's toughing it out in a trailer. Life isn't great, he says.
Daniel Brock of Rock Springs, Wyoming traded in his teaching job for an oil field job. He doubled his money in the first year. “It’s way worth it,” he says.
Walls continue division. They shun neighbors. They block communication. The defining moment that signaled the end of the cold war was when the Berlin wall came down. It’s been said by poets and politicians alike: What if we could one day live in a world with no walls?
Flarf is a poetry movement practiced by about 30 poets and academics in the country, two of them in the Twin Cities.
This documentary shows how students in small town schools suffer because of the way Illinois funds its public schools.
A documentary exploring the environmental consequences of traditional funeral and burial practices.
Enter the world of passionate collectors and compulsive shoppers to find out why people spent money on objects they don't need.
Pipe organs at movie houses didn't completely disappear with the end of silent films. The Heights Theatre in Columbia Heights, Minnesota is home to an organ with 1,100 pipes and xylophones, drums and a whoopee cushion. The local chapter of the American Theater Organ Society owns the organ and hopes to more than double its size in coming years, making it the largest theater organ in Minnesota history. Produced by Todd Melby.
The U.S. Postal Service reports that people are writing fewer and fewer letters. Americans are, of course, increasingly turning to e-mail, texting, Facebook and other forms of digital communication. But there’s at least one place in Minneapolis that still values the handwritten, personal note. Todd Melby visits Lunalux, a printer that embraces 15th century technology.
The typewriter is oh-so nineteenth and twentieth century. Still, some people like the clickety-clack sounds they make. Producer Todd Melby is one of them. He found a guy that still tinkers with the old machines. A visit to Vale Typewriter of Richfield, Minnesota.
They had names like The Cinebuff, the Bronco, The Maple Leaf, The Sunset. They were the drive-in movie theaters of Minnesota. Once, there were more than 80 outdoor movie theaters in the Gopher State. Today, only a handful remain, including the Sky-Vu in Warren and the Starlite 5 in Litchfield. Produced by Todd Melby.
Lots of folks are into vinyl these days. Some people are even making mix tapes again. But if you really want to embrace obscure, seemingly dead media, there's no better way to do it than to buy 78 rpm records. This documentary takes listeners inside the rarefied world of 78 record enthusiasts, including Greg Carr, former KFAI "Dig Out the Roots" DJ, and Scott Holthus, owner of Vintage Music Company in Minneapolis. Holthus owns hundreds of thousands of 78 records and he refurbishes the machines that plays them.
An excerpt from "Consuming Desire," a 2005 radio documentary by Diane Richard and Todd Melby. More info: http://www.2belowzero.org/
An excerpt from "Spirit and Body Willing: Sex Over Age 70," a radio documentary by Diane Richard and Todd Melby.
“No Brother of Mine” offers an unflinching look at U.S. sex offender policy that reaches beyond the headlines and into the lives of real people. Reported over four years by Diane Richard and Todd Melby, this hour-long documentary combines audio-rich storytelling that puts the listener in the scene with expert interviews that lend perspective and propel the narrative forward. It provides a nuanced examination of issues surrounding federal online registration laws, residency restrictions, Romeo and Juliet laws and the growing use of civil commitment.