Alex Heuer

As 2017 comes to an end, the team that brings you St. Louis on the Air decided to take a look at the top 20 most visited online stories of the year that came out of this program.

St. Louis on the Air host Don Marsh spoke with senior producer Alex Heuer about some of the stories and larger trends.

Following World War II, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill, in 1946, delivered one of the most famous speeches of the 20th century. Known officially as the “Sinews of Peace,” Churchill’s speech came to be known as the “Iron Curtain” speech, and it foreshadowed the Cold War.

An encore of this special St. Louis on the Air program airs Memorial Day, May 28, 2018.

Host Don Marsh talked with retired U.S. Army Captain Florent “Flo” Groberg, a recipient of the Medal of Honor and author of the new book, “8 Seconds of Courage: A Soldier’s Story from Immigrant to the Medal of Honor.”

The discussion was recorded on Tuesday, November 21 in the Community Room at UMSL at Grand Center, the home of St. Louis Public Radio and will air on Friday, November 24 at noon and 10 p.m.

The guilty verdict on Wednesday of genocide and other war crimes against Ratko Mladic is reverberating throughout the world and particularly, within the Bosnian community in St. Louis.

About 70,000 Bosnians live in the St. Louis area. That’s the largest concentration of Bosnians anywhere in the world outside of Bosnia.

A new book designed for upper elementary students shares the stories of ordinary men and women in St. Louis who fought for equal rights.

Amanda Doyle and Melanie Adams are the authors of “Standing Up for Civil Rights in St. Louis,” a publication of the Missouri History Museum Press.

“I really look at this book as our opportunity to educate the next generation on civil rights history,” Adams said.

Adams previously worked at the Missouri History Museum though now works for the Minnesota Historical Society.

Thanksgiving Day is one of the biggest days of the year for cooking and entertaining. Our friends at Sauce Magazine are back for our monthly edition of Sound Bites and have tips for cooking, hosting and attending events this Thursday.

On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with three legal experts about some of the latest issues of local interest pertaining to the law.

Joining him for the discussion were:

• William Freivogel, J.D., Professor, School of Journalism, Southern Illinois University – Carbondale
• Mark Smith, J.D., Associate Vice Chancellor of Students, Washington University
• Michael-John Voss, J.D., Co-Founder, Director of Operations, ArchCity Defenders, Inc.

Topics addressed by the panel include:

The St. Louis International Film Festival is underway through November 12 in venues throughout the city.

“Lots of international films, American independent documentaries and many shorts,” said Cliff Froehlich, executive director of Cinema St. Louis.

On Wednesday’s St. Louis on the Air, our friends at Sauce Magazine joined host Don Marsh to discuss the restaurant openings and closings you should know to plan your nights out in November.

Managing editors Catherine Klene and Heather Hughes joined the program to fill us in on this month’s “Hit List.” Here are their recommendations:

On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with Robbi Courtaway about supernatural activity in St. Louis.

Courtaway is the author of two books on the subject, "Spirits of St. Louis: A Ghostly Guide to the Mound City’s Unearthly Activities" and "Spirits of St. Louis II: The Return of the Gateway City Ghosts.”

Marsh has a ghost story of his own and wrote about it in his 2008 book, Flash Frames: Journey of a Journeyman Journalist.

The year 2015 was a busy and challenging one for former University of Missouri football coach Gary Pinkel.

In April, the winningest football coach in school history was awarded a contract extension that would have kept him with the university through 2021 with a salary in excess of $4 million per year.

On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with three legal experts about some of the latest issues of local interest pertaining to the law.

Joining him for the discussion were:

Actor and St. Louis native Robert Guillaume died at the age of 89 on Tuesday, October 24.

His role as the butler Benson won him Emmys for best supporting actor in a comedy in 1979 and best actor in a comedy in 1985, making him the first African-American to win either.

On Friday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with members of the local acting community about how Guillaume influenced their careers.

An exhibit on display now at the Thomas F. Eagleton U.S. Courthouse in downtown St. Louis features the life and work of Alexander Hamilton.

Hamilton was one of the Founding Fathers, the first Secretary of the Treasury and a fervent advocate of a strong national government.

The Central Institute for the Deaf (CID) in St. Louis has been serving deaf children throughout the country for more than one hundred years.

“It was founded in 1914 by an ear, nose, and throat doctor in St. Louis, Dr. Max Goldstein,” said Robin Feder, CID’s executive director who previously taught at the school. “He had gone to Europe and seen deaf children being taught to talk there and thought he wanted to bring that new educational philosophy back to St. Louis.”

CID is different than most schools for deaf children in that teachers do not teach sign language.

The Bach Society of Saint Louis is participating in a 500th anniversary commemoration concert drawing inspiration from the Reformation. The Reformation was a schism from the Roman Catholic Church initiated by Martin Luther in 1517.

“I think [Luther’s] influence in the area of music was probably just as powerful as it was in theology,” said Dennis Sparger, music director and conductor of the Bach Society. “He praised music to the highest level and really encouraged us all to use all of our music to praise God.”

William Shatner is best known for his portrayal of Captain James T. Kirk on Star Trek: The Original Series. The television series ran for only three seasons, from 1966-1969, though the cultural influence of Shatner’s character and that of Star Trek overall endures.

On Tuesday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talked with Shatner about his upcoming one-man show, “Shatner’s World: We Just Live in It,” in Rolla this Sunday at the Leach Theatre.

The St. Louis Blues are off to a fast start in the 2017-2018 NHL season. The team leads the Central Division after beginning its 51st campaign earlier this month.

On Monday’s St. Louis on the Air, editor Bill Raack discussed the history of the St. Louis Blues hockey team with former St. Louis Post-Dispatch sports columnist and feature writer Dan O’Neill.

The premiere of Ken Burns and Lynn Novik’s PBS documentary about the Vietnam War garnered nearly 12 million viewers.

“It was fortuitous for me in a number of ways,” said Mark Bowden, a St. Louis native and author of a new book about the Vietnam War, “Huế 1968: A Turning Point of the American War in Vietnam.”

“The series has obviously piqued a lot of interest in Vietnam,” he said.

“Huế 1968” focuses on the Tet Offensive, part of which was the Battle of Huế, the bloodiest of the entire war – a 24 day event in which about 10,000 people died.

Prior to Thursday’s deadline to submit a bid to Amazon to host its second North American headquarters, it was well known that the Kansas City and St. Louis metropolitan areas were planning to submit bids.

What wasn’t widely known is that Missouri submitted its own proposal.