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Rock Island Lines
Monday thru Friday 11 AM

A series of award-winning stories about our region's traditions, institutions, and people, past and present. Rock Island Lines is written and read by Roald Tweet, Professor Emeritus of English at Augustana College.

The stories in these three-minute modules are rooted in a specific place; a "kidney-shaped limestone island plunked down in the middle of the Mississippi River." It's the logical site for a storyteller. It is from the rich heritage of our region that Tweet spins his histories, biographies, and "stretchers."

Roald has spent much of his life travelling up and down the river, with forays overland, east and west, talking to the people, reading their journals, and enjoying the humor and history of America's heartland. His observations about life around Rock Island strike responsive chords across the region. It's a viewpoint that will enrich and enliven your day.

Listen below or subscribe on iTunes or RSS. 

Sponsored by
Quad City Bank & Trust

Latest Episodes
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.The young Frenchman who arrived in New Orleans in 1832 was no ordinary visitor from abroad. Joseph Nicolas Nicollet had…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If God had asked for advice from Minnesotans and Wisconsinites when he set about designing Mississippi islands, those…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Do you remember that outrageous cartoon woodpecker named Woody? With his pointy red topknot, his insane cackle, and his…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.By April 1st, 1993, Rock Islanders breathed a collective sigh of relief and began congratulating themselves. There was…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If the Guinness Book of World Records had been around in 1840, the good citizens of Bellevue, Iowa would certainly have…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had been around in the days of Noah, things would have been different. Folks would…
  • Community
    This Roald Tweet on Rock Island.The Mississippi River likes a practical joke as well as the next person. How else to explain the summer of 1864?By that…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Ever since Noah gave floods a bad name way back, real estate developers have been reluctant to use the word. Houses…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If Hercules had been ordered to clean purple loosestrife out of the Upper Mississippi River as one of his 12 labors,…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Ever since Shellie Moore Guy of Rock Island began writing poetry a few years ago, she has upset me. And I'm too old to…