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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 other day I came across a 1912 full-page newspaper ad for the Rock Island Brewing Company touting their…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.The small community of LeClaire, Iowa, at the head of the Rock Island Rapids, may well hold the record for turning out…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Charles August Ficke of Davenport was a man of two minds. One of the minds was long on moral responsibility. "Each…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If you want to know where to invest your money in order to get the best return, you might look to a successful man like…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Back in 1934, C. R. Medd of Moline was the proud operator of Mildred's Four-Star Dairy, named for C. R.'s wife and four…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.If you don't agree that central Illinois' prairies and rivers form a living Eden, perhaps you are looking from the…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Don't believe Mark Twain when he gives that weak apology at the end of Tom Sawyer for quitting where he does, before…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.I think you'll agree that I do a pretty good job of keeping the preacher in me submerged, but every so often, a sermon…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.I'm not the right kind of doctor, but I confess that every so often I write myself a prescription: "Walk down to the…
  • Community
    This is Roald Tweet on Rock Island.Humans may have built the seven wonders of the world—eight if you count Chicago—but for all this, they have never…