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bigcitysmalltown with Bob Rivard

Episodes

Nov. 1, 2024

78. Live from CityFest: The Future of Downtown

In this very special episode of bigcitysmalltown, we share a panel recorded live in front of an audience at Texas Public Radio for CityFest San Antonio 2024.  Host Bob Rivard moderated a panel of city leaders discussing how San Antonio's downtown...

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Oct. 25, 2024

77. JC Clapsaddle: An American in the Ukraine

This week’s guest is JC Clapsaddle, a retired U.S. Air Force colonel and medical administration officer with a background in Pentagon assignments involving human rights and humanitarian efforts. Listen as JC discusses his multiple missions to aid...

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Oct. 18, 2024

76. Jessica Conrad on San Antonio's Housing Market

This week’s guest is Jessica Conrad, a San Antonio realtor, Air Force veteran, and now, the emcee of the semi-annual PechaKucha creative presentations, the latest edition of which was recently staged at the Carver Cultural Center. Listen as Jessica...

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Oct. 11, 2024

75. Grant Pinkerton Talks BBQ

This week’s guest is Grant Pinkerton, the man, the chef, the impresario behind Pinkerton’s BBQ, located right in the heart of downtown San Antonio on Legacy Park across from Frost Tower. Listen as Grant discusses his choice to expand to San...

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Oct. 4, 2024

74. Lisa Campos: Leading UTSA Sports

This week’s guest is Dr. Lisa Campos, the Vice President for Intercollegiate Athletics and Athletic Director, at the University of Texas at San Antonio, a position she has held since Nov. 17, 2017. Listen as she discusses the extraordinary growth of...

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Sept. 27, 2024

73. Monika Maeckle + Ashley Bird: 9th Annual Monarch Butterfly & Poll…

This week’s guests are part of the bigcitysmalltown family. First, Monika Maeckle, founder of the San Antonio Monarch Butterfly and Pollinator Festival, and the author of the newly released book, “The Monarch Butterfly Migration, Its Rise and...

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Sept. 20, 2024

72. Ray Cantu: AI-Simulated Training at SIMMIE

This week’s guest is Ray Cantu, founder of a company called SIMMIE that until recently was known as ColdCALR. By either name Cantu, the consummate salesman, says his company is revolutionizing the world of sales with what he describes as an...

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Sept. 13, 2024

71. Trish DeBerry: The Future of Downtown San Antonio and Park(ing) D…

This week we welcome a returning guest: Trish DeBerry, CEO and president of Centro San Antonio, the nonprofit organization dedicated to building and maintaining a better downtown for locals, businesses and visitors. Trish was a bigcitysmalltown guest...

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Sept. 6, 2024

70. Michael Blair + Jose Herrera: NukuDo's Paid Cybersecurity Training

Have you heard of NukuDo, the cybersecurity training program located at Geekdom? Today’s guest is Michael Blair, an entrepreneur and NukuDo’s Managing Director. NukuDo pays its enrolled students $4,000 a month during their half year or so of...

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Aug. 23, 2024

69. PechaKucha San Antonio with Vicki Yuan and Libby Morris

This week’s guests are Vicki Yuan, an architect with Lake/Flato, and Libby Morris, a leader in  San Antonio’s design community and the principal of Morris Design. Vicki and Libby are with us to talk about their roles as leading organizers of...

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Aug. 9, 2024

68. Dawn White-Fosdick: Christian Assistance Ministry's Walk-In Suppo…

This week’s guest is Dawn White-Fosdick, the longtime president and CEO of Christian Assistance Ministry, widely known as CAM, which serves both the city's homeless as well as families who have housing but are experiencing crisis in their lives. For...

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Aug. 2, 2024

67. Krissy Salinas on Let's Go Texas

This week’s guest is Krissy Salinas, the director of Let’s Go Texas, a nonprofit that helps people with disabilities in South Texas and the San Antonio metro area find gainful employment. Let’s Go Texas partners with the Texas Workforce...

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July 26, 2024

66. Naphtali Bryant + Raylynn Hampton: United Way's Childcare Scholar…

This week’s guests are Naphtali Bryant, the Childcare Scholarship Coordinator at United Way of San Antonio, and Raylynn Hampton, a United Way Scholarship recipient. Raylynn is a 27-year-old student pursuing an online undergraduate degree in...

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July 19, 2024

65. Lea Rosenauer: Strong, Smart and Bold at Girls, Inc.

This week’s guest is Lea Rosenauer, president and CEO of Girls Inc. of San Antonio, an affiliate of the national Girls Incorporated organization that was established locally 20 years ago this November. Its mission is to inspire all girls ages 6-18...

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July 12, 2024

64. Kathy Sosa and Antonio Arelle Barquet: The Other Side of the Mirr…

This week’s guests are San Antonio artist Kathy Sosa and Antonio Arelle Barquet, the director of the Museum of Art in Queretaro, a city of more than 1 million people in Central Mexico and a UNESCO World Heritage site celebrated for its Historic...

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June 28, 2024

63. George Hernandez and Building Bexar County's University Health Sy…

This week’s guest is George Hernandez, who retires as the longtime CEO of the University Health System, officially known as the Bexar County Hospital District, the only locally owned hospital and outpatient clinic network. Hernandez has led the...

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June 21, 2024

62. From Wounded Warrior to Artist & Author: The Story of Mario Lopez

This week's guest is Mario Lopez, a wounded warrior who served deployments to both Iraq and Afghanistan. He survived critical injuries from a roadside bomb in Afghanistan, which brought him to The Burn Center at the San Antonio Military Medical Center...

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June 14, 2024

61. Corazón Ministries: Downtown Nonprofit Making a Big Difference in…

This week’s guests are Erika Borrego, the CEO of Corazón Ministries, and her colleague Brittney Ackerson, the Day Center Director and recovering addict who experienced homelessness in her own life before finding her way back to good health and a...

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June 7, 2024

60. Victor Reyna on Leading the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos i…

This week’s guest is Victor Reyna, vice president for business banking at Amegy Bank in San Antonio, who also serves as president of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos in San Antonio. AEM, or The US – MX Business Association, as it is...

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May 31, 2024

59. Dr. Belinda Román on Bringing Humanity to Economics

Belinda Román, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Economics at St. Mary’s University. Locally, Dr. Román is also Secretary/Treasurer of the San Antonio Business and Economics Society, and has conducted impact studies for the SABÉR Research...

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May 24, 2024

58. Jim Reed and the Expansion of the South Texas Medical Center

How did the South Texas Medical Center become San Antonio's leading smart jobs engine over the last 25 years? This week’s guest is Jim Reed, the recently retired longtime chief executive of the San Antonio Medical Foundation, which led that...

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May 17, 2024

57. Mary Thorsby, CEO of ABODE Contemplative Care for the Dying

This week’s guest is Mary Thorsby, the CEO of the nonprofit ABODE, whose mantra is contemplative care for the dying. ABODE operates end-of-life care in a single home on San Antonio’s near-Northside, caring for terminally ill individuals in the...

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May 10, 2024

56. Jenna Saucedo-Herrera and Emily Royall: Innovation in San Antonio

This week, two perspectives on innovation in San Antonio. We revisit our conversations with Jenna Saucedo-Herrera of Greater: SATX as she discusses how San Antonio is winning on workforce development, and Emily Royall of Smart Cities San Antonio on...

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May 3, 2024

55. Garrett T. Capps: Honky-Tonk in San Antone and Beyond

We have Garrett T. Capps in the studio this week with guest hosts Kory Cook of KTRU 91.7 and Nicholas Frank of the San Antonio Report. Garrett T. Capps tours internationally with his band, Nasa Country, and has been a longtime curator of unique...

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