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2 below zero
by 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.
Episodes
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Ep 1: Kelly Reichardt
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…
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We Don't Talk Like That: 'Fargo' and the Midwest Psyche (Excerpt)
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.
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No Brother of Mine (Excerpt)
An excerpt from the audio documentary "No Brother of Mine," co-produced by Todd Melby and Diane Richard for public radio.
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We Don't Talk Like That: 'Fargo' and the Midwest Psyche
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...
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Going Good, Then The Rig Count Dropped
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.
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Hoping The Downplay Hurts The Greed
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.
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This Is Our Home Now
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...
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Sounds Of Silents
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.
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A Night with the Projectionist
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...
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Lisa Westberg Peters: Fractured Land
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...
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Peace and Quiet
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...
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Grandma's Got a Nice Truck
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…
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Woo Pig Sooie
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
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The Story: Black Gold Boom
Black Gold Boom's Todd Melby on the public radio program "The Story." Originally aired in 2013. Audio courtesy of APM.
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Targeting Crime
Retailer Target's unusual gift giving. Originally aired on Marketplace in 2004. By Todd Melby.
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Sex Discrimination In the 'Mad Men' Era
'Mad Men' era sex discrimination has ramifications decades later. Originally aired on Marketplace in 2004. By Todd Melby.
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Bouncing Girl
An odd sport gets its moment in the winter sun. Originally aired in 2008 on NPR. By Todd Melby.
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A Fresh Start
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.
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Oil Patch Code Blue: Juhnke v. Marathon Oil
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...
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Oil Patch Code Blue: There's the Pager
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.
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Oil Patch Code Blue: Mad as Hell
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.…
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Oil Patch Code Blue: Beautiful Man
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…
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It'll Make A Man Out Of You
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.
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Dance That Twists, Slams and Slaps
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.
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Between Martian and Inevitable
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.
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F Knights: The Punk Band That's About Love
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.
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Who Is That Masked Stranger?
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.
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Mathew Henderson: The Lease
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...
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Remembering Salah Hassan Galmo
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.
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Muslim Cabbies Say 'No' to Alcohol
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.…
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They're Like Packs of Wolves
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...
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Buying a Turkish Carpet
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.
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Stan Reep's Milkshake
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…
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Singing Salvation Army Bellringer
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
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Nice Girls, Mean Bags
"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,...
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Mousey the Mudlogger
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.
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Bacon Ends, Not Baking Hens
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…
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Williston Changes Before Her Eyes
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…
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Finding Homes for Boomtown Teachers
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...
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Jessie Veeder: Boomtown
A song by Jessie Veeder. Written and performed by Jessie Veeder. Added to Black Gold Boom with permission.
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Kris Kitko: Frack That Oil
A song by Kris Kitko. Written and performed by Kit Kitko. Added to Black Gold Boom with permission.
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Wes St. Jon: American Oil From American Soil
A song by Wes St. Jon, the oilfield cowboy. Written and performed by Wes St. Jon. Added to Black Gold Boom with permission.
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It's Simply a Meal: Come and Eat
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...
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Cramped, Crammed, Crowded: Raising Four Boys in a Skid House
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...
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Kris Kitko: Accidental Activist
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...
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No View, No Seats: Maeda's Tasty Tacos
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.
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I Miss My Wife and Kids
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)
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Dirty Girls Aim To Clean Up Williston
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.
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Breaker 1-9, Who Loves The Boom?
Share your thoughts on North Dakota's oil boom at blackgoldboom.com. It's easy to remember.
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Trooper on the Bus Goes Round & Round
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...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
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.
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2 below zero
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does 2 below zero have?
2 below zero currently has 102 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is 2 below zero about?
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...
How often does 2 below zero release new episodes?
2 below zero publishes regularly with 102 episodes available. Check the episode list for the typical release schedule.
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2 below zero is created and hosted by 2 below zero.
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