Save the date: Watershed Voice Artist Showcase
The sixth annual Watershed Voice Artist Showcase, a celebration of local musicians, spoken word artists, and local journalism, will return to The Huss Project this summer in Three Rivers.
Alek's Latest Articles
Celebrating our sixth birthday and Local News Day
Watershed Voice officially launched six years ago on this day in 2020, providing a combined 3,400 stories, columns, podcasts, poems and the like to residents of St. Joseph, Kalamazoo, and Cass Counties over the last 2,191 days. Help us celebrate our birthday with a donation, and sign up for our free newsletter in observance of Local News Day on April 9.
Keep Your Voice Down: Let’s Talk About Cake
Canadian journalist and baker Chantal Hortop, who serves as managing editor of The Gleaner in Quebec, stops by Keep Your Voice Down to talk cake and shop with hosts Doug Sears, Jr. and Alek Haak-Frost. The wide ranging conversation includes how Chantal and Alek met, the impact of the LION Independent News Sustainability Summit on both their organizations, what local journalism looks like in Canada, and Chantal's penchant for creating dazzlingly delicious baked goods.
‘We heard our neighbors needed help’: Local electricians union aids cleanup effort following Three Rivers tornado
On Sunday, March 10, around 30 IBEW workers, including representatives of KEI electrical construction and Perkins Electric, gathered in Three Rivers to provide free, professional support to those in need. “We heard our neighbors needed help cleaning up after the storm, so I decided to ask my union brothers and sisters to come lend a hand,” IBEW 131 President Eddie Leboeuf said.
Keep Your Voice Down: The days after
Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. discuss Alek's experience during the tornado that touched down in Three Rivers last week and the days that followed. Alek describes how the community has come together, what he did and felt as the tornado went through his neighborhood, the humanity, empathy, and care on display as Three Rivers picks up the pieces, and how disheartening it was to witness the vulturous intent of some contractors in the immediate aftermath of the storm.
Keep Your Voice Down: To begin with, everything
WMUK's Gordon Evans stopped by Keep Your Voice Down this week to discuss his career in public radio, the state of journalism, how it's changed, where it's headed, and what gives him hope about the industry he's dedicated his life to. Other topics include the quotability of Almost Famous, news anchors of yesteryear and the glaring absence of such figures in 2026, U.S. women's hockey, and whether Doug Sears Jr.'s dad actually skipped class to watch the Miracle on Ice in 1980.
Keep Your Voice Down: Will you buy me new tires?
Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears. Jr. are joined by Screen Tea Podcast hosts and friends Lisha and Jules McCurry to talk about love. The quartet discuss how they met their future spouses, when they decided to get married, what makes their respective marriages work, and the films about love they love.
Keep Your Voice Down: Beautiful distractions
Keep Your Voice Down hosts Alek Haak-Frost and Doug Sears Jr. are joined by frequent collaborator and friend Layne Deuel to talk about distractions that helped them endure the past year. The trio discuss the benefits of going to the movies alone, why Sinners was easily the best film they saw all year, books that made them laugh (shout out to Princess Donut and Dungeon Crawler Carl), and the video games Layne plays in the wee hours of the morning because parenting is a full-time job.
Watershed Voice on publishing pause until January 26
We are officially taking our annual three-week publishing pause to give our staff some much needed rest, and an opportunity to reset before hitting the ground running in 2026. We will return on Monday, January 26.
Keep Your Voice Down: By the grace of Betty White
By the grace of Betty White, Doug and Alek return to their respective mics to look back at the year that was on Keep Your Voice Down. The duo also touch on Watershed Voice's year-end fundraising efforts, emphasizing the importance of community support and monthly recurring donations in sustaining local, independent news. The conversation concludes with discussion about supporting others, the value of listening more, and reconnecting with the outside world post pandemic.
