Listener Spotlight

Can You Crack It?

• This community is truly a community of firsts
• The town changed names and hands several times
• This town has a house named for a piece of ordnance
• It is the hometown of leaders
• It is named for a town in Europe
• Next time you visit, you might want to look to the sky — for financial reward

Powell, Tennessee

• Nicknamed "Mud Town" from the 1930s through the 1960s
• Travelers might have been confused when they went to fuel up
• The city has an ESPN connection
• An early settler included a presidential relation
• The town's name derives from a transportation stop

Bricks of Beaver Creek mud earned the nickname; settler Stockley Donaldson was Andrew Jackson's brother-in-law; and it all started as the Powell Station railroad stop. One guess came in — Abilene, Kansas — not quite.

Omaha, Nebraska

• The town started over lunch
• The community gave rise to a very unique Boy Scout distinction
• It found a good use for Russian dressing
• An invention from this town changed TV viewing habits forever
• You don't have to be outdoors to enjoy the rain
• This community was marked by X

🏆 Winners: Paul from Columbia, Missouri (whose fan mail also demanded — and got — the new Listener Spotlight jingle) and Armando. Founded at a July 4, 1854 picnic; Gerald Ford is the only Eagle Scout president; the Reuben was born at the Blackstone Hotel; Swanson invented the TV dinner; the Henry Doorly Zoo has an indoor rainforest; and Malcolm X was born there.

Northampton, England

• The present town sits on settlements dating back several thousand years
• The town may have its own dark web
• This community doesn't know much about socks, but has a long history with shoes and boots
• If you ask to see a doctor, the residents may ask "who?"
• The town has seen its share of destruction — wars, plagues, and fires

🏆 Winners: Jeff and his wife Heather, via voice fan mail. Alex Bell's Cardiff guess was a noble near-miss. Medieval escape tunnels, 23 million pairs of WWI boots, Doctor Who's Matt Smith, the Black Death, and the Great Fire of 1675.

Palestine, Texas

• Started as a trading post in the mid-1800s
• Literally named after another town in the United States
• The town takes balloons seriously
• People who like baked goods should spend some extra time here
• It could be said that this town is electrifying

Founded 1846 and named after Palestine, Illinois — and home to NASA's Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility, which is very serious about balloons indeed.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin

• Established after a treaty in the 1830s
• Started as a center of trade
• Alice Cooper may or may not know something about this city
• German settlers played a large part in the city's development
• It could be said this was the original — the OG — Blue Ribbon City
• This city is not San Juan, but one president did overcome adversity there

🏆 Flawless victory — all five guessers got it: Alex Bell (the first-ever voice fan mail guess), Wade Paul, Mark, Matt, and Armando. Wayne's World's "the good land," Pabst Blue Ribbon, and Teddy Roosevelt finishing his speech after being shot.

Eddyville, Kentucky

• This town was named for a water feature
• It was settled in the late 1700s
• It is best known for one of its stone buildings
• The town knows something about moving
• It has a strong Colorado connection
• This city has hosted several counties

Nobody cracked this one — a rare shutout. Eddyville is named for the eddies in the Cumberland River, settled in 1798, and best known for the "Castle on the Cumberland" (the Kentucky State Penitentiary). The whole town relocated in 1959 for the construction of a dam; its Colorado tie is native son John L. Routt, two-time governor of Colorado; and it has served as the county seat of three different counties.

Fayetteville, North Carolina

• The town was created as a key river port
• Created through the unification of two separate towns
• Named for a military hero of the Revolutionary War
• It holds a specific historical cavalry fact from the Civil War
• The town knows a little something about special operations

🏆 Winner: Wade — who lived there through two deployments and bought his first dog off the side of Skibo Road. Campbellton and Cross Creek united, named for Lafayette, home of the Airborne and special operations.

Ashburn, Virginia

• The city began as an agricultural area — but today it is driven by data
• The story goes that lightning helped name this town
• A major airport spurred this town's development
• The town was in the country for decades, but it was home to a lot of soul

Once called Farmwell, now the data-center capital of the world, grown by Dulles Airport — and soul legend Wilson Pickett lived there at the end of his life. One brave guess of Littleton, Colorado came up short.

Yuma, Arizona

• Located at a historical key river crossing
• Its name was merged with another town's after a major disaster — and later changed again
• It played an important part in the early military of the area
• This town knows something about free falling
• If you visit in the first few days of January, don't order a salad
• And don't forget the sunscreen

The Colorado River crossing, the Yuma Proving Ground's parachute testing (that's the free falling), America's winter lettuce capital, and officially the sunniest place in the United States.

Pensacola, Florida

• Permanently settled in the 1600s
• Five flags have flown over this city
• Named for a native people who lived in the region
• The city likes wings
• The story of Ron Burgundy would not be the same without an influence from this city

No correct guesses — Adam went with Detroit and stood by it.

Birmingham, Alabama

• Has a significant designation within the steel industry
• Named for an English town
• Founded in the late 1800s
• David Copperfield would have loved this city in the early 20th century
• The local jail is inspiring

The only place on Earth with iron, coal, and limestone side by side — and where Dr. King wrote his Letter from Birmingham Jail. Adam guessed Pittsburgh. Twice.

Marshall, Illinois

• This city is named for a judge
• Founded in the early 1800s, but not incorporated until the late 1800s
• The city appreciates a good band
• Population under 5,000
• Its stonework does not require any concrete

Home of the oldest continuously operating community band in the U.S., and a stone arch built by the Army Corps of Engineers (1828–1837) without a drop of concrete. No guesses on this bonus round.

Frankfurt, Germany

• No less than ten flags have flown over this city
• The city was severely damaged in the early 1940s
• It boasts a very efficient and effective transportation system
• Bookworms would have a ball in this city
• This city helped inspire an American cookout classic

🏆 Winners: Matt and Jeff — both nailed it. First international spotlight, home of the world's largest book fair and the original frankfurter. "You hot dog."

Rancho Palos Verdes, California

• The area began as a couple of failed land developments
• Nearby development prompted residents to vote to incorporate the city
• Historically plagued with landslides
• If you play golf here, you might want to wear a PFD
• The city has seen its share of lethal weapons

🏆 Winners: Matt and Armando — both spotted the golf course that slid into the Pacific in 1999 and the Lethal Weapon filming locations.

Mesa, Arizona

• The city is named for a geological formation
• Founded in the 1870s
• Canals have been an important part of this city since prior to European visitation
• Some indigenous plants are very well protected — huge legal protections
• The city hosts some big-league entertainment, if the season is right

🏆 Winner: Keith. Alex earned half points for landing just 20 miles away. Hohokam canals over a thousand years old, fiercely protected saguaros, and Cactus League spring training. For our fans in Mesa: don't cut down any cactus.

Tucker, Georgia

• Founded in the late 1800s, yet one of the state's newest cities
• The high school stadium and campus is one of the stars of the community
• The original area of town was part of a military district
• An unlucky number of cemeteries sit within a few miles of the city limits
• After World War II, the town transitioned from agriculture to industry and retail
• Michael's home state's namesake is represented somehow by this town

Military District 572 (later DeKalb County), 13 cemeteries within four miles, and Steve Walsh — vocalist of the band Kansas — calls it home. Armando's guess of Bentonville, Arkansas earned points for cycling taste, but not for accuracy.

Waltham, Massachusetts

• This community was named for a town in England
• It was first settled as part of another town
• Incorporated in the 1700s
• Responsible for greatly increasing industrial productivity across the United States
• Tracking time was very important to this city's development and history
• It maintains neighborhood names that reflect its industrial past

🏆 Winner: Matt Robinson. Armando went Newark, Alex went Lancaster PA. Born from Watertown in 1738, birthplace of integrated manufacturing, home of the Bleachery and the Chemistry — and the Waltham Watch Company, which made 35 million watches.

Fort Payne, Alabama

• Started as a fort built in the early 1800s to intern the native Cherokee population
• Incorporated in the late 1800s, with growth spurred by a rail line
• Coal and iron finds in the 1880s proved smaller than hoped, causing decline
• Cotton processing boomed
• An annual festival celebrates its world standing in hosiery (sock capital of the world)
• "Truly a Dixieland delight" (the band Alabama is from there)

🏆 The first-ever FOUR winners on one mystery: Wade Paul, Alex Bell, Matt Robinson (who offered to eat his socks if wrong — he owns 300+ pairs), and Armando.

Fort Wayne, Indiana

• Area controlled by several countries (French, British, US), with many battles between native tribes and the US
• Founded in the late 1700s (1794), named after founding father Anthony Wayne
• An invention that changed what we eat forever (the refrigerator)
• An early economy of industry and railroad jobs at a strategic confluence of three rivers
• Influenced "a place where everybody knows your name" (Cheers' Shelley Long, born there)

No correct guesses — Adam worked through Pittsburgh and Boston before losing.

Prescott, Arizona

• A stereotypical Wild West town, still big with cowboys (the world's oldest rodeo, continuous since 1888)
• Spanish visited in 1583 seeking gold; gold was found in 1863
• Territorial capital of Arizona — twice (1867 and 1877)
• A Doc Holliday connection (Big Nose Kate was from Prescott)
• A downtown that would make Adam smile (Whiskey Row)
• Presidential ambitions sparked there (Barry Goldwater launched his 1964 campaign on the courthouse steps)

New guesser Terry Donaldson from Largo, FL went Cimarron, NM — wrong, but "right part of the country" (Michael spent five summers at nearby Philmont Scout Ranch).

Bay City, Michigan

• Settled 1831; first named after a river (Lower Saginaw)
• Grew through lumbering, milling, and shipbuilding (154 WWII ships built, only three lost)
• 1980s fashion — it "helped us understand Vogue" (Madonna was born there)
• A tall ships festival
• The lumber boom named a section of town (Hell's Half Mile)

Michael's home-state pick for Adam. Wrong guess: David Stroud — Newport News, VA. The Bay City Rollers, it turns out, are from Edinburgh.

Bismarck, North Dakota

• Originally named Edwinton, renamed for German chancellor Otto von Bismarck
• A zoo that began as a rescue in 1961 — one baby deer, now 600+ animals
• "Surprisingly bright" (200+ days of sun a year)
• Lewis and Clark passed through
• Helped end WWII (a hub of uranium exploration)
• An Art Deco record-holder (the State Capitol — 21 stories, tallest in ND)

Wrong guess: Tony from Caldwell, ID — Manhattan, KS (about an hour from Michael's house).

Johnson City, Tennessee

• Founded 1856 as a railroad station by Henry Johnson; renamed Haynesville during the Civil War, then changed back
• Organized crime and bootlegging (a rumored Al Capone distribution center)
• Old-time music
• A soft drink (Mountain Dew, created there in the 1940s)
• "A trucker heading west was on his way to this town" (Wagon Wheel)

🏆 Winner: Wade Paul, with a mic-drop clue-by-clue answer.

Atlanta, Illinois

• Platted in the 1830s; two railroads intersect the town
• Tried to rename itself twice — paperwork misspelled "Atalanta" with one A too many
• Named for a community in Georgia; sits on historic Route 66
• "Would make any lumberjack proud — or Oscar Mayer" (the Bunyon Giant, a 19-foot Paul Bunyan holding a giant hot dog)

Partial credit: Matt Robinson — Vienna, IL. Right state, wrong town, silent S intentionally pronounced.

New Hope, Pennsylvania

• Sits on the former main highway between two major cities (Old York Road, Philadelphia–New York)
• "George dreamed of a great victory there" (Washington, the night before crossing the Delaware)
• "Monopoly has nothing on this community's railroad" (taken over by the Reading Railroad in 1891)
• Shelled by the British — ordnance reportedly still lodged in roof beams
• Founded in the 1830s and named after a local ferry

Wrong guess: Matthew from Ohio (the friend who rescued their bike boxes at their first Big BRAG) — Wheeling, WV.

Grafton, Wisconsin

• A German-and-Irish mill town on the Milwaukee River
• Early blues and jazz success (Paramount Records' studio and HQ from 1925)
• Sits on a historic "trail" (a northern point on the Mississippi Blues Trail)
• The Secret Service clue (Charles Guiteau, President Garfield's assassin, grew up nearby)

Wrong guess: Tom from Utah — Sioux Falls, SD.

Rome, Italy

• Your cat would love this city
• History everywhere — even in a well-known fast food restaurant
• The city owes a great deal to a particular church
• One of its fountains could fund a stylish retirement (the Trevi)
• A distinct article of clothing instantly associated with it (the toga)
• An association with that year's Big BRAG (the ride spent time in Rome, GA)

An international curveball. Wrong guesses: Trip Barker — Hartwell, GA; Adam — Toccoa, GA. Adam demanded the challenge flag.

Huntsville, Alabama

• Started in a territory named for a different state (Mississippi Territory)
• Home to nine Civil War generals — five Confederate, four Union
• Name changed from the British "Twickenham" amid War of 1812 tensions
• A WWII military presence (Redstone Arsenal — chemical weapons, then rockets)
• Could have inspired a well-known Elton John song (Rocket Man)

🏆 ADAM'S FIRST-EVER WIN — "after like 60 of these" — called in two minutes after recording; plus Wade Paul and Jeff (whose wife figured it out). Alex Bell's Lexington, VA: a beautifully reasoned wrong answer.

Naples, Florida

• Founded in the 1880s by a former Confederate general and Kentucky US Senator
• Likened to Italy early on — hence Naples
• Golf capital of the world (more holes per capita than anywhere in the US)
• A pickleball championship every year since 2016
• No fountain of youth, but perhaps the seven cities of gold (one of the wealthiest US cities)

🏆 Winner: Armando ("I don't get to do this very often" — Michael). Wrong: Matt Robinson — Yuma; Melanie Erickson and Adam — The Villages; Jeff — Venice, FL.

Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

• Named for a community in Alabama — honoring the Creek people expelled from Alabama
• Railroad arrived 1902; town platted 1903
• Agriculture, then coal mining; now a suburb of Tulsa
• Third-largest manufacturing hub in Oklahoma, within the Muscogee Creek Reservation

No correct guesses; Adam: St. Louis ("not close"). Dedicated to the listeners who had been there since roughly episode two.

Hampton, New Hampshire

• Settled in the early-to-mid 1600s by English settlers; farming and fishing first
• A recreational destination since the mid-1800s (Hampton Beach drew all of New England)
• Railroad arrived 1840; named for a location in England
• One of the oldest towns in its state

Wrong guess: Al — Atlantic City, NJ; close regionally. New listeners welcomed that episode from the Netherlands, Portugal, Hungary, and Belize.

Marmaduke, Arkansas

• Named for Confederate Maj. Gen. John Sappington Marmaduke, who camped nearby
• Laid out by the railroad in the 1880s; lumber first, then cotton
• Half the town destroyed by a tornado on April 2, 2008
• Felt the 1911 New Madrid Fault earthquake
• Nearly the smallest community highlighted (pop. 1,212 — one of them their listener)

Very close guess: Johnny — New Madrid/Sikeston, MO, the quake's epicenter.

South Jordan, Utah

• Area first explored by a French-Canadian trapper named Provost
• First settlement created by a religious group (LDS), founded mid-1850s
• Irrigation was the settlers' first big job
• The reason bus drivers stop and open the door at railroad crossings (the Dec 1, 1938 bus-train crash — the worst in US history — led to the federal law)

No guesses; Adam's off-record hunch was New Mexico.

Millsboro, Delaware

• English settlers drawn by the timber drive; 15+ grist and saw mills within four miles
• Original name changed before 1810 (Rock Hole Mills → Millsboro)
• Known for extremes — holds BOTH Delaware temperature records (−17°F and 110°F)
• Named a top remote-working spot by PC Magazine in 2021

Wrong guesses: Cricket — "below the Mason-Dixon line" (no city named); Angie Raffey via YouTube — Rock Run, MD.

Princeton, West Virginia

• A community in a state it did not start in (Virginia land before West Virginia existed)
• Locals burned their own town rather than let the Union army use it
• Named for a Revolutionary battle (honoring Princeton, NJ)
• Bulls fans can thank this town (Rod Thorn, who drafted Michael Jordan)
• Once had a team that would make you want a bourbon (the Princeton WhistlePigs)

No guesses.

York, Pennsylvania

• Brought the luxury of train travel to the road (the Pullman)
• "You could say the US was born here" (an early US capital — the Continental Congress fled there)
• The first successful coal-burning locomotive (1831)
• A candy bears its name (the York Peppermint Pattie)

🏆 Winner: Matt Robinson — finally congratulated by his correct name, after Michael's running Matt/Mark confusion.

Spokane, Washington

• Incorporated in the 1880s; started as a trading post; name from a native language
• "Fathers should really thank this city" (birthplace of Father's Day)
• The world spotlight in 1974 (Expo '74 World's Fair)
• A former resident shaped our perfect Christmas (Bing Crosby grew up there)

Franklin Johnson's wrong "Spokane" guess for Seneca inspired Michael to make it the next city. Only guess: Adam — "something north" (technically the upper 50%).

Seneca, South Carolina

• Founded 1870s; named for a Native American village; built at its location for the railroad
• Mills drove the economy for 70+ years; surrounded by three lakes
• Three major fires in its first 40 years
• A main drag that "did not get its name from a stand-up routine, but it could have" (Ram Cat Alley)

Wrong guess: Franklin Johnson — Spokane, WA, awarded a sixth of a point for getting the first letter right.

Burlington, Ontario

• Land purchased by the British from the native inhabitants
• Annually celebrates its founder — not a US citizen (Mohawk Chief Joseph Brant)
• Not incorporated until 1914; named for a nearby geological feature (a local bay)
• Watch where you park, or you might end up asking "what's up?" (the King's Road gravity hill)

The first Canadian spotlight. Facebook bonus hint: the Great White North album cover — all Ontarians, Geddy Lee included. No correct guesses; Stephen would only say "Canadian money is where my mouth is."

Sacramento, California

• The original name was Swiss in origin (New Helvetia)
• If you're a squirrel or a bird, this is the town for you (scratched at the reveal)
• One of the oldest incorporated communities in its state; first big industry was gold
• A major role in early communications (Pony Express terminus; the transcontinental telegraph)

Credit: Matt Robinson — Placerville, CA, ~50 miles off (and called "Mark" again). Late full answers from a private-text friend and Stephen Witts, Bushmills 16 on standby.

Pagosa Springs, Colorado

• Mid-1850s settlers came for the mineral springs ("let's not let details get in the way of a good story")
• Known for a large amount of recreational opportunities
• In the late '50s, a serious science student would have wanted to attend this town's high school
• Drive carefully, or you might end up in the side of the feed store

Wrong guess: Matt Robinson — Huntsville, AL (NASA-plus-springs logic). Same episode, Michael unveiled his own spotlight page on the CMOL website.

Columbus, Ohio

• Founded February 14, 1812 at the confluence of two rivers
• Named for a European explorer with no actual connection to the city — no one knows why
• Originally French; ceded to Britain by the Treaty of Paris (1783)
• Instrumental in the labor organization movement; a notable Heisman Trophy connection

Adam texted Michael a confident secret guess after recording: St. Louis. Wrong twice over — a Michigan man bested by Ohio.

Dubuque, Iowa

• Named after a fur trader granted mining rights by the Spanish government and local native people
• You can see three states from a spot in town; the settlement predates the state itself
• Post–Civil War economy of transportation and lumber
• Pioneered TV reception (1954 — among the first US towns wired with coaxial cable)

Wrong guess: Matt Robinson — Soda Springs, ID, admitting he'd hit his ChatGPT question limit.

Duluth, Minnesota

• A harbor with a unique distinction (biggest inlet harbor in the world; largest US freshwater port)
• Influenced how large numbers of people travel (Greyhound began in the area)
• Once held a very fiery title (Match Capital of the World)
• Local tales suggest you might need a bigger boat (the disputed first freshwater shark attack)
• A little credit for a major award in literature (Bob Dylan — 2016 Nobel Prize)

Wrong guesses: Adam — an impulsive Boston, then "West Coast" via Jaws logic (Jaws is set in New England); and cousin Mark — San Pedro, CA.

Waxhaw, North Carolina

• Began as a Native American settlement; named for the indigenous Waxhaw people
• German and Scotch-Irish farmers; textile mills; the railroad became the center of town
• A hundred-plus-year-old bridge over the tracks downtown
• A connection to US recognition of the Republic of Texas (Andrew Jackson, born in the Waxhaws)

🏆 Winner: Ed — the 1.6×-speed listener — with double gold stars, because it's his own town. Adam's on-air guess: Dallas, TX.

Beltsville, Maryland

• Started as a land grant (1649, from Lord Baltimore); named for landowner Truman Belt
• Muirkirk furnace iron supplied US Army cannons in the Revolutionary and Civil Wars
• Home of Brig. Gen. Rezin Beall — why Maryland has no Revolutionary War battlefields
• Bugs live in fear (inventor Lyle Goodhue, of aerosol "bug bomb" fame)
• Its own cryptid — the Goatman, blamed for canine deaths since the early '70s

No correct guesses — the cryptid clue sent Adam thinking "foresty areas" and no further.

Missoula, Montana

• Started as the Hellgate Trading Post (1866)
• In a state originally part of another state's territory (Washington Territory, until 1863)
• A front line for firefighting (the Missoula Smokejumper Base)
• A craft-beer destination (fourth in the US per capita)
• World-renowned for a large rock (the claimed largest gold nugget ever found — $19,000 in 1889)

🏆 Winner: Steven — reasoning from Lewis & Clark to "what became of the acquisition." Adam guessed Denver ("there's a big rock there") despite having lived there 13 years.

Sioux City, Iowa

• Laid out in the mid-1800s; named in honor of the Sioux
• Promoted America's love of candy (Palmer Candy Co., 1878 — the oldest in the US)
• Known for what an expedition left behind (Lewis & Clark's Sgt. Charles Floyd Jr., the expedition's only death, buried on a bluff under a monument)
• Fundamental to a beloved cartoon character (Art Babbitt, who shaped Disney's Goofy)

Wrong guess: Adam — Albuquerque, NM. Bonus fact: George Koval, the only Soviet agent inside the Manhattan Project, was also from Sioux City.

Paris, Texas

• Most famously known for a well-recognized landmark (an Eiffel Tower replica — with a giant cowboy hat)
• A county named for a VP who became president (Lamar County — Mirabeau Lamar of the Republic of Texas)
• A huge railroad center
• A connection to the 1889 Paris World's Fair (Edison, Tesla, Buffalo Bill, and Annie Oakley attended)

Wrong guesses: Bonnie Goldberg of the Super Stragglers — Kansas City, MO; Steven — Denver, CO, via a full Paris Exposition analysis that earned style points anyway.

Haymarket, Virginia

• Formally founded in the 1790s; early growth from district-court commerce
• Burned in the Civil War — only four buildings survived
• Mickey Mouse & Co. had a vested interest (the cancelled early-'90s "Disney's America" park)
• Over 38 golf courses within 20 miles

No guesses — though the golf clue had Adam packing his bags and pricing timeshares.

Seattle, Washington

• First Europeans visited in 1792; a history of boom and bust
• You could say it's the smartest city in the US; very bike friendly
• Its most famous landmark was basically doodled on a napkin (the Space Needle)
• Hometown of someone who taught fans that two Winchesters can take out almost anything (Supernatural's Jeffrey Dean Morgan)

🏆 Winner: Steven Witts — first tempted by Vancouver, Canada, until he remembered the clues said an American town.

Owensboro, Kentucky

• First settled 1797; originally Yellow Banks, for the color of the land on the Ohio
• Renamed in 1817 for Col. Abraham Owens, killed at Tippecanoe — the very battle William Henry Harrison rode to the presidency
• Tobacco stemmeries, distilleries (Glenmore is still there), and wagon companies
• A bluegrass hotspot (the Bluegrass Hall of Fame and Museum) — and Johnny Depp's hometown

🏆 Winner: Johnny Lampkin — his own hometown, answered backward with receipts. The FIRST listener ever to solve a spotlight.

Reno, Nevada

• A definite stop for professional cowboys (the Reno Rodeo)
• Birthplace of a piece of worldwide fashion (riveted Levi's blue jeans)
• Named for a Civil War general (Jesse L. Reno, killed at South Mountain, 1862)
• On a westward-expansion trail (the California Trail)
• Gilligan's Island owes it some success (Dawn Wells — Mary Ann — was from Reno)

No guesses — but the reveal ran long on Mary Ann appreciation.

Westbrook, Maine

• Originally part of another town — renamed twice
• Finally named for Col. Thomas Westbrook of the New England militia
• A mill town on the Presumpscot River
• In a state it wasn't originally established in (Maine was Massachusetts until 1820)
• A canal ran through it from 1832 (the Cumberland & Oxford, linking the lakes to Portland)

No guesses — Adam wandered the Kentucky-Tennessee-Illinois tri-corner and never got out.

Tucson, Arizona

• Founded as a military fort by the Spanish
• A giant in the temporary tattoo industry (the world's largest maker)
• A notorious gangster was captured there (John Dillinger)
• Well known in US cycling (the Tucson Bicycling Classic)
• Ansel Adams played a significant role (co-founding the U of A's Center for Creative Photography)

Adam's trail of thought went straight to Puerto Rico and stalled there.

Dublin, Ireland

• A town heavily associated with beer — home to over 750 drinking establishments
• Maybe a couple of witch burnings back in the old days
• An association with a famous lion (the original MGM lion — Adam actually called that clue)
• The name translates to something concerning water
• One of the largest parks in the region (Phoenix Park)

The segment's first international city. Adam's official guess: St. Louis. His own review: "How far away could you be?"

Starkville, Mississippi

• Settlers drawn by two large springs; created 1834
• Originally "Boardtown," for its clapboard mill
• Renamed for Revolutionary War hero Gen. John Stark
• Lindbergh landed on the outskirts in 1927; Johnny Cash was arrested there in 1965 — inspiring "Starkville City Jail"
• One of several claimed birthplaces of tee-ball

Adam went 0-for-3: Pittsburgh and St. Louis by text, Louisville, KY on air. A listener 15 miles away wrote in delighted afterward.

Lewisville, Texas

• Founded in the 1840s; home to the county's first cotton gin
• A major lake completed in 1950 (Lewisville Lake, outside Dallas)
• Not its original name — a gentleman bought the town and renamed it after himself

The guessing game began here — Michael: "You've got to play a little Sherlock Holmes." Adam's guess: "somewhere in Georgia" (cotton gin logic).

Durango, Iowa & Big Lake, Minnesota

• No clues yet — Michael simply picked two towns off the listener map to honor the people listening there
• Durango, IA: Dubuque County, population 20 — eleven households, one of them listening ("except Janine had that baby, so they might be 21")
• Big Lake, MN: Sherburne County, pop. 6,780, on the corridor between St. Cloud and Minneapolis

Two episodes later the clues arrived, and the guessing game every episode ends with today grew from here.