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Cincinnati Magazine March 12, 2021 Bob Castellini called it a “mud pit” and “dust bin.” Mark Mallory called it a “bunch of nothingness” and “pile of dirt.” The Cincinnati Reds owner and the former mayor were describing what downtown Cincinnati’s riverfront was like about 15 years ago. Two expensive new stadiums had been erected, with the National Underground Railroad Freedom Center situated between, but surrounding them was a lot of dirt and acres of parking lots. In the 1990s, what we know as The Banks was mostly home to parking lots and warehouses. Photograph courtesy of Kenton County Public Library Today, of course, nothing less than an utter transformation of the riverfront has taken place, as the mud pit became The Banks a $2 billion-plus 200-acre playground of pro sports, restaurants, bars, green space, walking paths, a carousel, and (sometimes) a giant Ferris wheel. It’s the most ambitious civic project ever undertaken here, requiring unprecedented teamwork from city and county leaders, their counterparts in state and federal governments, and private real estate interests. The “nothingness” has become something, to be sure, but after all this time it still isn’t finished.
John Kiesewetter Pat Barry, who parlayed his Q102 popularity into a Greater Cincinnati radio and TV career spanning five decades, died of COVID-19 Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20. He was 69. The Springfield, Ohio, native burst upon WKRQ-FM’s airwaves in 1974, playing Top 40 hits, and became one of the best known TV/radio personalities in town, thanks to his welcoming smile, loyalty to friends and self-deprecating humor. Pat Barry in the WKRQ-FM (Q102) studio in the early 1980s. Credit Courtesy Brinke Guthrie He liked to joke that he started his career in his hometown at a really big station – it had 12 pumps! Barry, who had been on a ventilator at Christ Hospital all February, also worked for WLWT-TV, WXIX-TV, Fox Sports Ohio, WLW-AM, WKRC-AM, WMOJ-FM, WSAI-AM, WDJO-FM, WNKR-FM/WNKN-FM and Hamilton s old WOKV-FM. He started in radio at Springfield s WIZE-AM (1340) while in high school.