ABOUT BIG BLEND MEDIA: THE EVOLUTION OF STORYTELLING
Hello and thanks for stopping by! We’re Nancy J. Reid and Lisa D. Smith, Big Blend’s mother-daughter travel, radio podcasting, and publishing team. We’ve been sailing the Big Blend media ship since 1997, and together have over 65 years of combined experience in tourism, hospitality, retail sales, marketing, publishing, media, writing, and photography.
Through our Big Blend Radio podcasts and videos, and digital Big Blend Magazines, we co-create and share content that educates, entertains, and inspires a national and global cumulative audience of over 4 million. We believe that “Variety is the Spice that Brings Quality to Life,” and so we cover a multitude of topics that include Music, Books & The Arts, Food & Drink, Travel & Parks, Family & Lifestyle, Health & Happiness, Nature & Environment, Personal & Professional Development, and History & Culture.
OUR JOURNEY FROM PRINT TO DIGITAL MEDIA
The Big Blend media landscape has dramatically evolved since our start in 1997:
– Big Blend Magazine has transformed from being a variety print publication that covered Southern California and the Desert Southwest to being global in coverage and digital in format with a variety of themed publications. (See our archive)
– Big Blend Radio has grown from being a weekly live “Champagne Sunday” show, to a network of approximately 40 podcasts that include Big Blend Radio signature shows and special expert podcast channels. All new podcast episodes air on the main Big Blend Radio channel and are available on all major podcast platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, Apple, Podbean, iHeartRadio, Amazon, and ListenNotes.
– We travel full-time on the Love Your Parks Tour, our quest to visit and document all of America’s parks and public lands and showcase their local community stories and treasures. Most of our park stories and destination coverage is featured on our site NationalParkTraveling.com and in its digital Parks & Travel Magazine. We are currently revamping our coverage of over 2,500 parks into a new, specialized website experience!
OUR MISSION & PHILOSOPHY
Big Blend is a company based on the belief that education is the most formidable weapon that can be waged against fear, ignorance, and prejudice. It is our belief that education starts at home and branches outward. Education leads to travel, and travel leads to understanding, acceptance, and appreciation of cultures and customs different to our own, and ultimately to world peace. Our company is further based on the principle that networking, communication, and helping others to promote and market themselves leads to financial stability; thus paving the way to better education, travel, and the spirit of giving back to the community.
THE BIG BLEND EXPANSION: THE VARIETY CONTINUES, THE REACH EXPANDS!
This site currently serves as the historical archive for our library of content. We are excited to announce a massive expansion and evolution of our content ecosystem to ensure you receive the highest quality, most timely stories on the best modern platforms:
– Dedicated Digital Magazines: We are publishing a brand-new digital magazine for every single one of our podcast channels, providing rich, thematic content supplements.
– Targeted Content Feeds: We are launching 17 dedicated Substack content channels for niche topics and timely updates, ensuring you receive the content you care about most.
– Extensive Coverage: We bring you over 40 podcast channels covering a multitude of topics.
Watch for the launch of our all-new media hub, BigBlendMedia.com, ready to kick off the New Year 2026!
OUR LOVE YOUR PARKS TOUR & PRISCIILLA, QUEEN OF AWESOME
We continue to travel full-time on the Love Your Parks Tour, our quest to visit and document all of America’s parks and public lands and showcase their local community stories and treasures.
– Priscilla, Ambassador of Awesome: Our pink sock monkey travel mascot, Priscilla, has been promoted to the Queen of Awesome! She runs our popular “Priscilla’s Picks“ of road-tested quality and awesome style recommendations on Benable. Priscilla serves as the final authority on quality for Big Blend Media.
– Park Content: Our legacy park stories and destination coverage are archived on NationalParkTraveling.com. All NEW park features will continued to be published in our Parks & Travel Digital Magazine and on its dedicated Substack channel.
STAY CONNECTED
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➡️ Subscribe to The Big Blend Express on Substack: https://bigblendmedia.substack.com/
