716 Spotlight Stories
The families, the history, and the businesses that make the 716 what it is
716 History
September 6, 2026
125 Years Ago on Monday, a President Died in Buffalo and a Younger One Was Sworn In on Delaware Avenue
Monday marks 125 years since McKinley died on Delaware Avenue and a 42-year-old Teddy Roosevelt was sworn in a mile down the same street, in a house you can still walk through.
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716 History
August 16, 2026
Radiation Testing Is Coming to Grand Island. Here's What You Need to Know.
Veterans Park on Bedell Road has been flagged for radiation testing and a public meeting is happening Monday August 17th at the WNY Welcome Center on Grand Island. Here is everything you need to know.
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716 History
March 16, 2026
Commander Tom: The Man in the Red Jacket
Tom Jolls spent 34 years on Channel 7 as Commander Tom and the weatherman on the legendary Irv, Rick and Tom team. If you grew up in Western New York between 1965 and 1991, he was part of your family.
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716 History
March 14, 2026
Four Brothers From Tonawanda, One of Hollywood's Greatest War Films
Saving Private Ryan is based on a true story. The family it's based on grew up right here in Tonawanda. Tom Hanks sent a letter. The family has photos with Spielberg. And the part the movie left out is the best part of all.
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716 History
March 14, 2026
He Grew Up on Fix Road. He Died on a Road in Normandy. Grand Island Has Never Forgotten Him.
Three days after D-Day, a 22-year-old kid from Grand Island stood up in the middle of a road in Normandy and drew every German gun onto himself so his platoon could escape. His name was Charles DeGlopper, and he never made it home.
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716 History
March 12, 2026
The Night Niagara Fell Silent. Thirty Hours of Eerie Quiet That Terrified the Whole Frontier.
On the night of March 29, 1848, a farmer walked to the Niagara River at midnight and heard nothing — the Falls had gone completely silent, and it terrified the whole frontier.
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716 History
March 7, 2026
How a Barrel Organ Factory on Niagara Falls Boulevard Became the Sound of America
The building on Niagara Falls Boulevard that made the sound of America — jukeboxes, theater organs, and 3,000 workers at its peak. This one's wild. 👇
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716 History
March 4, 2026
In 1984, a Bunch of Grand Island Seniors may have stolen a Giant Viking and put him on the roof of their school.
The Class of '84 may have stolen a Viking from a carpet store in Niagara Falls, hauled him over the North Grand Island Bridge, and put him on the roof of their school — this story is wild 👇
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716 History
March 2, 2026
The Man Who Raided His Own Club: How Buffalo's Wild Bill Donovan Went to War with Grand Island's Bootleggers
The man who founded the CIA grew up in Buffalo and once raided his own private club. But out on Grand Island, the Fix brothers had a system he couldn't crack.
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