The Big Why
Answers to your questions — big or small — about anything under the Big Sky. Let's see what we can discover together!
The Big Why (get it?) is part of MTPR’s commitment to community-led journalism, telling the diverse stories of Montanans like you.
Join us in this collaborative! Ask your questions about anything under the Big Sky and we’ll help dig up the answers.
No question is too big or too small for the Big Why. Let's see what we can discover together!
Join us in this collaborative! Ask your questions about anything under the Big Sky and we’ll help dig up the answers.
No question is too big or too small for the Big Why. Let's see what we can discover together!
Submit your questions
Vote for your favorite
We'll look for answers
We'll share the results
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"How's life? Are you liking life okay? Are you aware that you're living a really unusual life for a deer? I just got really curious because you can’t ask a deer how it’s feeling. So I thought I’d ask you guys and see if you had some insights."
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The Ringing Rocks is a roadside attraction people have been visiting for a long time. It's a big heap of boulders that give off a resonant bell-like ringing sound when struck with metal; at least theoretically. A listener wants to know what makes these rocks ring.
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Two proposals Montanans will vote on this year would change how the state runs its future elections. Supporters say they’ll combat political polarization and extremism. Opponents say they may muck up our elections.
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Billions of dollars in federal funds have been set aside for electric vehicle charging stations across the country. What does that look like in Montana?
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This week we're looking at the most annoying aspect of any election year: political ads. A listener wants to know if there's any kind of fact checking done before these ads air.
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A Helena listener had a long-simmering curiosity about a relic of Montana history that still sits just across the Beaverhead River from Twin Bridges: The old Montana State Orphanage built in 1894. We took a look around with one of the previous residents. Join us for the tour. This episode was first released September 27, 2023.
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As summer heats up in Montana, so does wildfire season. This raises the question, does winter snowpack really correlate to the severity of the wildfire season? And what does a 'normal' fire season mean?
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This time around, we’re unpacking an answer to a tricky education question: "Why is Montana ranked one of the last in the nation for teacher salary, and how might this be changing in the next legislative session?"
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In the third and final episode of our Big Why climate series, we travel across the state to meet Montanans banding together to combat climate change.
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Montana’s primary elections — which take place later than those in all but a handful of states — are now officially in the rear-view mirror. That raises a good question: Why are Montana's primaries so late in the year? It's a question that stumped many historians. Here's what we found out.