Weekly Program Highlights

Friday 2/6

1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday… This week on Science Friday, the show asks “is scorn the answer to handling the sometimes annoying metrics we’re presented with?” Hear from philosopher C Thi Nguyen about house rules and Dungeons and Dragons, and why games hold the meaning of life.

2:00 – 3:00 PM
Hidden Brain… We all carry secrets, from harmless omissions to life-changing truths. But secrecy isn’t neutral: hiding takes mental work and can harm our health and relationships. This week on Hidden Brain, explore the costs of concealment—and how opening up can deepen our connections.

3:00 – 4:00 PM
Fresh Air… This week on Fresh Air, hear about the making of Martin Scorsese’s masterpiece Taxi Driver, about loneliness, urban decay, and vigilantism, as it turns 50 years old this month.

6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… A Jazz Critic: Hugues Panassié was captivated by jazz at a very young age, but his future as a jazz musician was derailed after contracting polio at age 11. He then went on to become one of the most divisive and disruptive critics in the world of jazz by making claims like, “jazz should never have progressed beyond the traditional,” and “white musicians should have steered clear of the music.”

Saturday 2/7

10:00 – 11:00 AM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, the panelists are Tom Bodett, Josh Gondelman, and Tig Notaro. Plus, librarian Mychal Threets talks about hosting the new reboot of Reading Rainbow and plays Not My Job.

11:00 – NOON
Radiolab… This week on Radiolab, take a tour through the history of the universe with the help of poets. Your guide is Maria Popova, who writes the popular blog The Marginalian (formerly Brain Pickings), and the poetry is from her project, The Universe in Verse — an annual event where poets read poems about science, space, and the natural world.

3:00 – 4:00 PM
American Routes… This week on American Routes, the show gives voice to the saxophone. The late New Orleanian Charles Neville, of the Neville Brothers, talks about how music carried him through his family, his neighborhood and a segregated South. Charles Lloyd, a real California dreamer, traces the roots of his modern, free style and musical collaborations back to the blues of Memphis. From the archives, hear words and music of saxophone honker Sam Butera, bebopper Sonny Rollins, and modernist Yusef Lateef; plus recordings from Sidney Bechet, Lester Young, Louis Jordan, John Coltrane, and King Curtis.

6:00 – 9:00 PM
The Evening Blues… Get ready for a three-hour Mardi Gras party as Big Daddy Cain shares the best tunes from Louisiana. He’ll feature legends like Dr. John and Irma Thomas along with the freshest new sounds coming out of the Crescent City. We’re talking zydeco, Mardi Gras Indian chants, and enough blues and soul to last you until Lent.

Sunday 2/8

10:00 – 11:00 AM
Reveal… This week on Reveal, take a look at how Minneapolis taught America to fight back. From the streets to Signal chats, to a celebrated restaurant, hear how the city resisted ICE.

11:00 – NOON
This American Life… This week on This American Life, stories of the kindness of strangers and where it leads. Also, the unkindness of strangers and where that can lead. All of these stories take place in the city most people think of as the least kind city in America: New York.

NOON – 3:00 PM
Sunday Baroque… This week on Sunday Baroque, hear one of the sacred compositions by Vicente Lusitano, who was an accomplished 16th century Portuguese musician – a composer, scholar, teacher, and author of a book on music theory, and an ordained priest. However, without a wealthy patron to support him and advocate for his artistry, Lusitano had a much harder time making a living and promoting his work.

3:00 – 4:00 PM
Code Switch & Life Kit… This week on Code Switch, a show about the Black History Month Centennial. Then on Life Kit, a behavior scientist shares a proven method to make a new habit stick.

6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Moth Radio Hour… This week on Moth Radio Hour, a special live show from New York City featuring storytellers from around the globe. Hear tales of bold moves, facing fears, and risky decisions.

Monday 2/9

2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Splendid Table… This week on The Splendid Table, the show answers cooking questions with Lisa Donovan, food columnist for The New York Times Magazine.Then, meet some of the best pizza in Philadelphia with Muhammad Abdul-Hadi, founder and owner of Down North Pizza, a mission-driven restaurant that exclusively hires formerly incarcerated people. His new book is We the Pizza: Slangin’ Pies and Savin’ Lives.

Tuesday 2/10

1:00 – 2:00 PM
TED Radio Hour… This week on Ted Radio Hour, host Manoush Zomorodi speaks with one of the architects of the peace between the Crips and the Bloods gangs in 1992 and explores the slow, intentional steps that move people away from violence and toward cooperation.

Wednesday 2/11

1:00 – 1:30 PM
Bioneers… How does one re-weave the web of relationships between nature and people, focusing on our likenesses rather than our differences? This week on Bioneers, racial justice advocates john a. powell, Eriel Deranger, and Anita Sanchez explore how overcoming the illusion of separateness from nature and each other requires building bridges rather than burning them. They say the fate of the world depends on it.

1:30 – 2:00 PM
California Report Magazine… This week on California Report Magazine, host Sasha Khokha explores the balance between demands for retribution and restorative justice.

2:00 – 3:00 PM
Freakonomics Radio… This week on Freakonomics Radio, hear part four of “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better” series. For 50 years, the healthcare industry has been trying (and failing) to harness the power of artificial intelligence. Now, it may finally be ready for prime time. What will this mean for human doctors — and the rest of us?

6:30 – 8:00 PM
KCBX in Concert… For centuries, Danish-Americans have helped shape culture on the Central Coast—as is easily experienced in the enchanting hamlet of Solvang! Join host Craig Russell as he celebrates our musical heritage from Denmark and Greenland. Every sonic palette is explored: orchestral concertos and piano trios, jazz fusion, lush choral singing, computer-game music, heroic anthems, patriotic laments, and even tuneful pop songs in Kalaallisut (the language of Greenland’s Inuit inhabitants). Additionally, Craig highlights the upcoming concerts by Orchestra Novo and Festival Mozaic in mid-February.

Thursday 2/12

2:00 – 3:00 PM
Latino USA… This week on Latino USA, Alana Casanova-Burgess, the host of the podcast La Brega, sets out to define what exactly “la brega” means and tries to understand how its ubiquity among Boricuas really translates.