Weekly Program Highlights
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Friday 6/24
1:30 – 2:00 PM
Making Contact… Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender seniors are much more likely than their straight counterparts to be alone and isolated as they age. Housing and support for these elders is a growing need, and the issue is not just confined to the US. Pay a visit to Jakarta, Indonesia and Los Angeles, CA, to hear stories of building housing and community for LGBTQ seniors.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Hidden Brain… When Paul Burnham was a teenager, he received what felt like a premonition that he would die at the age of 54. Now that he's 54, learn about what his story of confronting death reveals about life.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Fresh Air… Find out what drives flight attendants crazy. T.J. Newman talks about her family profession. Her mother and sister were flight attendants, and Newman’s 10 years in the air informed her debut novel, Falling, a best-selling thriller about a highjacked plane. She wrote much of her book on overnight flights.
6:30 – 7:30 PM
Club McKenzie… Hello Montreal: During prohibition, train fare to Canada was considerably less expensive than dealing with the mob syndicate that controlled liquor distribution. Not only that, the hooch was much more reliable.
Saturday 6/25
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on the NPR news quiz, hear from panelists Helen Hong, Adam Burke, and Peter Grosz live from the Studebaker Theater in Chicago.
11:00 – NOON
Radiolab… In the dark corners of the internet lies both the perpetrators and victims of cybercrime. First, a digitally cursed community made up of folks who, through no fault of their own, have become nameless and invisible. Then, meet a mother-daughter duo who share about being held hostage by criminals who burrowed into their lives from half a world away.
3:00 – 5:00 PM
American Routes… Earl Scruggs’ legendary banjo playing left its mark on American pop culture and inspired generations of banjo players. He got his start in the beginnings of bluegrass, playing with Bill Monroe and later, Lester Flatt. Hear from Earl and his sons, Randy and Gary, about performing on the stage of the Ryman Auditorium and crossing musical boundaries. Then, visit with folk singer-songwriter Tom Rush, who attended Harvard University and still knows how to sing the blues, to learn about Boston’s folk scene in the 1960s, his time as a radio DJ, and his inspired approach to songwriting.
5:00 – 6:00 PM
The Thistle and Shamrock… The poetry of W. B. Yeats embraces nature, art, mysticism, politics, love, and death. The album I Am of Ireland – Yeats in Song sets Yeats’ poems to music by Raymond Driver and features many of today’s finest Irish singers, including Cathy Jordan, Eleanor Shanley, and John Doyle.
Sunday 6/26
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Reveal… Reveal explores the current landscape of abortion rights and access in America pending the release of Supreme Court rulings.
11:00 – NOON
This American Life… At first it’s super annoying, getting told it’ll make sense when you’re older. Then, when you’re a teenager, hard lessons are learned, despite your best efforts to be too cool to care. By the time you’re actually old, you know a bunch of stuff, and you’re desperate to hold onto it. You might even wonder HOW you know all the things you know.
NOON – 3:00 PM
Sunday Baroque… June is National Rivers Month, an occasion to focus on the environmental health and importance of rivers. Hear some of George Frideric Handel’s music written to perform on the River Thames, and Georg Philipp Telemann’s music celebrating the Alster River in Hamburg.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Our Body Politic… Hear a discussion about the January 6 insurrection hearings with former Watergate prosecutor, author, and MSNBC analyst, Jill Wine-Banks. She says if Trump had actually felt that there was fraud in the election and if he had any evidence of it, the right way was to go to court, not to unleash a mob on the Capitol.
6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Moth Radio Hour… Hear the stories of five strangers who redefine themselves and their families in the face of their past.
Monday 6/27
2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Splendid Table… Carla Lalli Music takes on listeners’ summer cooking questions with host Francis Lam. She is the author of Where Cooking Begins and the host of Carla’s Cooking Show. Then, dive into the world of cold Asian refreshers with Khushbu Shah, Food & Wine’s restaurant editor.
Tuesday 6/28
1:00 – 2:00 PM
TED Radio Hour… Journalist Saleem Reshamwala offers a tour of surprising people and places — Lima, Nairobi, and prehistoric New Jersey — to inspire new perspectives on travel and cultures.
Wednesday 6/29
1:00 – 1:30 PM
Bioneers… A quiet renaissance of medical research has once again arisen to study the therapeutic benefits of LSD and other psychedelics, like overcoming addiction and depression, and improving death acceptance for terminally ill patients. Hear from acclaimed journalist Michael Pollan as he shares about his journey with psychedelics. He addresses the mystery of consciousness itself, the indivisible oneness of people and nature, and asks if the transformational healing effects of psychedelics can be translated into cultural healing that could address the greatest issues of our time.
1:30 – 2:00 PM
IdeaSphere… Historian and lawyer Ira Shapiro argues that Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell has prioritized his own career and the Republican agenda above America’s interests. His recent book is titled The Betrayal: How Mitch McConnell and the Senate Republicans Abandoned America.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
On Being… The writings of adrienne maree brown describe the current times as a fast river with unimaginable changes occurring daily. She is a student of complexity, change, and of how groups change together, and she has been referred to as a scholar of belonging and a scholar of magic.
6:30 – 8:00 PM
KCBX In Concert… Host Craig Russell interviews violin virtuoso Kathleen Lenski, the first violin for the Angeles Quartet and the longtime concertmaster for the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Oregon Bach Festival. Then, dig into the Angeles Quartet’s Grammy Award-winning recording of Joseph Haydn’s Complete String Quartets and explore Haydn’s style changes throughout his long career.
Thursday 6/30
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Latino USA… One year ago, a small beachside town in Florida was asleep when a section of a condominium in a suburb of Miami collapsed. Ninety-eight people died, and most of the victims were Latinos and Latinas. To mark the first anniversary of the collapse, pay a visit to Surfside to hear stories about memory, community, and how a relationship to a place can change after a tragic event. Also on the show, hear how one author is honoring her ancestors from the American West through her writing.
Friday 7/1
6:30 – 7:30 PM
Club McKenzie… Waller’s Legacy: Very few attempted to follow in Thomas “Fats” Waller’s footsteps. No one could match either his challenging and distinctive style of stride piano or his engaging stage persona.