Weekly Program Highlights
Friday 1/30
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday…
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Hidden Brain… This week on Hidden Brain, the show concludes their You 2.0 series with a look at the hidden power of doubt — not as weakness or indecision, but as a tool that helps us make better choices and navigate an uncertain world.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Fresh Air… This week on Fresh Air, hear from TV producer Brooke Nevils and her new memoir about her being sexually assaulted and how the media handles the topic of sexual assault.
6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… Where Victorian-era parlor songs and marches relied heavily on predictable progressions with clean resolutions, blues-based jazz introduced dominant seventh chords that never quite resolved the way European harmony expected. That perpetual tension became a feature, not a bug. The 12-bar blues form itself was structurally alien to the verse-chorus forms that dominated popular music.
Saturday 1/31
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, the panelists are Negin Farsad, Peter Grosz, and newcomer Annie Rauwerda. And filmmaker Jon Chu, who directed Crazy Rich Asians and the two-part Wicked movies, plays Not My Job.
11:00 – NOON
Radiolab… Neuroscientist Madeline Lancaster accidentally used an expired protein gel in a lab experiment and noticed something weird. The stem cells she was trying to grow in a dish were self-assembling into a brain. In about a decade, these mini human brain balls were everywhere. They were revealing bombshell secrets about how our brains develop in the womb, helping treat advanced cancer patients, being implanted into animals, even playing the video game Pong. But what are they? Are these brain balls capable of sensing, feeling, learning, being? Are they tiny, trapped humans? And if they were, how would we know?
3:00 – 4:00 PM
American Routes… This week on American Routes, reach for “mystic chords of memory” with the late singer-songwriter Joe Ely and gospel/soul man Roscoe Robinson to hear about the ground they’ve covered as veteran touring musicians. Joe starts off in Lubbock, Texas, where he grew up, and tells of railroading across America, running off with the circus, musical explorations with the Flatlanders, and his role in Austin’s Cosmic Cowboy scene. Roscoe Robinson remembers his childhood in Dermott, Arkansas, the family’s north migration, traveling the gospel circuit through the Jim Crow South, taking the stage at the Apollo Theater, and his life-long spiritual journey. We spin travel tunes from artists’ influences like Buddy Holly, Flaco Jimenez, and the Staple Singers.
Sunday 2/01
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Reveal… This week on Reveal, hear how communities are being shaped and divided by Trump administration policies.
11:00 – NOON
This American Life… This week on This American Life, the show checks in with people from Los Angeles to Maine, as federal immigration agents make their way across America.
NOON – 3:00 PM
Sunday Baroque… This week on Sunday Baroque, hear music by the “Bach of the Lute” otherwise known as German lute player Sylvius Weiss… organist Juan Cabanilles who has been called the “Spanish Bach,” and Francois Couperin who’s been called the “French Bach.”
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Code Switch & Life Kit… This week on Code Switch, a show about protests. Then on Life Kit, a show about magical questions.
6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Moth Radio Hour… This week on Moth Radio Hour, five strangers redefine themselves and family in the face of their past.
Monday 2/02
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Climate One… So much has happened – from the Trump administration’s forcible removal of Venezuela’s president to the US pulling out of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change… It’s easy to get caught up in the headlines of the moment and lose sight of the big picture. But this week, Climate One looks at important developments happening in sectors like agriculture and renewable technology that don’t break through the noise to the extent they deserve.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Splendid Table…
Tuesday 2/03
1:00 – 2:00 PM
TED Radio Hour… This week on Ted Radio Hour, host Manoush Zomorodi explores how technology is changing the way we capture, protect, and even recreate our past.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Reluctant Therapist…
Wednesday 2/04
1:00 – 1:30 PM
Bioneers… This week on Bioneers, Erosion and evolution. Shadow and light. Death and rebirth. These are some of the strands that the acclaimed author, naturalist and activist Terry Tempest Williams weaves together in the face of today’s broken world. Standing in the lineage of the greatest nature writers, she links her deepest inner experiences with the state of the web of life. She also explores histories of privilege, religion, and identity in Utah, and how reconciling her experiences with these cultural strands have helped unleash and shape her voice as a storyteller who translates the voice of nature and speaks for justice.
1:30 – 2:00 PM
California Report Magazine… This week on California Report Magazine, the show checks back in with people’s stories they’ve been following after the Eaton Fires of last year.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Freakonomics Radio… This week on Freakonomics Radio, hear from Zeke Emanuel (a physician, medical ethicist, and policy wonk) who has some different ideas for how to lead a healthy and meaningful life. It starts with ice cream.
6:30 – 8:00 PM
KCBX in Concert… This week on KCBX in Concert, host Lisa Nauful presents A Joyful Noise - an invitation to step away from the news of the day and into the restorative power of music. Lisa guides you through Handel’s jubilant Music for the Royal Fireworks, Mozart’s radiant Symphony No. 29, and Respighi’s shimmering The Birds, alongside the quirky charm of Moondog’s Sax Pax for a Sax, and Britten’s spirited Simple Symphony. It’s a reminder that, in unsettled times, music offers clarity, beauty, and joy.
Thursday 2/05
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Central Coast Voices…
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Latino USA… This week on Latino USA, the NFL’s all-American spectacle is back with its Super Bowl halftime musical extravaganza. And this year, they’ve courted one of the biggest artists globally, Bad Bunny. But not without controversy. Also on the show, Netflix’s newest movie, The Rip, brings together three Colombian actresses: Catalina Sandino Moreno, Sasha Calle, and Lina Esco. The cast opened up about being on the set of this high-stakes crime thriller.
Friday 2/06
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday…
6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie…