Weekly Program Highlights
Friday 9/25
NOON – 1:00 PM
Fresh Air… This week on Fresh Air, hear an interview with singer, songwriter and guitarist Billy Strings. He’s got one foot in traditional bluegrass and another in improvisational jam music. His new album, So Much for Goodbyes, is inspired by the death of his mother last year from an overdose.
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday… This week on Science Friday, learn how the coastline has changed since the Ice Age. Underwater archeologists are finding artifacts that tell us more about what life was like in the early Americas. Plus, everyone’s calling for safe AI, but what does that mean? Two researchers discuss.
2:30 – 3:00 PM
Today, Explained… On Today, Explained, take a look inside live auction apps, which are an extreme, hyper-paced form of the algorithms, and how social media apps are increasingly adopting these tactics, too.
3:00 – 4:00 PM and 4:30 – 6:30 PM
All Things Considered… Tinashe has grown into a huge star: hit records, millions of followers, viral Tik Tok songs. But for her new album, Pop Star, it’s back to basics. Catch up with Tinashe and get a taste of the album.
4:00 – 4:30 PM
Marketplace… Farmers across the country are losing soil and water conservation workers due to cuts to the federal workforce. Take a look at what happens when you defund conservation.
6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… Panning for Songs: One of Tin Pan Alley’s early street marketing attempts led to one of its most widely storied and interesting subcultures: the “song plugger,” a publisher employee who performed the organization’s most recent songs in public settings to increase popular interest. This practice created a familiarity, which evolved into demand, somewhat similar to the constant repetition of pop songs in video form on MTV. Many of these pluggers were songwriters who worked their way up the ranks to become vital components of the Tin Pan Alley song machine.
Saturday 9/26
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the show travels to Omaha to talk with Cornhusker volleyball coach John Cook.
11:00 – NOON
Radiolab… This week on Radiolab, hear how David Fajgenbaum survived multiple organ failure, just as he finished his medical school exam, by finding his own cure. From that ordeal, he realized that our system of discovering and approving drugs is far from perfect, and that he might be able to use AI to find dozens, hundreds, even thousands of cures, hidden in plain sight, for as-yet untreatable diseases.
3:00 – 5:00 PM
American Routes… This week on American Routes, visit Angola, the notorious plantation-turned-penitentiary, to hear stories and songs from within the prison’s walls. Hear a conversation with the late Charles Neville about serving time at “The Farm” during the Jim Crow era, playing with fellow inmates in the band of incarcerated musicians known as The Nic Nacs, and the role of music in integrating prison life. Then, hear previously unreleased Harry Oster field recordings of Mardi Gras Indian chants and bebop jazz from Angola in the late ‘50s. Finally, on-site interviews and performances with contemporary Angola musicians.
Sunday 9/27
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Hidden Brain… Why do some people act on the possibilities before them, while others come to believe that nothing they do will make a difference? This week on Hidden Brain, psychologist Martin Seligman describes his groundbreaking research on learned helplessness, and how optimism can help us move forward.
11:00 – NOON
This American Life… Ten years ago, Nikole Hannah-Jones wrote an essay about her decision to send her daughter to a segregated, low-income school. The essay was influential on parents and policymakers, and Nikole spent a decade hearing from people about how it changed their thinking. This week on This American Life, she hears from one more person: her daughter, in a conversation ten years in the making.
NOON – 2:00 PM
Sunday Baroque… Hispanic Heritage Month in the United States takes place from September 15th through October 15th. It was initially a weeklong observance established by President Johnson, then expanded by President Reagan as a month-long celebration of the rich contributions of the Hispanic community. Sunday Baroque marks the occasion with music by Baroque era composers connected to Spain and Mexico.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on Wait, Wait…Don’t Tell Me!, the show travels to Omaha to talk with Cornhusker volleyball coach John Cook.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Latino USA… There’s a “water war” in the Rio Grande. This week on Latino USA, explore the bitter dispute for control of the river’s water between citizens, governments, and even countries. Later, Luis Valdez brought Chicano stories out from the fields of the California’s Farm Worker Movement and onto the Broadway stage and Hollywood. Host Maria Hinojosa speaks with Luis and director David Alvarado to talk about their new documentary, American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez.
4:00 – 5:00 PM
Reveal… Approved grants, sudden cancellations, and court reversals. A year and a half after the Trump administration cut federal arts and humanities grants, cultural organizations across the country are trying to navigate the new landscape. This week on Reveal, what got cut, where the money is going, and what it means for the arts in America.
6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Moth Radio Hour… This week on The Moth Radio Hour, stories of love, passions, parents, and dating apps: a woman swipes for a second chance; a little girl finds her calling; and fathers find ways to relate to their children.
Monday 9/28
2:30 – 3:00 PM
Today, Explained… Learn how the U.S. and China are reaching similar conclusions on the need to develop AI and limit regulation, though in totally different ways.
Tuesday 9/29
2:30 – 3:00 PM
Today, Explained… Explore why diesel is a time bomb lurking in the U.S. economy. Diesel powers everything, but the war in Iran has raised prices, and winter is about to hit. President Trump wants to try a move that could (help) save Republicans in the midterms, but he’s going to have to go to war with American oil companies.
Wednesday 9/30
1:00 – 1:30 PM
Bioneers… Scientific evidence is increasingly supporting the theory that the earth is alive and replete with intelligence. In fact, the wild diversity of earthly organisms exhibits the characteristics that human beings attribute to personhood. How is it then, by the law, that a corporation is a person, but nature is not? This week on Bioneers, imagine a planet with rights for all, with visionary lawyer César Rodríguez-Garavito.
1:30 – 2:00 PM
California Report Magazine… This week on the California Report Magazine, meet a San Francisco renter using an analog approach to beat the AI-fueled housing boom, and learn about a woman swimming all 900 miles of California’s coastline. Plus, an unprecedented joint dance performance at San Quentin blending Aztec and Native Hawaiian traditions, and thousands of volunteers head to Yosemite for the nation’s biggest national park cleanup.
6:30 – 8:00 PM
KCBX in Concert… This week on KCBX in Concert, host Lisa Nauful invites you to a show inspired by the incredible variety that music lovers can find in the 2026–2027 concert season here on the Central Coast. Hear music by Bolling, Coleridge-Taylor, Albéniz, Schumann, Mozart, and Rachmaninoff, from jazz-inflected chamber music and Spanish dance, to Mozart’s dramatic Symphony No. 40 and Rachmaninoff’s Piano Concerto No. Two.
Thursday 10/01
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Central Coast Voices… On the next Central Coast Voices, hear all about local sustainability efforts and the upcoming Central Coast Bioneers Conference, where presenters from our region and around the world will share their experiences making positive change – from regenerative viticulture to community energy, nature-based climate solutions, and more.
2:30 – 3:00 PM
Today, Explained… In the upcoming midterms, a look at how the left and right are now fighting to be the sexiest party.
Friday 10/02
6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… Call Me Jabbo: Critics and fellow musicians regarded Jabbo Smith as a dazzling, highly individual trumpet virtuoso and Louis Armstrong’s most serious contemporary rival. At the request of the Brunswick Record Company, Smith formed his Rhythm Aces and recorded nineteen sides in 1929. Jabbo was a unique talent who produced advanced and sophisticated work, but the records were not accepted by the public and were largely forgotten. His solos were filled with excitement and high notes with lots of chances taken, and Jabbo Smith never received the recognition he deserved.