Weekly Program Highlights

Friday 1/16

1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday… Researchers are trying to untangle the mysteries of Parkinson’s disease, which affects about 90,000 people in the US each year, and they’re looking closely at environmental factors: air pollution, pesticides and water. Find out what this might tell us about new treatments.  

2:00 – 3:00 PM
Hidden Brain…  This week on Hidden Brain, there are times in life when the challenges we face feel insurmountable. Psychologist Adam Alter shares his research on why we all get stuck at various points in our lives, and how to break free.

3:00 – 4:00 PM
Fresh Air… This week on Fresh Air, remember Bob Weir, a founding member of the Grateful Dead, through a 2016 interview. And, remember jazz singer Rebecca Kilgore, known for her interpretations of American popular songs, through highlights of her Fresh Air concerts. Weir and Kilgore both died this month.

6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… Scat Got Your Tongue?: Jazz is a stand alone artform, and one item that helps to identify its uniqueness is scat. The most artful talent for scat in its earliest years was Louis Armstrong, who incorporated it into several measures of his song “Heebie Jeebies,” and it wasn’t long before others popularized the style.

Saturday 1/17

10:00 – 11:00 AM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, hear from panelists Luke Burbank, Rachel Coster, and Hari Kondabolu, along with host Peter Sagal and official judge Bill Kurtis.

11:00 – NOON
Radiolab… There are so many ways to fall—in love, asleep, even flat on your face. Radiolab dives into stories of great falls. They jump into a black hole, take a trip over Niagara Falls, upend some myths about falling cats, and plunge into their favorite songs about falling.

3:00 – 4:00 PM
American Routes… Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s dream was first shared in words. Hear it in music from the Staple Singers, Stevie Wonder, Nina Simone, and Bob Dylan, plus classic jazz, reggae, and a new generation of singers: the Carolina Chocolate Drops, Norah Jones, and Questlove. Then, songs, rhythms and histories from the Georgia Sea Islands Gullah Geechee Ring Shouters.

Sunday 1/18

10:00 – 11:00 AM
Reveal… In the wake of Nicolas Maduro’s ouster, Venezuelan journalists, historians and politicians explain what's at stake for their country.

11:00 – NOON
This American Life… When a joke could get you killed, should you say it anyway? 

NOON – 3:00 PM
Sunday Baroque… This week, learn about Breaking Barriers, a 2022 album featuring Carlos Bastidas leading Ontario Pops Orchestra in concertos played by several outstanding young soloists. One of them is a Cuban violinist who has performed and competed all over the world, and is now based in Canada.

3:00 – 4:00 PM
Code Switch & Life Kit… This week on Code Switch, a show about the long history of U.S. intervention in Venezuela. Then on Life Kit, a show about the science of losing weight.

6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Moth Radio Hour… This week on Moth Radio Hour, hear stories of learning from our elders: a mechanic; a teacher; a patriarchy-busting grandmother; and Star Wars in translation.

Monday 1/19

1:00 – 2:00 PM
SPECIAL: MLK: The Pan-Africanist… WNYC’s annual MLK celebration returns to The Apollo Theater for its 20th year, honoring the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It explores Dr. King’s enduring impact through the lens of his 1957 journey to Ghana, where he witnessed the birth of a free African nation and deepened his commitment to global liberation. Through conversation, performance, and reflection, this year’s gathering connects the struggle against colonialism and segregation to today’s fights for equity, freedom, and dignity across the African Diaspora. Together, the guests examine restitution and reconciliation not as distant ideals, but as urgent imperatives.

2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Splendid Table… This week on The Splendid Table, hear the final show of the 30th anniversary celebration recorded from the stage of The Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul, MN. Host Francis Lam is joined onstage by some of the best chefs in Minnesota, including American Oglala Lakota Sioux [soo] chef Sean Sherman; Somali-American chef Jamal Hashi; Karyn Tomlinson of Myriel, the winner of the 2025 James Beard Award for Best Chef: Midwest; and six-time James Beard nominee Diana Moua of Diane's Place.

8:00 – 10:00 PM
Freedom Jazz Dance… Join KCBX for a Freedom Jazz Dance celebration of Martin Luther King Day. The entire two-hour program is dedicated to Dr. King and his impact through music and spoken word and includes the entire "I have a dream" speech.

Tuesday 1/20

1:00 – 2:00 PM
TED Radio Hour… This week on Ted Radio Hour, genomics researcher Dr. Robert Green explains how sequencing babies’ DNA can reveal hidden health risks. Explore where the benefits end and the ethical dilemmas begin.

2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Reluctant Therapist… 

Wednesday 1/21

1:00 – 1:30 PM
Bioneers… This week on Bioneers, hear from two parents and birth justice advocates who are helping lead a movement to create community birth centers across the nation. To help address the maternal and infant mortality crisis, they’re realizing a vision where midwives are the leaders in care throughout the birthing process. They say birth centers provide racially and culturally reverent care founded in safety, love and trust.

1:30 – 2:00 PM
California Report Magazine… This week on California Report Magazine, learn about the Batman of San Jose, who hands out water and first aid supplies to unhoused people wearing a mask and a purple cape. His superpower? Noticing people who feel ignored.

2:00 – 3:00 PM
Freakonomics Radio… This week on Freakonomics Radio, hear the beginning of a new series “The Freakonomics Radio Guide to Getting Better.” In this episode, they ask, do brain supplements actually work? Are they safe? And, why doesn’t the F.D.A. even know what’s in them?

6:30 – 8:00 PM
KCBX in Concert… This week on KCBX in Concert, host Lisa Nauful invites you on a musical journey shaped by place, color, and imagination. The program opens with Mozart’s sparkling overture to Così fan tutte, followed by the hushed magic of Anatoly Lyadov’s The Enchanted Lake. Pianist Alicia de Larrocha brings the glistening moonlight to de Falla’s Nights in the Gardens of Spain, before Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony sweeps across misty landscapes and rugged coastlines.

Thursday 1/22

1:00 – 2:00 PM
Central Coast Voices… 

2:00 – 3:00 PM
Latino USA… This week on Latino USA, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Mirta Ojito retraces her own immigration journey from Cuba on the 1919 “poor man’s Titanic.” She also discusses her shift from journalism to fiction and talks about memory, migration, and the stories swallowed by the ocean. Also on the show, hear from Zayda Rivera, who left journalism to become a witch and published her debut book, Being Bruja: A Young Mystic's Guide, and the Spanish language version, Vivir Bruja.

Friday 1/23

1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday… 

6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie…