Weekly Program Highlights
Friday 5/29
1:00 – 2:00 PM
Science Friday… This week on Science Friday, a discussion with a Vatican appointed scientist about Pope Leo’s release of his encyclical on AI.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Hidden Brain… We all know that culture affects the languages we speak and the foods we eat. This week on Hidden Brain, hear from an anthropologist who says the impact of culture goes even further, reaching into both our bodies and our minds.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Fresh Air… This week on Fresh Air, pay tribute to and remember one of jazz’s greatest improvisers and tenor saxophonists, Sonny Rollins. He played with Bud Powell, Charlie Parker, and Miles Davis. Rollins died Monday at age 95, and you’ll hear an interview Fresh Air had with Rollins in 1994.
6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… Puzzling: Step into your weekend with a trip back to the Jazz Age. This week, The Club McKenzie looks at some of the most puzzling, myth-filled stories of early jazz history. Host Guy Rathbun separates fact from fiction with an hour of unforgettable music from King Oliver, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and more.
8:30 – 10:00 PM
The Universal Language… Tonight, Jerome Taylor has a packed 90 minutes of music for you on The Universal Language. He launches a three week series featuring some incredible live music recordings. He’ll also give you a sneak peek at the lineup for this year’s Live Oak Music Festival coming up over Father’s Day Weekend.
Saturday 5/30
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Wait, Wait Don't Tell Me!… This week on Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me, comedian Tiffany Haddish drops by with enough energy to jump start the entire summer season. Musician Taimane shows off her ukulele skills. Lucy Dacus talks about her favorite holiday, Springs-teenth. And, swimmer Becca Mann reminisces about sharks.
11:00 – NOON
Radiolab… How do we assign a monetary value to something that can’t be sold? This week on Radiolab, explore worth. Hear from cancer patients paying for medicine needed to stay alive and military officials compensating for the death of innocent civilians to examine the value of a human life. And along the way, look at dollar values of nature and try to price the priceless.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
American Routes… This week on American Routes, a curated mix of trad and modern jazz, blues, soul and country from Cannonball Adderley and Betty Carter, Guitar Slim and Slim Harpo. Then, come out of the blues pouring down like rain and get to the sunny side of the street with Peggy Lee and Benny Goodman, party with Count Basie and Ella Fitzgerald; and walk on with Waylon Jennings and Nancy Sinatra. Then, a live genre blending, but not bending, set with New Orleans’ trombonist Corey Henry and the Treme Funktet.
Sunday 5/31
10:00 – 11:00 AM
Reveal… Governments across the globe are cracking down on migration. This week on Reveal, hear why human rights defenders are under growing pressure in Greece as they try to support asylum seekers while avoiding arrest.
11:00 – NOON
This American Life… This week on This American Life, stories of people who believe a book changed their life. It's a romantic notion, and one reason we believe it is because we want to believe our lives can be changed by something so simple as an idea or a set of ideas contained in a book.
NOON – 3:00 PM
Sunday Baroque… Some musicians play actual antique instruments made during the Baroque era, and some play modern reproductions. Andrew Manze plays a violin made in 1782, and Richard Egarr plays a modern reproduction harpsichord. Hear them making magic on those instruments playing music by George Frideric Handel on Sunday Baroque this week.
3:00 – 4:00 PM
Code Switch & Life Kit… This week on Code Switch, a show about the history of pools in the US. Then on Life Kit, a show about explosive power exercises that can boost mobility and prevent injury.
6:00 – 7:00 PM
The Moth Radio Hour… This week on The Moth Radio Hour, storytellers face down the near-impossible...with mixed results: skydiving; the first night shift; and training a kitten.
Monday 6/1
2:00 – 3:00 PM
The Splendid Table… This week on The Splendid Table, it’s a literary show to set you up for summer reading. First, learn about the extraordinary life of Knopf editor Judith Jones, who launched some of the biggest names in the culinary world, including Julia Child, Claudia Roden, and James Beard, not to mention published The Diary of Anne Frank. Your guide is Sarah B. Franklin, author of The Editor: How Publishing Legend Judith Jones Shaped Culture in America. Then, hear from bestselling author of World of Wonders, the poet and essayist Aimee Nezhukumatathil, about her newest work, Bite by Bite: Nourishments and Jamborees.
Tuesday 6/2
1:00 – 2:00 PM
TED Radio Hour… Over the past few years, the discourse about modern masculinity has reached a fever pitch. But what does the data actually say about what’s going on with boys and men in America? This week on TED Radio Hour, host Manoush Zomorodi chats with Richard Reeves, founder of the American Institute For Boys and Men, about raising boys and how to talk about masculinity.
8:00 – 10:00 PM
Primary Election Special… This Tuesday, voters decide who advances in the race to become California’s next Governor — and who will be on the ballot for congress in November, which could tip the scales nationally. Join the California Newsroom’s Scott Shafer and Vicki Gonzalez, along with our team from KCBX News, to hear live returns from statewide and local races, including county supervisors, local measures and more.
Wednesday 5/27
1:00 – 1:30 PM
Bioneers… This week on Bioneers, the infinitely curious author and science writer Michael Pollan embraces the mystery at the heart of the great mystery of life: What is the nature of consciousness? And how can we understand consciousness when our only tool is our own consciousness?
1:30 – 2:00 PM
California Report Magazine… This week on California Report Magazine, head to a remote corner of Sequoia National Park to learn the hidden history of some surprising Gold Rush trailblazers.
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Freakonomics Radio… From the Manhattan Project to the Challenger investigation, the physicist Richard Feynman loved to shoot down what he called “lousy ideas.” This week on Freakonomics Radio, the show begins a new series where they take a look at lousy ideas and Feynman.
6:30 – 8:00 PM
KCBX in Concert… This week on KCBX in Concert, host Craig Russell features two of his original compositions: his piano sextet Rejuvenations, and his Concierto Romántico for guitar and orchestra, premiered by the SLO Symphony and guitarist superstar José María Gallardo del Rey. Sandwiched in between Craig’s works will be Fernando Sor’s guitar variations on “Malbrough s’en va-t-en guerre” and Emilio Pujol’s “Zortzico."
Thursday 5/28
2:00 – 3:00 PM
Latino USA… This week on Latino USA, the Men’s World Cup is coming to our continent – and to this country. So Latino USA is using this huge event to dive deep into what soccer means in the United States in their news podcast “American Futbol.” Later in the show, Tab Ramos is widely regarded as one of the best U.S. soccer players of the 1990s. Hear about his devastating losses, his hard-fought wins, and a cracked skull that nearly ended his career and his life.
Friday 5/29
6:30 – 7:30 PM
The Club McKenzie… Blue Notes and Growls: The syncopation, the collective improv, and the stomping rhythms of the blues serves as the emotional core of jazz. It’s the attitude of bending notes and playing with pitch, expressing something that European classical music did not. Critics of the era, struggling to describe it, often fell back on words that describe the blues as moaning, crying, growling.