| 7/4/2008 : Humankind: Dreaming of America, noon |
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| This documentary features varied voices of citizens reflecting on what Americans yearn for at this time when our country prepares for a new era and a new administration. After one of the most tumultuous periods in American history, how can we find common ground to solve a long list of pressing problems? We hear from tourists standing in line to view the original Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution, a 23-year-old ex-marine who was injured in Iraq, an NBA basketball star who founded an organization for democracy, young environmentalists worried about global warming, fans in the stands before a major league baseball game and others. |
| 7/4/2008 : What's the Word?: “On the Road, The American Road”, 10:30 a.m. |
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| This program takes on how film and fiction convey the experience of America through car trips. The beat-generation writer Jack Kerouac and On the Road's postwar celebratory travel, Vladimir Nabokov's Lolita and the European corruption of American innocence; and travel as fear, amusement, opportunity for escape, and paranoid dream are the focus. Also, the movie Thelma and Louise as a feminist buddy film in which the heroines discover things about themselves, each other, and the United States is featured. |
| 7/4/2008 : Capitol Steps “Politics Takes a Holiday”, 10 a.m. |
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| After turning down requests to be Hillary Clinton's campaign accountant and Barbara Walters’ personal fact checker, the Capitol Steps did finally achieve a lifelong dream—an invitation to Jenna Bush's wedding as Dick Cheney's date. Tune in for brand new songs about Hillary and Obama ("Ebony and Ovaries") and John McCain ("When I m 84"). Who knows, we may throw some super delegates into the mix to, you know, just to keep it confusing. |
| 7/4/2008 : Louder Than a Bomb 2008, 9 a.m. |
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| There seemed to be a need for a space for young people to tell their stories, to meet one another and articulate their hopes, their fears, their passions and their sorrows. As co-founder of Young Chicago Authors Kevin Coval puts it, “the stories of young people, who they are and what they have to say, their names and existence, is more powerful than any weapon, is louder than any bomb” – and so the Louder Than a Bomb Teen Poetry Festival and Competition was born. Now the subject of a full-length feature film, and internationally renown as the largest teen poetry festival of its kind, Louder Than a Bomb has become a celebrated annual event in which the remarkable stories of the city’s youth take center stage. |
| 7/4/2008 : American Routes: Red, White and Blues on the Fourth , 1-3 p.m. |
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| Tune in and party like it's 1776 as we celebrate our nations' birthday with a swinging soundtrack of jazz, blues and country that'll make you stand up and salute. Plus, we're off on a summer road trip to sample Ted Drewes' Frozen Custard Stand on Route 66 in St. Louis and play Drown the Clown at a Massachusetts county fair. |
| 5/26/2008 : Picking Up The Pieces: Iraq Special, noon and 9 p.m. |
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| This program visits with five families of veterans wounded by IEDs in Iraq and Afghanistan. The families are coping with the aftermath of traumatic brain injuries and post traumatic stress. This special breaks new ground by focusing on the parents, especially mothers, who have given up everything to step in and care for their sons. In the coming years, as additional tens of thousands of injured veterans return home, overburdened parents will respond with love and support, but the rest of us need to become aware of this urgent problem and help our government develop comprehensive solutions. |
| 5/26/2008 : The Studio 312 Comedy Special, 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. |
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| Chicago actor, and Studio 312 host, Jimmy Carrane interviews Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlan, Saturday Night Live’s Horatio Sanz and Matt Walsh from the Upright Citizens Brigade. |
| 4/16/2008 : America Abroad: Missiles, Money and the Mainland: The Taiwan Dilemma |
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| We pre-empt BBC Outlook for America Abroad: Missiles, Money and the Mainland: The Taiwan Dilemma. The political status of the Island has the potential to ignite great-power conflict between the U.S. and China. But Taiwan's economic dynamism has made the small island the 16th largest economy and a major player on the world stage. The program travels to the Island to explore its identity and politics in the shadow of a rising China and traces the history of America's relationship with Taiwan and how those ties have impacted U.S.-China relations. |
| 4/13/2008 : Radio Lab: War of the Worlds, (So-Called) Life and Pop Music |
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| We pre-empt Says You! and To The Best of Our Knowledge from 7-10 p.m. to feature two episodes of Radio Lab. In Radio Lab's very first live hour, “War of the Worlds” takes a deep dive into one of the most controversial moments in broadcasting history—Orson Welles' 1938 radio play about Martians invading New Jersey. “(So-Called) Life” looks at the uneasy marriage between biology and engineering, and asks what counts as “natural?” In the last hour, “Pop Music” takes on those crazy tunes that delight us and haunt us. |
| 4/6/2008 : Radio Lab: Laughter and Deception |
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| We pre-empt Says You! and To The Best of Our Knowledge to feature two episodes of Radio Lab. Hour one—“Laughter”—explores the power of laughter to calm us, bond us to one another, or to spread...like a virus. During hour two—“Deception”—hosts Robert Krulwich and Jad Abumrad look at lies, liars, and lie catchers, and ask: can you lead a life without deception? |
| 4/4/2008 : King's Last March |
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| We pre-empt the BBC Newshour for King's Last March. Although it was one of the most challenging and controversial chapters of his career, the final year of Dr. King's life has not been the focus of significant public attention. American RadioWorks' King’s Last March marks the 40th anniversary of Dr. King’s death on April 4, 1968. The program uses a rich mix of archival tape, oral histories and contemporary interviews to paint a vivid picture of what may have been the most difficult year of Dr. King's life. |
| 2/2/2008 : Election 2008: America’s Decision, Your Business |
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Tune in as the BBC World Service comes to Chicago for a special worldwide broadcast focusing on the major issues in the 2008 Presidential election. Broadcasting live from the Jim and Kay Mabie Performance Studio, the BBC’s Claire Bolderson and Chicago Public Radio’s Richard Steele will speak with a panel of guests about what is at stake for Americans—and the world—in the race for president. Members of a studio audience and listeners from around the world will pose questions about the issues that matter most to them.
Panelists include:
Tom Bevan—Founder of Real Clear Politics
Jean Bethke Elshtain—Laura Spelman Rockefeller Professor of Social and Political Ethics at the University of Chicago Divinity School
Laura Washington—Columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times; Ida B. Wells-Barnett University professor at DePaul University
Daniel Drezner—Professor of international politics at Tufts University |
| 1/21/2008 : Mosaic |
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A century after W.E.B. Dubois wrote “the problem of the Twentieth Century is the problem of the color-line”, many argue this is a key Twenty-First Century problem. What better place to explore this problem than Chicago, one of the most segregated cities in U.S., but a city with great potential to foster understanding. Listen to Mosaic, a program exploring issues of race and racism as they affect Chicagoans across color-lines. Mosaic connects Chicagoans of all races and provides a forum for communities of color to learn from one another.
Tell us what you think about Mosaic. Send your feedback to Andrea Wenzel.
And, tune-in and call-in Sunday, February 17 from 7-9 p.m. for a live discussion about Mosaic. |
| 1/21/2008 : Martin Luther King, Jr. - Beyond Vietnam: A Time to Break the Silence, 9 a.m. and 8 p.m. |
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| Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, Nobel Peace Prize winner, is one of the 20th century’s most enduring figures. He was an early convert to civil disobedience and non-violence. He rose to national prominence in 1955 during the epic 382-day Montgomery bus boycott. He went on to spearhead a movement which effectively ended juridical apartheid in the U.S. This special explores King's life. |