90.3 WCPN Monthly Program Highlights

All programs and times subject to change.

April 2008

Tuesday, April 1
Capitol Steps
9:30 -10am
Politics Takes a Holiday. A half-hour of seasonal political satire. (Repeats: 7:30pm)

Friday, April 4
Radiolab
9 – 10pm
So-called Life. What are the consequences when humans start playing with life? The human imagination has always dreamed up fantastic creatures, but now biotechnology is making it easier and easier for us to actually create forms of life that have never existed before. In this hour, Radiolab looks at the uneasy marriage between biology and engineering, and asks what counts as “natural?”

Friday, April 4
American RadioWorks
10 – 11pm
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. This dramatic and illuminating documentary 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.

Friday, April 4
Church Music
11pm – 12am
Church music is one of the few pure forms of human expression. Just a person, their voice, and the belief that compassion is self-fulfilling and will birth more compassion.  This special explores the many kinds of church music in America. The culture and the people behind the voices. Who sings and why, and what those songs say about our country.

Friday, April 11
Radiolab
9 – 10pm
Pop Music. Why do some songs mercilessly stick in our heads and repeat themselves over and over? What makes these hooks so hooky? And how does a songwriter will a song forth from the ether? Nightmarish stories of musical hallucinations, songs that transcend language, and the triumphant return of the Elvis of Afghanistan.

Friday, April 11
American RadioWorks
10 – 11pm
Business of the Bomb: The Modern Nuclear Marketplace. The world is on the brink of a new atomic era, one that carries unprecedented danger. Experts cite two ominous trends: As more countries turn to nuclear energy, enriched uranium that could be used for bombs is more available. And new networks of smugglers are emerging, seeking to take nuclear weapons technology across international borders. For this documentary, American RadioWorks teams up with the Center for Investigative Reporting to probe how the global expansion of nuclear knowhow is challenging efforts to contain the spread of atomic weapons.

Friday, April 11
Whole Lotta Shakin’
11pm – 12am
Good Rockin’ Tonight. The first stop is Memphis in the segregated 1950s, where blues, gospel and country music came together to create the upbeat sounds of rockabilly. The program profiles two of the first rockabilly artists on the Sun Records label, Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Founded by an Alabama farmer’s son, Sun boasted a rebellious cast of rockabilly stars. Sam Phillips opened his tiny brick-front recording company with a promise: “We’ll record anyone, anywhere, anytime.” First releasing blues records from African American singers who migrated north from the Mississippi cotton fields, Phillips then switched to recording primarily rockabilly, which appealed to a growing audience of teenagers with its emotional lyrics, searing guitar solos and a big beat for dancing.

Friday, April 18
Radiolab
9 – 10pm
Who Am I? Neurologists who, armed with giant magnets, are asking the big questions, like “How does the brain make me?” We stare into the mirror with Dr. Julian Keenan, reflect on the illusion of self-hood with British neurologist Paul Broks, contemplate the evolution of consciousness with Dr. V. S. Ramachandran. Also, the story of the woman who one day woke up as a completely different person.

Friday, April 18
Whole Lotta Shakin’
11pm – 12am
Get Rhythm. This program profiles Johnny Cash and tells the stories behind some of his best loved songs: “Folsom Prison Blues,” “I Walk the Line” and “Ring of Fire.” Cash had an intense love for gospel, country music and the blues, the foundation of rockabilly. After stints in an auto factory and the military, he formed Johnny Cash and the Tennessee Two in Memphis with bassist Marshall Grant and guitar player Luther Perkins. Together, they created some of the best-loved songs in the American songbook.

Monday, April 21
Hearing Voices
8 – 9pm
The Earth Sings. For Earth Day, host Dmae Roberts: audio trekking Nepal’s “Annapurna”, Maori music & culture, Pulse of the Planet’s “Extraordinary Sounds From the Natural World,” Sioux Soprano Bonnie Jo Hunt layers opera over insects.

Wednesday, April 23
The Passover Story
8 – 9pm
Renowned actor Theodore Bikel and The Western Wind, America’s pre-eminent vocal ensemble, present 25 eclectic selections that, along with accessible narration, serve as musical documentary of Passover. Selections include Hebrew folk melodies, classical European liturgical music, ancient Sephardic chants, Klezmer-style improvisations, and traditional songs from the Seder.  This program is for listeners of any religious background and provides a good introduction to a holiday whose lessons of redemption and faith are universal.

Friday, April 24
Passover: A Time to Cross Over
8 – 9pm
Ayre Gross hosts this exploration of how different cultures celebrate one of the most sacred of Jewish holy days, Passover.  Jeremy Piven (Emmy-award-winning star of HBO’s Entourage) describes the holiday with his family of Chicago theater directors.  Jewish Gospel singer Joshua Nelson talks of growing up in one of Brooklyn’s African American synagogues.  Best-selling Iranian author Gina Nahai (Caspian Rain) looks at the complex and multi-layered relationships between classes and religious communities in Iran. Best-selling author Geraldine Brooks recounts the dramatic and miraculous story of the 600-year-old Sarajevo Haggadah.

Friday, April 25
Radiolab
9 -10pm
Emergence. What happens when there is no leader? Starlings, bees, and ants manage just fine. In fact, they form staggeringly complicated societies, all without a Toscanini to conduct them into harmony. How? That’s our question this hour. We gaze down at the bottom-up logic of cities, Google, even our very own brains. Featured: author Steven Johnson, fire-flyologists John and Elizabeth Buck, biologist E.O. Wilson, ant expert Debra Gordon, mathematician Steve Strogatz, economist James Surowiecki, and neurologists Oliver Sacks and Christof Koch.

Friday, April 25
The Greening of Ohio
10 – 11pm
The Greening of Ohio takes an up-close look at the efforts Ohioans are making to deal with global warming issues. The documentary visits with Ohioans all over the state that are actively working to “green” their lifestyles. It explores not only what they are doing, but why they feel that it is important. Some, like Delaware homeowner David Carpenter get all their energy from the sun. Others, like Athens County resident Piper Avolikita, fuel their vehicles with cooking grease, or—like the Toledo bus system, are exploring biodiesel and hydrogen as ways to power their gas-guzzling fleet. Some of the stories are about farmers who use wind power, or cities, like Bowling Green, that get 20% of their power from renewable sources.  In this program, producer Sandra Sleight-Brennan explores these stories and many other examples of Ohioans who have “gone green”. She also talks to policy makers like Mark Shanahan, Governor Strickland’s Energy Advisor, Jack Shaner from the Ohio Environmental Council, and Ryan Lippe from the Office of Consumer’s Council about what the state of Ohio is doing to deal with climate change issues.

Friday, April 25
Whole Lotta Shakin’
11pm – 12am
Fujiyama Mamas. In an era when women were singing about the price of doggies in the window or imagining a breakfast at Tiffany’s, other women were rocking out just like their male counterparts. Fujiyama Mamas showcases the women rockabilly artists who rebelled against the traditional female roles of housewives and mothers during the ‘50s. World War II brought great changes to American society; women emerged emboldened by their experiences during the war, working in defense plants. This show profiles Cordell Jackson, who toiled as a Rosie the Riveter during the war in an aircraft factory before launching her own record label in 1956. It also features Little Miss Dynamite Brenda Lee; Janis Martin, a.k.a. The Female Elvis; and rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson.