The conversation doesn’t always stop when the mics are off. Like today, Marty and her guests kept on going after the show talking about all things impeachment. Check out this video for a little bit more casual version of Radio Times!
We took our Meyers-Briggs personality tests in preparation for Marty's interview with Merve Emre who wrote on the subject. It was a fun exercise and perhaps we learned a little more about ourselves! You can hear this interview Friday at 11pm, at whyy.org/radiotimes or download the podcast.
I hope you all got to hear today's guest - poet and lawyer, Reginald Dwayne Betts. He talked about his time in prison and read some poems from his extraordinary new books of poetry, "Felon." He discovered the power of poetry while in solitary confinement and his work is beautiful and brutally honest.
Here he is reading his poem, " If Absence Was the Source of Silence."
Marty Moss-Coane Country Music Event
We had a lot of fun at our country music event last week at World Cafe Live. We played some clips from the new Ken Burns Country Music documentary, talked with some local country music experts, and then had a performance by Americana artist Langhorne Slim. The conversations were illuminating and veered all over the place, tying in music of all kinds, observations about American life and history and feminism. Here's a little video we made to commemorate the night!
Also - you can tune into the multi-part Ken Burns documentary on WHYY-TV, at 8pm all this week.
Marty here: Here's another mini- behind the scenes look at Radio Times.... this time with Derek Pitts, friend of the show and chief astronomer at The Franklin Institute. Here he is talking about how the 1969 moon landing inspired him as a 14 year old.
Producer Jon here:
I took a road trip vacation through the south last week to visit some friends. Unbeknownst to me, one old buddy I hadn’t seen in years is now a paragliding instructor! So... of course I took part. Turns out it’s a very peaceful, non-traumatizing, experience!
Here’s producer Jon Ehrens trying to name all the candidates for the Thursday night debate. How did he do?
Frank Langfitt
Here's another glimpse into the Radio Times studio, this time with our guest from Wednesday - Frank Langfitt. Here he is talking with Marty about taking his children to protests in Hong Kong. Do you like these behind-the-scenes videos? Let us know what you want to see more of in the comments!
Marty talks to Mohanad Elshieky
Marty here: We've been experimenting with different ways you can "watch" Radio Times. Here's a short clip from my interview with Libyan born comedian, Mohanad Elshieky, who was in Philly earlier this month. A short bio on him.... he grew up in Benghazi, came to the states to study, received asylum last year because it was too dangerous for him to go home and has been developing his stand up career. In this section he describes how his radio station in Benghazi got burned down because of his radio show. Watch and tell us what you think.
Lou Rulli and Marty
Lou Rulli stayed for a few minutes after the show to chat with Marty about what Philly DA Larry Krasner is doing about civil asset forfeiture. Give it a listen:
Richard Blanco - Complaint of El Río Grande
Even though our guest Richard Blanco has been traveling for two weeks and still has two weeks left to go, he made time to sit with us after the show to read one more poem. Here he is reading "Complaint of El Río Grande":
Myers-Briggs
To prepare for tomorrow's show about the Myers-Briggs personality test, the Radio Times production team decided to take the test ourselves!
What's your Myers-Briggs? Comment below!
If you don't know, take a version of the test here: https://www.16personalities.com/
Blue Skies by Irving Berlin, played by Drew Nugent
Today we took a look at the life, songwriting, and patriotism of Irving Berlin. Jazz musician Drew Nugent joined us in studio to play some tunes live, and he stuck around after for a short private concert.
Full episode here: https://whyy.org/episodes/irving-berlin-immigrant-patriot-song-smith/
Gregory Pardlo reads his poem "Problema 4"
Gregory Pardlo's book Digest won the Pulitzer Prize in 2015. Here he reads a poem from the collection about the relationships between fathers and children, and what he calls "small 'd' domestic violence."
Gregory's new book is Air Traffic: A Memoir of Ambition and Manhood in America. He spoke with Marty in studio today.
Leslie Odom Jr. Talks to Marty about his role in Hamilton
The view from inside the Radio Times studio as Marty interviews Tony Award-winning 'Hamilton' star, Leslie Odom Jr.
Marty here talking with poker champ, Annie Duke, about why she should write a book about Russia instead of her new book, Thinking in Bets. All the top selling books are about Russia!
Marty here and another behind the Radio Times’ scene video. This is Luke Harding author of Collusion. We talked about all things Russia. He was expelled from that country in 2011.
Marty here talking with Daniel Pink about how he became VP Al Gore’s speech writer back in the 90’s and “Pod Save the World” the podcast from Obama’s former speech writers.
Shapiro
Marty here going over clips this morning with Dan Shapiro, former US ambassador to Israel. We talked about PM Netanyahu’s problems at home and where US/Israel relations are going from here. BTW.. Shapiro served under Obama.
Marty here chatting with David Bianculli and Sherri Hope Culver about Mr. Rogers and hoping we won’t weep too much during the show. There were tears but no obvious sobbing.
Marty here prepping our guests before today’s show about the opioid epidemic and safe injection sites.
Marty here talking with David Cay Johnston before the show today about names. I said I didn’t want to burden my son with a hyphen and he talked about a woman he met who was a “ junior” ...
Eagles Insanity
Producer Jon here:
Here's some more footage of Broad St. insanity I caught last night. Yes, that's a garbage truck all of those people are sitting on. No, it wasn't the only garbage truck people were sitting on.
Go Eagles
Producer Trenae here: Here's how my family celebrated the Eagles win! The children stayed up all night! GO EAGLES!!!
Here’s todays’s guest Elif Shafak talking about listening to heavy metal music when she writes. BTW... she had a lot of fascinating things to say. Check out the interview if you missed it.
Marty here with another short behind the scenes video before the start of the show. This is physician Nadine Burke Harris.. today’s guest.
Marty here chatting with the Auditor General, Eugene DePasquale, about the show, his background and the Eagles, of course.
Marty here talking with the two Joes before the start of today’s show. Oh, and that's engineer Diana Martinez getting them set with their mics.
Slate’s Sam Adams and me dissing “The Walking Dead” right before we went live today talking about the best TV of 2017. Go ahead and diss us “Walking Dead” fans!
