KALW archives

Is truly great art possible under a capitalist system, or is capitalism destined to produce cultural crap?

On this edition of  Your Call’s One Planet Series, we're speaking with journalists Alastair Gee and Dani Anguiano about their new book Fire in Paradise: An American Tragedy.

On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing black women and girls who have been killed by police or have died in police custody. On March 13, police shot and killed Breonna Taylor, an EMT from Louisville, Kentucky while she was sleeping in her home. The officers have not been arrested or charged. The case is now under investigation by the FBI. Breonna Taylor would have turned 27 years old on June 5th.

Reuben Houston is the owner and director of one of Colma Cremation and Funeral Services. The Bay Area has seen a relatively low COVID death rate compared to other population centers, but the virus has still affected his work. In this installment of "The Essentials," Reuben says the pandemic may change the way funerals are conducted for good.

Is it a privilege or a right to be treated as you deserve to be?

On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet series, we're discussing the long-term impacts of air pollution on exposed populations. According to a new Harvard study, people with COVID-19 who live in regions with high levels of air pollution are more likely to die from the disease.

  On this edition of Your Call, we'll discuss the murders of Ahmaud Arbery and Breonna Taylor.

On February 23, Ahmaud Arbery, a 25-year-old black man, was murdered by two white men while he was out for a jog in his hometown of Brunswick, Georgia. Three months later, a video surfaced and the men were finally arrested.

  On this edition of Your Call, we’re speaking with award-winning health journalist Trudy Lieberman about the current state of US health coverage since the Affordable Care Act passed 10 years ago.

Actor Irrfan Khan wasn’t the biggest star in Bollywood, but he was unique.

Open Air, KALW’s weekly radio magazine about the Bay Area Performing Arts, is back! 

On this edition of Your Call, we’re discussing how much it costs to get treated for COVID-19, especially for those of us who are underinsured or uninsured.

Writer and memoirist Dani Shapiro and author and professor of medicine Dr. Abraham Verghese explore genealogy, identity and family secrets in the present day of science and technology.

This year marks the 100th birthday of the American Civil Liberties Union, an organization dedicated to preserving the rights and freedoms guaranteed by our Constitution.  Host Grace Won celebrates this historic event with the ACLU of Northern California, as well as Michael Chabon and Ayelet Waldman, local authors and the editors of the new book, Fight of the Century: Writers Reflect on 100 Years of Landmark ACLU Cases.  

On this edition of Your Call, we continue our series on presidential candidates’ by talking about Elizabeth Warren. After being ignored and erased by the media, she came roaring back at last night’s debate. Minutes after the debate began, she slammed Michael Bloomberg by saying, “Democrats take a huge risk if we just substitute one arrogant billionaire for another.” She went on to accuse him of “hiding his taxes, harassing women, and supporting racist policies.”

Abby Stein talks about leaving behind the Hasidic world and a rabbinical degree when she came out as a woman and activist of trans experience.

Hey Area is where we find answers to questions you ask. David Shayer wanted to know, “Why is highway 101 plastered with billboards, while highway 280, a few miles west, has no billboards? I hate billboards, I would cut them all down if I could!”

  On this edition of Your Call, National Book Award nominee Erica Armstrong Dunbar discusses her new book, She Came to Slay: The Life and Times of Harriet Tubman.

On this edition of Your Call, Waad al-Kateab and Edward Watts join us to discuss their award-winning documentary For Sama, a first-person perspective of the uprising in Aleppo, Syria and a love letter from a young mother to her daughter. 

Poets Adrienne Rich and Alicia Ostriker reflect on themes of Jewish identity, social justice, and radical feminism.

  On this edition of Your Call’s One Planet Series, we’ll speak Professor Rob Jackson, chair of the Global Carbon Project at Stanford University, about Carbon Budget 2019, which projects that this year, global carbon dioxide emissions from coal, oil and natural gas are set to hit another record high. 

This week on Open Air, KALW’s radio magazine for the Bay Area performing arts, guest host Noah Griffin talks with actors John Skelley and Benjamin Papac (pictured) about the exclusive West Coast production of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, in which they play the parts of Harry Potter, and his son, Albus Potter. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child runs at San Francisco’s Curran Theater (445 Geary St.) in San Francisco, through June 20, 2020. 

If you live or work in San Francisco, you probably hear this week’s Audiograph sound every Tuesday at noon.