Boston Public Radio Podcast

Today: Last year, climate activists Parke Wilde, Julia Hansen, and Peter Watson were arrested protesting the proposed expansion of Bedford’s Hanscom Field – the second busiest airport in New England, behind Logan. They join to discuss the importance of civil disobedience, and standing up for the climate. And, Live Music Friday with the lead love interests of Huntington Theatre Company's production...

BPR Full Show 6/5: Are We Protesting Enough?

Today: Ahead of Eid al-Adha, the Muslim Feast of Sacrifice holiday, we talk with the Palestinian owners of two local bakeries: Abdulla Awad of Yafa Bakery in Somerville and Sami Herbawi of Andala Coffee House in Cambridge.  And, we talk with two the leaders of two New Hampshire-based aid groups for Ukraine: Alan Himmer of the Ukraine Crisis Aid Group, and Susan Mathison of the New Hampshire-based...

BPR Full Show 6/4: Palestinian Cafe Owners on Eid

Today: Carol Rose, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts, discusses the impacts of federal immigration actions in the state -- including the detainment of an 18 year old. Lee Pelton, president and CEO of the Boston Foundation, former president of Emerson College, discusses the state of higher education.

BPR Full Show 6/03: Incompetence Takes Control

We open the lines on the state of immigration raids in Massachusetts. Over the weekend, an 18-year-old in Milford was detained by ICE. Michael Curry of the NAACP and Mass League of Community Health Centers discusses the state of police reform five years after George Floyd's murder and why state Democrats are warning of harm to the health care system under Trump's budget proposal. UN humanitarian a...

Today: Olga Cherevko of the United Nations office for coordination of humanitarian aid describes the state of hunger, destruction and despair in Gaza. Michael Curry, head of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers and a member of the NAACP board of directors, discusses impacts of proposed Medicaid cuts in the GOP budget and the rollback of diversity and police reform initiatives natio...

Margery and Jim have the day off. BPR regulars Andrea Cabral and Shirley Leung take over the mics. It's Live Music Friday with Grammy-nominated violinist Christina Day Martinson and filmmaker Nathaniel Hansen. Martinson is a Grammy-nominated violinist with Handel and Hyden and Boston Baroque, and the focus of Hansen's documentary A Second Movement . Molly Baldwin leads the community violence reduc...

Today: Andrea Cabral and Shirley Leung fill in for Jim and Margery. They host a panel with the leaders of two local nonprofits to discuss the current environment for organizations dealing with federal pressure and losing federal funding –  Molly Baldwin from the violence reduction group Roca and Jenna Leschuk of 826 Boston. Then, Live Music Friday with Grammy-nominated violinist Christina Day Mart...

Today: Ambassador Nicholas Burns was the United States’ top diplomat in China under the Biden administration. He discusses Trump’s tariffs, and international diplomacy writ large. Then we get listener reaction to news that another family feud is brewing at Market Basket, more than a decade after CEO Arthur T DeMoulas garnered massive community support in the last brouhaha over his business model a...

BPR Full Show 5/29: Market Basket Drama

Harvard national security expert Juliette Kayyem discusses the State Department ordering a pause on all student visas, the Heritage Foundation's plan to stifle pro-Palestinian speech, and updates on the killing of two Israeli Embassy aides in Washington, DC. Boston Mayor Michelle Wu joins for Ask The Mayor. Naturalist and author Sy Montgomery discusses a Florida woman who rescued a tangled shark a...

 Today: Greg Weiner, President of Assumption University, argues Trump has a point about liberal campus ideology.  And Rick Steves joins for a conversation about the importance of immersing yourself in other cultures.

BPR Full Show 5/27: Trump Vs. Massachusetts

Today: We start the show with two Harvard international students, with reaction to President Trump revoking their school’s ability to enroll international students just like them. Then it’s Live Music Friday ahead of the Campfire Festival at Club Passim this weekend in Harvard Square. Jessye DeSilva performs for us here at the library … And we hear from her and Passim managing director Matt Smith.

Abdullah Shahid Sial and Leo Gerdén are two international students from Harvard University. They react to the Trump administration's move yesterday to revoke the school's ability to enroll international students.  Then it's Live Music Friday with Jessye DeSilva, ahead of an appearance at Club Passim’s Campfire Festival. Passim Managing Director Matt Smith also joins.  NBC Boston's Sue O’Connell gi...

Today:  A music panel highlighting some great local events and artists, from the Newport Folk Festival to the jazz offerings around town. We talk with Brian McCreath of CRB, James Bennett II of GBH News, and Berklee’s Emmett Price. 

BPR Full Show 5/22: I Forgot The Butter!

GBH executive arts editor Jared Bowen discusses "The Light in the Piazza" at the Huntington, penguins getting a retirement home at the New England Aquarium and the Kennedy Center's MAGA makeover. Presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin discusses her new 8-part documentary series on the American West, with Kevin Costner, premiering on Memorial Day. Chris Dempsey and Rep. Bill Straus join for a...

Today: Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett of Boston Medical Center discusses Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis. And, Boston Pops conductor Keith Lockhart calls in with July 4 news.

NBC Sports Boston's Trenni Casey discusses the Celtics out of the playoffs and breaking news about Bill Belichick and Jordon Hudson. Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett discusses Biden's prostate cancer diagnosis and new COVID-19 vaccine guidelines from the FDA. Boston Globe film critic Odie Henderson joins for a summer movie preview and reflects on 50 years since Jaws premiered.  CNN's John King joins r...

BPR Full Show 5/19: Feeling Bleh

Carbon Leaf joins for Live Music Friday, head of a performance at the Spire in Plymouth. Dan Primack is the business editor for Axios. He joins to talk about Trump’s business deals in the Middle East, Walmart’s tariff price hikes and HBO’s big re-re-re-brand to HBO Max. Director Gene Tempest & American Experience EP Cameo George talk about their latest project, “Mr. Polaroid,” a new documentar...

Political analyst Chuck Todd with his weekly D.C. rundown. Rep. Ayanna Pressley talks about the return of Tufts student Rumeysa Ozturk. And, her new bill to stop the garnishment of wages for people with student loans in default.  Dr. Sarah Fortune leads a tuberculosis research team at Harvard whose NIH funding was just cut by the Trump administration. She talks about the importance of scientific r...