St. Louis on the Air

As the St. Louis Cardinals start their 2020 season with a home opener against the Pittsburgh Pirates this Friday, a burst of brightly colored familiarity will return to downtown. But not the tens of thousands of fans that typically fill Busch Stadium. As the Redbirds’ devoted fans gather instead (and hopefully in socially distant ways) around TVs and other devices to take in the abbreviated, 60-ga...

When one thinks of “the island life,” sentiments of a tropical ocean breeze, easygoing lifestyle and good food likely come to mind. And that is very much part of the experience. But with the good, comes the bad — and Zahra Spencer and Telie Woods saw the worst of it. They are the owners of Jerk Soul, a Caribbean carryout restaurant on Cherokee Street. Sauce Magazine detailed Spencer’s and Woods’ h...

Guest host Jeremy D. Goodwin talks with singer-songwriter-actor Tre G about navigating “the new normal” as a performer and finding his place in an ongoing movement towards racial equity. Recently, he organized WerQfest to do just that. The digital festival was geared toward celebrating Black queer art and community.

Hospitals in St. Louis are seeing more children and teens showing up for self-harm during the pandemic, according to emergency medicine pediatrician Dr. Rachel Charney of SSM Health Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital. In this interview, she talks about what is leading to the increase in these cases, as well as potential warning signs that parents and caregivers can look for.

The St. Louis Art Museum has extended because of the pandemic the stay of “Millet and Modern Art: From Van Gogh to Dalí” through September. The curators say the exhibition acknowledges the contributions of a largely forgotten artist who was instrumental in the birth of modern art: 19th-century French painter Jean-François Millet. Millet’s work features landscapes, nudes and other work that inspire...

In April 1968, Jane Elliott was a third grade teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa. On the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, she felt compelled to shift her lesson plans. She decided to teach her young white students about discrimination by telling the children that brown-eyed people were superior to their blue-eyed peers. She watched as the students turned on each oth...

We have an encore of discussion from December 6, 2019. The Mississippi River has been integral to life in the St. Louis region for hundreds of years — from Native Americans who occupied areas in and around Cahokia Mounds to the later arrival of Europeans. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Andrew Wanko, public historian for the Missouri Historical Society and author of the new book, “Great River City: H...

We have an encore of a discussion from May 11, 2020. Walter Johnson’s book reframes American history so that St. Louis sits at the center. No more looking at the nation as if it’s that New Yorker cartoon where everything important happened in New York City or Los Angeles, and the vast middle was mere flyover country. In Johnson’s telling, the St. Louis story is the American story — and it’s a mess...

In late June, when a customer at Herbie’s restaurant in Clayton tested positive for the coronavirus, owner Aaron Teitelbaum immediately closed the business and told employees to get tested to see if they were infected. Teitelbaum expected to wait a few days for his employees’ results to come back. But almost three weeks later, many were still waiting. In this episode, we hear from Teitelbaum, as w...

Less than two years ago, the staff behind Flourish St. Louis set a daring goal: eliminate racial disparity and infant mortality by 2033. They called it their organization’s “North Star,” or main purpose. The drive to reach that goal was reignited when the organization earlier this month received the 2020 Launchcode Moonshot Inclusion award for its approach to improving the health of Black moms and...

Darryl Diggs Jr. and Howard Fields III, the founders of Black Males in Education St. Louis, talk about how their platform helps educators of color connect, find mentorship and advocate for more Black voices in the classrooms. Diggs and Fields received the 2020 Launchcode Moonshot Challenge award. Diggs is the principal at Hardin Middle School in the City of St. Charles School District, and Fields...

Vanika Spencer and Sapna Bhakta are St. Louis transplants, but they’ve made the city their home and are doing their part to shine a light on everything it has to offer. They are the duo behind the Cocoa and Cumin Concert Series. For the past couple of years, Spencer and Bhakta have hosted concerts right from their south St. Louis apartments. The smaller space offers the opportunity for people to c...

Health and education leaders in St. Louis County and the city recently released a set of guidelines for schools to use as they decide how to conduct in-person learning in the fall. The list includes things like staggered lunch times, protocols for health screenings upon entry, and guidance on mask usage for students and teachers. In this episode, we talk with Superintendent Art McCoy of the Jennin...

As the Black Lives Matter movement draws attention around the world to long-entrenched racial injustices of the present day, the past looms large as well. Reckoning with United States history seems critical to any contemporary progress on everything from housing disparities to mass incarceration. Guest host Rachel Lippmann hosts a conversation with educators and historians focused on rethinking th...

Earlier this week, the Trump administration said that it planned to enforce a rule that international students must take in-person classes to be in the country on student visas. That’s even though COVID-19 has many universities adjusting plans for the fall semester. Some are going online-only. Others plan to only partially reopen their campuses. And up to 1 million students could be affected. Join...

Host Sarah Fenske talks with STLPR reporter Jason Rosenbaum about the four Democratic candidates vying to be St. Louis County Executive: Sam Page, Jake Zimmerman, Mark Mantovani and Jamie Tolliver. During the interview, we hear highlights from the candidates' appearances on the Politically Speaking podcast.

St. Louis band CaveofSwords promises that its new album is quote “Good Music to Feel Bad to.” That’s a great title, and the songs deliver. Two of its members join host Sarah Fenske to discuss the band’s inspiration and perspiration. In the words of the band, these are “Songs to quote wallow and grieve with your friends, but also dance to." All proceeds from digital sales of "Good Music to Feel Bad...

For a long time, 27-year-old St. Louis native Joseph Puleo mostly associated the city’s iconic Hill neighborhood with a wealth of delicious Italian food and colorful fire hydrants. That changed a couple years ago when a conversation with a fellow Italian American, Rio Vitale, prompted Puleo to begin what would become his first feature-length film. “He was concerned we were losing stories that need...

Defunding police departments is a major goal for many Black Lives Matter protesters. But for others, it’s a scary idea — and that’s true for many St. Louis residents. In this episode, we explore what it means to defund the police in a city that struggles with high rates of violent crime. Criminologist Richard Rosenfeld joins the discussion, as well as California-based reporter Abené Clayton. Clayt...

Gibron Jones had big plans for an industrial kitchen in north St. Louis. The kitchen was located in the city’s Vandeventer neighborhood, just a bit north of Delmar. And his plan was to open a food production incubation space there — the North Sarah Food Hub. He wanted to help St. Louisans start food-based businesses — and bring healthier options to their neighbors. Jones got his city permits final...

Zulyema Tang-Martinez wanted to join the protests sweeping the U.S. this year. She has a long record of activism dating back to her days as a student at Berkeley in the 1960s and 70s. But the University of Missouri-St. Louis biology professor emeritus is now 75. She has health conditions. How could she join in without taking unnecessary risks? The solution for Tang-Martinez was a car caravan — and...

Loathed by many police officers but beloved by progressive supporters, St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner is arguably the city's most controversial elected official. Journalist Nicholas Phillips explains what he learned about her in a deep dig for St. Louis Magazine, and what the statistics tell us about her performance as city prosecutor.

Soul singer Brian Owens credits the "heavenly hookup" for two developments at the nonprofit he founded in his native Ferguson: the donation of a building it will use as headquarters and $200,000 in funding. Owens joins host Sarah Fenske to describe his vision for Life Creative, a "creative ecosystem" that includes both the Life Arts nonprofit and a for-profit platform.

It was one thing to navigate the initial stress and disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic. And early on, as people looked for ways to guard mental well-being amid big changes, many people realized that it helped to have a sense of horizon in sight. “I can shelter in place for a month” and “One semester at home is manageable” were common — and useful — mindsets. But as weeks turn into months and...

For more than two years, activists have sought to persuade city officials to close the city's Medium Security Institution, better known as the Workhouse. They believed they had the votes to strip funding for the jail from the city's Fiscal Year 2021 budget, only to see their dreams dashed. Now they're pinning their hopes on a new board bill introduced by President Lewis Reed. Action St. Louis Exec...