The Colin McEnroe Show

To say Beyoncé's performance at Coachella was historic feels like an understatement. In about the span of a week, Queen Bey released a two hour Netflix exclusive film ( part one of her deal with the streamer ) of the entire concert, a 40-track live album from the same show , which was released unexpectedly, and just for fun, she released her 2016 pop culture smash album “Lemonade&rdqu...

Fyre Festival , Theranos , Anna Delvey , the college admissions scandal ... the list goes on. And whether explored on the news or as a book, podcast, documentary or feature film, consumers can't seem to get enough of this 'scamtent.' This hour, we'll talk about scams and scammers, and discuss why we as a culture can't seem to look away. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.c...

Most of us know  what Kafkaesque means  even if we've never read a word Kafka wrote. For example, it's Kafkaesque when your smart home  turns on you.  It's not Kafkaesque when you wait in line for two hours at DMV and they close the line when you get to the front. (Well, it's a little Kafkaesque.) Franz Kafka, the man whose absurdly dark stories inspired the adjective of the sa...

The number of Americans who identify as 'spiritual but not religious' is growing, especially among millennials who may not be finding what they need in the religious institutions of their parents generation. While some of the "Nones" have never affiliated with a particular religion, those who have some connection to faith yearn to find meaning they can't find in traditional churches, synagogues an...

We’re exploring the world of Barbershop Harmony; from its roots in the African American community to its influence in other genres, Barbershop is an important piece of the puzzle in the American music scene. For many, Barbershop calls to mind old people, singing old songs - but ask any Barbershopper and they’ll tell you nothing can be further from the truth. For them, there is a youthf...

This week, the long awaited final season of  Game of Thrones  launched on HBO. As more than 17 million viewers dig in for one last round, some of the Nose's most dedicated fans gather to discuss what's made this series such a hit, and what they're thinking about as the show marches toward its end. GUESTS:  Rebecca Castellani -  Director of operations at  We Save Music. Jim...

Engineers at Ford are working hard toward a breakthrough: A car that runs on tears! Okay, maybe not, but they really should be. Why? Because people cry in cars, a lot! Whether it's a sad song playing on the radio, passing a cemetary where a loved one is buried, or simply releasing the stress of a long, hard day, the car is one of the few places that offer the privacy and intimacy necessary for a g...

It could be argued that you will never understand yourself if you don’t understand the universe. And the universe is full of both beautiful and scary things. At least once, something has come roaring out of the skies to reconfigure completely life on earth. So it might be a good idea to study the heavens. If it’s a clear night, we’ll have telescopes outdoors, but one of the many...

Between November of 2016 and June of 2018, the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) saw it's membership jump from 5,000 to over 40,000 .  This hour we'll explore what socialism means today, and why the ideology is having a resurgence. Plus, why are more young people getting involved in the movement?  Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy i...

The significance of being confirmed as Connecticut's first African-American state Supreme Court chief justice last May didn't fully sink in for Richard A. Robinson until a class of mostly minority students recently showed up to the Hartford court building for a tour. Robinson came down from his office to give a presentation to the children packed in the courtroom gallery. "You would have thought B...

What is country music? If you ask Billboard , it’s definitely not Lil Nas X’s viral sensation , and the number one song in America, “Old Town Road”. The song, which was also remixed with country star Billy Ray Cyrus , has country themes, vibes, and sounds country, but Billboard booted it off their country charts.  Still, Lil Nas X, Cyrus, and a big swath of the country...

There's much more to vending machines than those tasty, preservative-laden treats temptingly lined up on display behind the glass casing. Today we take a magical voyage to find out what these snack dispensers tell us about how we live, what we value, our stresses, and our restraints. Along the way, we check in with a local author and Hartford Courant columnist who devoured one of each snack in her...

Women scientists and inventors have been making ground-breaking discoveries since  Agnodike  pretended to be a man in order to become the first female anatomist in ancient Greece. Yet, women's scientific contributions have historically been hidden in the footnotes of the work men claimed as their own.  It's 2019. Things are better, right?  Not really. Men still hold  the m...

This episode is really going to be the cat’s pajamas. Or is it pyjamas? Do cats even wear pajamas? Why would they? Why do we? Should any of us wear pajamas at all? And if we do don a pair, are they only for bed? Or should pajamas have their day in the sun? If our PJs are making a fashion statement just what exactly are they saying? We’re talking today about what we wear to bed, but who...

Since 1989, more than 2,000 people have been identified as victims of wrongful convictions in the U.S. In 2015 and 2016, the wrongfully convicted were exonerated at a rate of about three per week. This hour, a look at the reality of, psychology behind, and institutionalized pressures toward wrongful convictions in America. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate See omnystudio.com/listener fo...

This week, Will Leitch, from New York Magazine, wrote that "The Era of the Old Athlete is Over." Is it? And what does this mean for the future of sports?    And, what's so bad about slicing your bagel like bread? You may have heard of "Bagelgate." We'll discuss the ins and outs of slicing your bagel in half, or into slices.    And finally: Tim Burton has directed a live action...

Joni Mitchell is a singer-songwriter from Alberta, Canada. In 1968, her debut album, Song to a Seagull , was released and since then, Mitchell has become one of the most influential, and greatest recording artists. Mitchell has won nine Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award, countless musical awards, and her albums are considered as among the best ever made. We’re big fans. It turn...

There are a group of Connecticut parents who feel they must relinquish custody of  their “high needs” children in order to get them into residential treatment programs when in-home services are inadequate to meet their needs. Many years ago, the Connecticut Department of Children and Families chose to move children out of residential treatment centers and back to their families or...

Today's theme is about truth. Roger Cohen asks us to look inward at our complicity -- the media included -- when he laments our obsession to follow seductive, yet empty leaders down a primrose path. Truth no longer seems to have meaning in our social-media-driven democracy. Before assuming that Trump supporters and conspiracy theorists are to blame for our current condition, ask yourself whether l...

The sophomore film from any new director is oftentimes held to a harsher critique than their debut movie. It’s unfair. But Jordan Peele’s directorial debut was such a profound moment in 2017 culture, that anything he created after couldn’t live to the success of Get Out . And then there was Us . Not only did Us gross a lot of money , but it’s (mostly) universally praised by...

During his remarkable career with the Boston Red Sox, Ted Williams earned many nicknames: The Kid, The Splendid Splinter, Teddy Ballgame... but the only nickname that he ever wanted was "the greatest hitter who ever lived." And maybe he really was? He's baseball's all-time leader in on-base percentage , and he's second behind only Babe Ruth in both slugging and on-base plus slugging  percenta...

The annual U.N. World Happiness Report was released last week on World Happiness Day. (I'm a little unhappy that we missed it.)  It may be no surprise that the happiest countries have a few traits in common: people in happy countries value social and cultural connections, trust their government to work for them, and like to help others more than people in less happy countries. They also vote...

It is estimated that 12 million Americans live inside one of our nations roughly 45,000 mobile home communities. Despite these numbers, few people outside these parks truly know what life is like for their residents. Stereotypes of mobile home communities are still largely tolerated in America, and as of yet there's been little pushback against such depictions. In headlines, Hollywood movies and o...

President Donald Trump is declaring it to be a "complete and total exoneration," but Democrats in Congress vehemently disagree.  Still how much should they press to win the release of every bit of Special Counsel Robert Mueller's report on Trump campaign contacts with Russian interlopers during the 2016 election?  On today's Scramble, we'll consider that and several other questions emerg...

For a period of about fifty years, many of America's top cartoonists and illustrators lived within a stone's throw of one another in the southwestern corner of Connecticut. Comic strips and gag cartoons read by hundreds of millions were created in this tight-knit group -- Prince Valiant , Superman , Beetle Bailey , Hägar the Horrible , Hi and Lois , Nancy , The Wizard of Id , Family Circus .....