The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour

Guests: Miles Smith IV & Steven F. Hayward  Host Scot Bertram talks with Miles Smith IV, assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College, about  his recent essay  on the cultural crisis reducing the effectiveness of the U.S. Navy. And Steven F. Hayward, professor of public policy at Pepperdine University and senior fellow at Pacific Research Institute, discusses ho...

Guests: John J. Miller & Jonathan Butcher Host Scot Bertram talks with John J. Miller, director of the Dow Journalism Program at Hillsdale College, about  his recent essay  on why journalism suffers when journalists lack curiosity. And Jonathan Butcher, acting director at the Center for Education Policy and Will Skillman Senior Research Fellow in Education Policy at the Heritage Foun...

Host Scot Bertram sits down with Hyperion Knight, concert pianist and distinguished fellow at Hillsdale College, and discusses the newest Hillsdale College online course: " The History of Classical Music: Chopin through Gershwin ." Also, we count down the most popular episodes of 2025. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guests: Kenneth Calvert & Timothy McDonnell Host Scot Bertram talks with Kenneth Calvert, professor of ancient history at Hillsdale College, about the biblical significance of Christmas. And Timothy McDonnell, associate professor of music at Hillsdale College, gives a survey of the history of the Christmas carol "Good Christian Men Rejoice." See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Guests: Kenneth Calvert & Chloe Carmichael Host Scot Bertram talks with Kenneth Calvert, professor of ancient history at Hillsdale College, about the historical origins of Christmas. And Chloe Carmichael, clinical psychologist and USA Today best-selling author, discusses how free speech makes people healthier and happier and her new book  Can I Say That? Why Free Speech Matters and How to...

Guests: Mathew Spalding Host Scot Bertram talks with Matthew Spalding, vice president of Washington Operations and dean of the Van Andel Graduate School of Government at Hillsdale College in Washington, D.C., about his new book, The Making of the American Mind: The Story of our Declaration of Independence ,  and the intellectual tradition that inspired the writing of the Declaration of Indepe...

Guests: Scott Jennings & Ava Downs Host Scot Bertram talks with Scott Jennings, senior political commentator at CNN, about his new book,  A Revolution of Common Sense: How Donald Trump Stormed Washington and Fought for Western Civilization ,  and the character of President Trump's first year back in office. And Ava Downs, a junior at Hillsdale College and a 2025 junior Olympic champi...

Guests: Mark Moyar, Jason M. Gehrke, & Tom Conner  Host Scot Bertram talks with Mark Moyar, the William P. Harris Chair in Military History at Hillsdale College, about  his recent essay  on the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War. Jason Gehrke, assistant professor of history at Hillsdale College, discusses  his recent essay  on the nature of America First fo...

Guests: Susan Crabtree & Jeremiah Regan Host Scot Bertram talks with Susan Crabtree, senior White House and national political correspondent for RealClearPolitics, about her recent book Fool’s Gold: The Radicals, Con Artists, and Traitors Who Killed the California Dream and Now Threaten Us All . And Jeremiah Regan, Executive Director of Online Learning at Hillsdale College, previews the...

Guests: John J. Miller & Benedict Whalen On this Halloween weekend, John J. Miller, director of the Herbert H. Dow II Program in American Journalism at Hillsdale College, joins the show to talk about his course on great ghost and horror stories. And Benedict Whalen, associate professor of English at Hillsdale College, concludes a series of interviews celebrating the 100th anniversary of The Gr...

Guests: Dr. Larry P. Arnn, Ryan P. Williams, & Nathan Herring We hear excerpts from a speech delivered by Hillsdale College President Larry Arnn titled “Defending the American Way of Life.” Host Scot Bertram talks with Ryan P. Williams, president of The Claremont Institute and publisher of the  Claremont Review of Books , about American scholar Angelo Codevilla and Williams&rs...

Guests: Catherine Herridge & James Webb Host Scot Bertram talks with Catherine Herridge, Emmy Award-winning investigative journalist and founder of  Catherine Herridge Reports , about the state of modern journalism and the importance of journalistic integrity. And James Webb, associate professor of accounting at Hillsdale College, tells us what’s fun about accounting. See omnys...

Guests: Aaron Kheriarty & Wilfred McClay Host Scot Bertram talks with Aaron Kheriarty, director of the Program in Bioethics, Technology, and Human Flourishing at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, about America's failing healthcare system and his new book  Making the Cut: How to Heal Modern Medicine . And Wilfred McClay, Victor Davis Hanson chair in classical history and western civiliz...

Guests: Mollie Hemingway & Benedict Whalen Host Scot Bertram talks with Mollie Hemingway, senior journalism fellow at Hillsdale College and editor-in-chief at  The Federalist , about the recent Comey indictment and revelations in a recent letter from YouTube officials to Rep. Jim Jordan. And Benedict Whalen, associate professor of English at Hillsdale College, continues a series on F...

Guests: Mark Krikorian, Christina J. Lambert, & John T. Seiffertt Host Scot Bertram talks with Mark Krikorian, executive director at the Center for Immigration Studies, about a  recent essay on how America makes assimilation more difficult for immigrants. Christina Lambert, assistant professor of English at Hillsdale College, begins a series on the life and work of poet T. S. Eliot....

In this special edition of  The Radio Free Hillsdale Hour , we honor the life and legacy of Charlie Kirk, founder and president of Turning Point USA. Through reflections from Hillsdale College President Larry P. Arnn, Hillsdale students, professors, and Charlie himself, we remember a voice that shaped a generation of conservatives and was silenced far too soon. See omnystudio.com/listener for...

Guests: Max Primorac & Christopher D. Heckel Host Scot Bertram talks with Max Primorac, senior research fellow at The Heritage Foundation’s Margaret Thatcher Center for Freedom, about the history of U.S. foreign aid and how the Trump administration is charting a different path. And Christopher D. Heckel, associate professor of biology at Hillsdale College, gives a primer on invasive...

Guests: Mark Moyar, Benedict Whalen, & Juliane Malia Hillock Host Scot Bertram talks with Mark Moyar, William P. Harris Chair of Military History at Hillsdale College, about the legacy of the Vietnam War during its 50th anniversary. Benedict Whalen, associate professor of English at Hillsdale College, discusses the themes of  The Great Gatsby  by F. Scott Fitzgerald du...

Guests: Jonathan Gregg & Daniel J. Flynn  Host Scot Bertram talks with Jonathan Gregg, assistant professor of education at Hillsdale College, about efforts to improve national math standards in education and his co-authored essay,  “The Alarming Decay of Mathematical Competency in the U.S.”  And Daniel J. Flynn, senior editor at the  American Spectator &nbs...

Guests: Sam Knecht & Allison Ellis Host Scot Bertram talks with Sam Knecht, professor emeritus of art at Hillsdale College, about how American art reflects the American character and the new Hillsdale College online course American Paintings . And Allison Ellis, founder of Mount Titano Media, discusses the power of rhetoric and her new edited collection of important American speeches, FINDING...

Guests: Joseph Postell, Todd Starnes, & Korey D. Maas Host Scot Bertram talks with Joseph Postell, associate professor of politics at Hillsdale College, about the conservative counter-revolution against the bureaucratic state as detailed in his book   Bureaucracy in America: The Administrative State’s Challenge to Constitutional Government . Todd Starnes, commentator, author, and ra...

Guests: Alex Marlow & Eric Hutchinson Host Scot Bertram talks with Alex Marlow, editor-in-chief of  Breitbart News , about the weaponization of America’s legal system against Donald Trump and Marlow’s new book  Breaking the Law . And Eric Hutchinson, associate professor of classics and chairman of the Collegiate Scholars Program at Hillsdale College, gives an in...

Guests: Victor Davis Hanson & Oren Cass First, we hear excerpts from Victor Davis Hanson’s address on the subject of living an honorable and virtuous life, given at Hillsdale College's 2025 commencement ceremonies. Hanson is the Wayne and Marcia Buske Distinguished Fellow in History at Hillsdale College and senior fellow at the Hoover Institution. And host Scot Bertram talks with Or...

Guests: Charles N. Steele, Daniel Gullotta, & Benedict Whalen Host Scot Bertram talks with Charles N. Steele, director of the Center for Commerce and Freedom and associate professor of economics at Hillsdale College, about the economic fallout of proposed Universal Basic Income (UBI) policies. Daniel Gullotta, assistant professor at The Ohio State University’s  Salmon P. Chase Cente...

Guests: Richard Samuelson & Erik J. Larson Host Scot Bertram talks with Richard Samuelson, associate professor of government at Hillsdale College’s Washington, D.C. campus, about his recent essay on James Madison and the importance of republican principles. And Erik J. Larson, author of The Myth of Artificial Intelligence: Why Computers Can’t Think the Way We Do , gives a brief his...