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The Wheelhouse

Connecticut Public Radio

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Weekly
 
If you’re a news junkie — or maybe just news curious, we’ve got your weekly dose of Connecticut politics, tackling everything from tax cuts to human composting. Amplifying important local and national voices, The Wheelhouse walks listeners through the most important political stories of the week. You’ll hear from well-known political reporters, academics, and local journalists across Connecticut’s 169 cities and towns.
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The Colin McEnroe Show

Connecticut Public Radio

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Daily
 
The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal ro ...
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Extra Credit

Connecticut Public Radio

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Monthly
 
As non-profit journalism organizations, Connecticut Public Radio and the Connecticut Mirror share an objective — to educate the people of our state about how their government works, what it means to function in a democratic society, and the importance of understanding both their rights — and their responsibilities — as citizens.
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Note: This episode contains strong language. Griffin Dunne is Jack Goodman in John Landis’ classic horror-comedy An American Werewolf in London and Paul Hackett in Martin Scorsese’s After Hours and Loudon Trout in the Madonna-starring screwball comedy Who’s That Girl. He’s Uncle Nicky on This Is Us and Professor Dudenoff on Only Murders in the Buil…
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There are thought to be about 17 million living flies for every human alive on Earth. They’re predators and parasites and pests, but they’re pollinators too. They help us solve crimes, heal wounds, and understand genetics and evolution. And they literally help at least one artist paint his paintings. Also this hour: A look at David Cronenberg’s 198…
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What counts as a robot? This hour, a look at what robots are and the latest in robot technology. Plus, how robots were used and thought about in medieval times and Ancient Greece and the role of robots in science fiction. GUESTS: Chris Atkeson: Professor at the Robotics Institute and the Human-Computer Interaction Institute at Carnegie Mellon Unive…
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State lawmakers are foregoing budget caps to fund Medicaid. But with Medicaid relying on two primary funding sources–and U.S. lawmakers poised to pass President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”--the future of low-income healthcare programs is uncertain. Today on The Wheelhouse, America’s brittle social safety net hangs in the balance. GUESTS: Li…
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Over 500 years ago, Sir Thomas More wrote about utopia. Since then, countless communities around the world have worked to create their own versions of a perfect world. This hour, we look at examples of utopian communities from around the world. GUESTS: Avery Trufelman: Host of the podcast Nice Try! Akash Kapur: Author of Better to Have Gone: Love, …
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President Trump has instructed his administration to work toward rebuilding and reopening the notorious maximum security prison on Alcatraz Island. But why? One theory has it that it’s because the Clint Eastwood movie Escape from Alcatraz aired on South Florida’s PBS station, Mar-a-Lago’s PBS station, on the day the president announced the plan. As…
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What is the status of expertise in our world? This hour we look at the so called "death of expertise." We talk about the role of experts throughout society. Plus, we learn how to master a skill, and the joy of trying. GUESTS: Tom Nichols: Staff writer at The Atlantic. He is the author of The Death of Expertise: The Campaign Against Established Know…
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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Tolkien’s potential Lord of the Rings sequel, planned Flag Day protests, parasocial relationships, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Justice Ru…
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George Floyd’s death in Minneapolis in 2020 inspired police reform in America. Five years ago this week, Americans took to the streets amid a global pandemic to protest Floyd’s murder. Chants of “Black Lives Matter” reverberated throughout Connecticut. And then, two months after Floyd’s death, Connecticut was one of the first states in the nation t…
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There’s something almost romantic about airships. The image of a giant, floating aircraft feels both nostalgic and futuristic. In the early 20th century, airships were on the leading edge of aviation; today, they mostly live on in the domain of steampunk art and speculative fiction. But a number of companies are betting they can bring airships out …
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You may have heard that tick borne diseases are on the rise. But don’t worry — we’ve got you covered. This hour, we’re taking you through three ways to defeat ticks. From tick-immune blood, to a tick-destroying robot and tried-and-true tweezers, this show is not for arachnids who are faint of heart. GUESTS: Rick Ostfeld: Distinguished senior scient…
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Writer and critic Spencer Kornhaber just published a similarly-titled piece in The Atlantic: “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?” According to Betteridge’s law of headlines, the answer to both versions of that question is just, plain, “No.” And maybe it is. Maybe even probably it is. But maybe it’s more complicated than that, too. …
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Here are some songs from your life, "Backstreet Girl" by the Rolling Stones, "Joey" by Bob Dylan, "Road to Nowhere" by the Talking Heads, "Boy In The Bubble" by Paul Simon, "July Fourth, Asbury Park", better known as "Sandy" by Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, "Wouldn't It Be Nice" by the Beach Boys. They all rely heavily on the accordion. …
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Wikipedia has lately been under attack, accused of bias and spreading propaganda. And for years students have been told not to trust the source. But are any of those claims fair? This hour, we take a look at the free online encyclopedia, how it functions, and its role in the modern world. We'll ask: can we trust the information we find there? And w…
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Colleges and universities across the country are facing serious headwinds. In 2022, college enrollment was 14.8% below peak enrollment in 2010. That’s according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Is a post-pandemic rebound even possible? Factors like declining enrollment, shifting perceptions of value, and rising financial strain have…
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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to Colin’s constant laughter (or not) and his nearly life-threatening reaction to Weekend Update on last week’s SNL, The Kennedy Center Honors,…
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Our friend, the singer, songwriter, and performer Jill Sobule, died May 1 in a house fire in Woodbury, Minnesota, near Minneapolis. She was 66. Jill appeared on our show at least seven times between 2012 and 2022, including the Season Two premiere of Pardon Me and the time she wrote an original song for our dumb towels episode. But it was her four …
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The New York Times’ Chief Fashion Critic, Vanessa Friedman, joins us for the hour to discuss fashion in President Donald Trump's second administration, what we can learn from how politicians dress, the impacts of tariffs on the clothes we wear, and more. GUEST: Vanessa Friedman: Fashion Director and Chief Fashion Critic of The New York Times Suppor…
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Are you the same person, today, that you were when you were a little kid? Are you the same person, right now, that you will be in the last years of your life? When Scotty beams folks up, are the people arriving back on the Enterprise really the same people who were down on the surface of whatever alien planet? In a movie like Mickey 17, is the 16th…
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According to Pew Research Center, our “trust in government” has eroded over the last sixty years. While there have been “modest” gains in support, factors like age, race, employment status, educational experience, and more impact how we view our federal institutions. Today on the Wheelhouse, we journey through age groups, consider experiences, and …
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Shakespeare’s tragedy about two star-crossed lovers, Romeo and Juliet, has appealed to audiences for centuries. It’s been adapted countless times for stage and screen. And it’s in Hartford for the next few weeks. From the set of Romeo and Juliet at Hartford Stage, and in front of a live audience, we talk with experts exploring the play and its lega…
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This hour we take your calls about anything you want to talk about. You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. Colin McEnroe, Jonathan McNicol, and Dylan Reyes contributed to this show. Support the show: http://www.wnpr.org/donate S…
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Sinners is the fifth feature film written and directed by Ryan Coogler and starring Michael B. Jordan. (Coogler has never made a feature without Jordan.) After years of sequels and Marvel movies, it’s Coogler’s first wholly original movie based on no other source material whatsoever. Sinners is a sexy Southern musical horror gangster thriller set i…
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This hour we talk with Christine Rosen about her book, The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. We talk about how technology has impacted face-to-face interactions, boredom, loneliness, handwriting, and more. GUEST: Christine Rosen: Author of The Extinction of Experience: Being Human in a Disembodied World. She is a senior …
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Should people use the Oxford comma? Is there a correct number of exclamation points per email? If someone ends a casual text with a period, does that mean they’re mad at you? This hour: punctuation and how we use it. We talk about the history of punctuation marks, timeless punctuation debates, and how writing for texts and emails has changed the wa…
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Some federal officials don’t want the “X” gender option printed on passports. The “T” – and other letters – were removed from websites with content addressing the LGBTQ+ community. Since Day 1, the Trump administration has chipped away at the rights of Transgender Americans. Today on the Wheelhouse, we examine the policies aimed towards erasure. Pl…
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This hour, a look at the myth of Sisyphus, and how we invoke it today. Plus, we'll hear from a musician who has found inspiration in the story, and we'll discuss when it's time to give up. GUESTS: Joel Christensen: Professor of Classical Studies and Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Affairs at Brandeis University. His newest book is The Many-Minded…
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We’ve been doing these shows where we don’t book any guests, where we fill the hour with your calls. And your calls have been interesting and surprising and amusing. This hour, the conversation winds around to temporary tattoos as an “I’m Spartacus” type of protest, Americans emigrating elsewhere, MobLand and Pierce Brosnan and Helen Mirren’s accen…
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Note: This episode contains strong language. Easily the hardest part of turning something like our live event celebrating the chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and lyricist Hal David) into a radio show is figuring out what NOT to include. Onstage at Watkinson School in Hartford, we went nearly 80 minutes. The finished radio versi…
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With rare exceptions, The Nose doesn’t usually cover movies from the previous Oscar season once the actual Oscars have happened. But major world events are the sort of things for which one might break with tradition, and with the death of Pope Francis on April 21, we thought we might make an exception. Conclave is a 2024 political thriller melodram…
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This hour, it’s our show on the relationship and chemistry between Burt Bacharach and Dionne Warwick (and the lyricist Hal David) recorded live onstage at Watkinson School in Hartford. It’s an hour of music, conversation, and demonstrations of how GPS can help you find the way to San Jose. GUESTS: Lou Bocciarelli: Bass Atla DeChamplain: Vocals, Atl…
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This hour, we look at the political erasure of history, and its impacts. Plus, we talk about why artists destroy their own work or the works of others. And, the history and evolution of erasers. GUESTS: Jason Stanley: Professor of Philosophy at Yale University. His latest book is Erasing History: How Fascists Rewrite the Past to Control the Future …
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Natural gas and nuclear energy may not be the cleanest and greenest methods of power generation. Yet with energy bills being so high for Connecticut residents and an administration in Washington that’s prioritizing fossil fuel production, state officials may have to punt on their net zero-carbon goals in order to produce more juice. Today on the Wh…
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Since we just spent a number of years thinking about viruses, here’s a question: Should we be pretty worried about funguses, too? This hour, a look at the real-life fungal infection of ants that inspired the video game and HBO series The Last of Us, which is now back for its second season. Plus, we talk with a local mushroom farmer and an author wh…
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This hour we took your calls about anything you wanted to talk about. You can now watch our calls shows on Connecticut Public’s YouTube. Subscribe and get notified when we go live. Or join the conversation on Facebook and Twitter. The Colin McEnroe Show is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or whe…
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The movie musical died a long, slow death a long time ago. Right? Well, except that there’s Wicked. And Spielberg’s West Side Story. And Hamilton and In the Heights and Tick, Tick… Boom! And Encanto and Moana 2 and Mufasa. Oh, and Elvis and A Complete Unknown. And those are just from the last five years. And I could keep going. This hour, a long lo…
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This year marks 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald’s novel The Great Gatsby was first published. And it turns out that it took a while for the novel to catch on in the United States, where it is now considered a classic. This hour, we revisit the novel and its cultural impact. GUESTS: Rob Kyff: Teacher and author of Gatsby’s Secrets. He also write…
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Outside the State Capitol, Connecticut residents recently protested against the federal government.“Hey, hey. Ho, ho. Trump and Musk have got to go,” they shouted as they huddled in the rain. There were 2,085 protests like this in the U.S. in February alone, according to the Guardian. Today on the Wheelhouse, why Americans are speaking out against …
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New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a column proclaiming that "America Is Not Made for People Who Pee." It hit a nerve. People responded with stories that all seemed to agree with him. So, why don't we complain about locked doors, long lines (for women), or the lack of a public toilet where one should be? Lezlie Lowe might say that we d…
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This hour we talk about the history of the Second Red Scare, a period also known as McCarthyism. We learn about why the Scare took off in the United States, its impact, and how it eventually fizzled out. Plus, we’ll look at the parallels and throughlines between that time period and our current moment. And, a look at how the Second Red Scare impact…
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Bill Murray, Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Steve Martin, John Belushi, John Candy, Rick Moranis. Animal House, The Blues Brothers, Beverly Hills Cop, Caddyshack, The Jerk, Ghost Busters, ¡Three Amigos!, Funny Farm, Spaceballs, Stripes. We maybe didn’t properly appreciate it at the time, but the 1980s were one of the most fertile periods ever for scree…
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You know Michael Schur from the shows he’s created, like The Good Place, Parks and Recreation and Brooklyn Nine-Nine. This hour we talk with Schur about his book, How to Be Perfect: The Correct Answer to Every Moral Question. Through the conversation we discuss moral philosophy, and big moral questions like “should you return your shopping cart to …
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