Public NewsRoom

Salt Lake City, UT (2009-01-02) In 1949, the FCC established The Fairness Doctrine - an attempt to ensure that radio and television stations provided balanced views of controversial issues. It was dissolved in the 1980s as part of Reagan-era deregulation. Recently it's been the focus of right-wing pundits, who fear that the new administration will herald its comeback and the end of conservative talk shows. Monday, we're talking about the Fairness Doctrine and what the FCC under Obama will mean for America's media landscape.

1/2/09: The Utah War

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-31) In the spring of 1857, President James Buchanan appointed a non-Mormon governor for the Utah Territory. Worried about a reaction the president sent a quarter of the US Army to make it clear just who was in charge. In the wake of years of religious persecution Latter-day Saints were feeling a bit cagey. The Utah War ended 200 years ago - and Friday on the program we're rebroadcasting our conversastion about it. (Rebroadcast)

1/1/09: The Unquiet Grave

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-31) In 1976, a body was found on the Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota and buried in a pauper's grave. She was later identified as Anna Mae Aquash, a luminary in the American Indian Movement. A second autopsy revealed she had died from a gun-shot wound rather than "exposure" as reported by the FBI. In "The Unquiet Grave," author Steve Hendricks starts with Aquash's death and follows the complicated struggle between the FBI and the Indians in the 70s. (Rebroadcast)

12/31/08: Mark Twain and the American West

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-29) Wednesday on RadioWest a conversation with the writer Ron Powers. In his acclaimed biography of Mark Twain, Powers says that critics and biographers have rearranged and reconstructed the human character of Twain, so that his real voice and his real humor have gone missing. Powers talks about the Samuel Clemens he discovered and the contribution he made to the mythology of the American West. (Rebroadcast)

12/30/08: The Donner Party at Alder Creek

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-29) Since the tragedy of the Donner Party some 160 years ago, the details of the California bound pioneers' desperate situation has fascinated the public. Contemporary accounts of death and cannibalism were clearly exaggerated for the purpose of selling newspapers. New archaeological evidence from a hearth at the Alder Creek camp, however, is shedding light on the story of how the group lived during four months of brutal cold, wretched storms and starvation. (Rebroadcast)

12/29/08: Blood and Thunder

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-29) Monday we begin a week of Western history with the writer Hampton Sides. His book Blood and Thunder is about the epic conquest of the American West. It's a story with heroes and villains and at the center of it all is Kit Carson, the legendary trapper, scout and soldier. Doug talked to Sides about the conflict between Manifest Destiny and the actual lives of the people in the West. (Rebroadcast)

12/26/08: Dancing in the Streets

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-23) The topic for today's RadioWest is joy. The acclaimed writer Barbara Ehrenreich will be our guest to talk about a particular kind of joy - communal joy. The kind that's been expressed throughout the ages when large groups of people have gathered to feast and to dance. Ehrenreich found that dancing has been a critical part of the way humans evolved and thrived, but over time for various reasons we've resisted this part of our nature. But why? Her book is called Dancing in the Streets. Rebroadcast

12/25/08: A Child's Christmas in Wales

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-23) This Christmas on RadioWest, we're giving you the gift of poetry. It's a reading by the poet Dylan Thomas of his classic work A Child's Christmas in Wales. There was an intensity to Thomas' lyricism that comes through in his nostalgic piece, and as the late Leslie Norris explained in 2001 - it contains the whole of Christmas somehow. We talked to Norris and to Utah's poet laureate Katharine Coles about the life and work of Dylan Thomas. (Rebroadcast)

12/24/08: The First Christmas

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-23) Wednesday on RadioWest, a conversation with the Biblical scholar John Dominic Crossan about the first Christmas. He believes that over time the nativity story that appears in the Bible has been misread or overly sentimentalized. Crossan looks at the story in the context of history and explores not just what happened, but what the stories actually mean. (Rebroadcast)

12/23/08: How the Grinch Stole Christmas

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-22) "Cuddly as a Cactus" and "Charming as an Eel" hardly seem like descriptions of a beloved Christmas character, but fans of Dr. Seuss will immediately recognize the mean Mr. Grinch. From the 1957 children's book and the 1966 television adaptation, How the Grinch Stole Christmas is for many an integral part of the holiday season. Tuesday, we're talking about Dr. Seuss's tale and offering you a new reading by the actor Tobin Atkinson.

12/22/08: Obama's Economic Challenge

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-19) The financial journalist Robert Kuttner points out that Barack Obama faces "the greatest economic crisis since the one that greeted Franklin Roosevelt." Kuttner calls it Obama's challenge - but he also sees it as Obama's opportunity - an opportunity to restore a progressive, egalitarian and secure society. Monday, Kuttner talks to Doug about the new directions he says Obama will have to take to create real change.

12/19/08: Parallel Play

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-19) Friday on RadioWest we're rebroadcasting our conversation about Asperger's syndrome. It's a kind of mild from of autism which is just now coming to be understood. Our guest is Tim Page, the Pulitzer Prize winning music critic for the Washington Post. It wasn't until the year 2000 that Page was told he had Asperger's. He said the diagnosis came as a relief. He was able to explain his life spent, he says, living along-side, but distinctly apart from the rest of humanity. (Rebroadcast)

12/18/08: Cosm

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-17) For Exigent Records founder Colby Houghton, supporting local and regional bands is "ultimately about the real value of music." Houghton has released some 20 albums with punk rock, hardcore and metal sounds. Now the band Cosm is on his roster too - a Drum & Bass/Hip-Hop group with veteran Salt Lake musician Daniel Day at the helm. Thursday, we're talking to Colby Houghton and Angela Brown of SLUG Magazine about the role of regional labels. We'll also have Cosm live in studio.

12/17/08: Frost/Nixon

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-16) The new film "Frost/Nixon" is bringing the 1977 interviews by British journalist David Frost of former President Richard Nixon back into the spotlight. Wednesday, Doug talks with James Reston Jr. -- the historian who coached Frost before the interview -- about the event and what Nixon did or did not reveal about his role in the Watergate scandal.

12/16/08: The Nutcracker

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-16) The dance scholar Jennifer Fisher says that The Nutcracker - at least in North America - has become as "regular as clockwork." Some may find it cliche - and for some it may be obligatory. But Fisher argues that Tchaikovsky's piece is one of the most powerful traditions in the world of ballet and that it tells us a lot about the values we share. Tuesday, Fisher joins Doug, along with Ballet West Artistic Director Adam Sklute, for a look at The Nutcracker and the place it holds in our culture.

12/15/08: Top CDs of 2008

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-17) Monday, Bob Boilen - host of National Public Radio's All Songs Considered - joins us for a look at the top CDs of 2008. NPR listeners have been voting on their favorites, and Boilen says that a few debut artists have been doing very well despite some great music from the tried and true bands. We'll see who made the final cut and ask the opinion of some of Salt Lake's own critics. We hope you'll join us with your picks too.

12/12/08: Doubt

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-11) Friday on RadioWest we're profiling John Patrick Shanely's Pulitzer Prize winning play called Doubt. Shanley's film version opens in theaters across the country this month. Doubt is the story of a nun who is certain a priest at her school is molesting one of the students. That certainty is actually the basis for the work: Sister Aloysius sees the world with a sense of faith and conviction. For those rest, including those of us watching, we don't know who or what to believe. (Rebroadcast)

12/11/08: Blackwater

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-10) It's come to be known as Baghdad's "Bloody Sunday." On September 16th, 2007, 17 Iraqi civilians were killed by machine gun fire. The shooters were all employed by the private security company Blackwater Worldwide. This week, the incident made headlines again when 5 former Blackwater guards turned themselves in to federal authorities in Salt Lake City. Thursday, Doug talks to journalists Jeremy Scahill and Matthew LaPlante about the case and about Blackwater's role in the Iraq war.

12/10/08: Dustin Lance Black - "Milk"

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-09) When the writer Dustin Lance Black first heard the story of Harvey Milk - it had already been more than a decade since the San Francisco politician had been assassinated. Black was raised in the LDS church - and hearing the story of an openly gay man was a revelation for him. It also gave him hope. Dustin Lance Black wrote the film Milk which opened in theaters Friday. Wednesday he joins Doug to talk about Harvey Milk's story and what it can still teach us 30 years after his death.

12/9/08: 2008 Holiday Book Show

Salt Lake City, UT (2008-12-08) What would gift giving be without a good book or two to fire the imaginations of the kids - and the big kids - in your life? We've gathered up our local booksellers with their lists of books that might just give you the idea you've been looking for this holiday season.