Blogs

WXDU's news block kicks off at 6 pm with The Cary Chinese School's student radio program, featuring students discussing culture that interests them, including the book and movie of The Giver, sports news and history, video games such as Minecraft, and Chinese greetings.

At 7 pm, as part of Women's Histoyr Month, we will air a PRX piece by Richard Paul called Rocket Girls and Astro-nettes, which covers the roles of women working for NASA in the 1960s and 70s.

We start things off on this last Sunday of Black History Month with an episode from With Good Reason titled "Rock and Roll in Black and White" at 6:00. In this episode, host Sarah McConnell talks to Slate’s pop critic Jack Hamilton about how rock music went from an interracial form of entertainment to one dominated by white artists. Later in the show, we'll learn from Johnny Moore about the shift in importance from baseball to basketball in the black community. This episode also explores the stories of several prominent African American leaders, as profiled in interviews conducted by Phyllis Leffler and the late Julian Bond and in Fatima Massaquoi's autobiography.

Then at 7:00, BackStory with the American History Guys makes its contribution to Oscar Sunday with "Real to Reel 2016: History at the Movies." This episode takes a look at America's past through the Silver Screen. The Guys examine the history behind movies including The Revenant, Bridge of Spies, Trumbo and Inside Out. The hosts also explore the issue of diversity in Hollywood.

Catch the latest in science news first at 6:00 with The Endless Frontier.

Then at 7:00, tune in for WXDU Sports. Martin Kang kicks off this week's show with Duke women's basketball, with recaps and post-game coach and player comments following the squad's recent matches, including their final regular season home game against Georgia Tech and their recent loss to Florida State. Martin's also got injury news updates for the women's team. Up next is Blue Devil men's basketball and a recap of Saturday's loss. Then Finian St. Omer reports on the team's 8th home win over Louisville, and Matt Henry and Miles Burr cover the team's recent victory over Virginia. Martin keeps things going with the most recent Duke men's and women's lacrosse results. Finally, Martin's got Duke football injury updates and news about the academic awards won by Duke student-athletes.

Tune in at 6:00 to catch the premier of Off Topic, a program that takes a closer look at entertainment news and issues, produced by students at the Cary Chinese School. On this week's debut episode, the students will examine mistakes made in movies. They'll also cover books and music, and one of the students will end the show with a performance of a piece on a traditional Chinese instrument.

Tune in at 6:00 for this week's installment of The Endless Frontier to get the latest in science news and research developments.

Then at 6:30, catch the debut of Life Inside. This Duke student-produced program takes a look at life on the University's campus. On this week's episode, the hosts talk to four "super seniors" about their experiences during their break from campus. We'll learn how their time away impacted their lives and their decisions to return to Duke.

Tune in at 6:00 for the latest in science news, research and developments on The Endless Frontier.

Then at 6:30, we join With Good Reason for a conversation with an author who discusses her time growing up in the Appalachian Mountains, in an episode titled "Coming Home to Big Stone Gap." This episode also discovers the Appalachian past through efforts to collect oral histories of the region's old-timers.

TOP 100

1. 64...Gospel Machine...Your Holy Ghost...self-released

2. 64...Kurt Vile...b'lieve i'm going down...Matador

3. 62...Viet Cong...Viet Cong...Jagjaguwar

4. 60...Panda Bear...Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper...Domino

5. 56...Des Ark...Everything Dies...Graveface

6. 54...Shannon and the Clams...Gone by the Dawn...Hardly Art

7. 53...Various...Daptone Gold II...Daptone

8. 53...Deerhoof...La Isla Bonita...Polyvinyl

9. 52...Yo La Tengo...Stuff Like That There...Matador

10. 51...Sagan Youth...Cela...Break World

11. 51...Hiss Golden Messenger...Southern Grammar...Merge

12. 50...Celestogramme...Wish Vehicles...In Situ

13. 49...Twerps...Range Anxiety...Merge

14. 48...Low...Ones and Sixes...Sub Pop

15. 48...Destroyer...Poison Season...Merge

16. 47...Ryley Walker...Primrose Green...Dead Oceans

17. 47...The Souljazz Orchestra...Resistance...Strut

18. 46...Phil Cook...Southland Mission...Thirty Tigers

19. 45...Daniel Bachman...River...Three Lobed

20. 45...See Gulls...You Can't See Me...Potluck

21. 45...Father John Misty...I Love You, Honeybear...Sub Pop

22. 44...Colleen Green...I Want to Grow Up...Hardly Art

23. 43...Mavis Staples...Your Good Fortune...Anti-

24. 43...Nicole Willis and the Soul Investigators...Happiness in Every Style...Timmion

25. 43...U.S. Girls...Half Free...4AD

26. 42...Boulevards...Boulevards EP...Don't Funk with Me

Up first at 6:00 is The Endless Frontier, WXDU's own science show. Tonight's episode continues year-end coverage of the top science news of 2015. Tune in for a recap of Nature magazine's 10 most important people in science, as well as a discussion of the improvements to CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing, the development named Breakthrough of the Year by Science magazine.

Then at 6:30, With Good Reason profiles the Mexo-Americana band David Wax Museum in an episode titled “Where Did You Come From?” This episode is named after the opening track on Watching the Nighttime Come, an album featuring lullabies by Suz Slezak, one of the members of David Wax Museum. Suz joins Sarah McConnell along with band member David Wax to discuss the challenges they've faced on the road. The episode also explores achieving balance, with an interview with Miriam Liss and Holly Schiffrin, authors of Balancing the Big Stuff: Finding Happiness in Work, Family and Life.

Brett D.

Colleen: Captain of None

PC Worship: Basement Hysteria

Alessandro Cortini: Risveglio

Drew McDowell: Collapse

John Luther Adams: The Wind in High Places

Lack: Perhorrences

Six Organs of Admittance: Hexadic I + II

Julia Holter: Have You in My Wilderness

Evan Caminiti: Meridian

Yonatan Gat: Director

Jerusalem in My Heart: If He Dies, If If If

Sannhet: Revisionist

Jessica Pratt: On Your Own Love Again

Liturgy: The Ark Work

Zs: Xe

Viet Cong: Viet Cong

The Holydrug Couple: Moonlust

Michael D., WXDU Americana Director

Top 15 Albums of 2015 (in alphabetical order):

Alabama Shakes - Sound & Color (ATO)

Anna & Elizabeth - Anna & Elizabeth (Free Dirt)

Daniel Bachman - River (Three Lobed)

Built to Spill - Untethered Moon (WB)

Phil Cook - Southland Mission (Thirty Tigers)

It's time for our annual countdown of the top local releases of the year, as determined by a count of spins by all of our WXDU DJs.

Numbers 68-36 are being counted down Sunday 12/27 from 4-6 p.m, and numbers 35-1 will be counted down on Sunday 1/3, again from 4-6 p.m.

Unfortunately, there isn't enough airtime to count down all 124 releases, so here are the lower 56:

69: Polyorchard: Color Theory in Black and White

70: Lowland Hum: Lowland Hum   

71: Patois Counselors: Patois Counselors 7"

72: No Love Dogs//Wolves 7"

73: Bandway: Buddies

74: Elephant Micah: Where in Our Woods

75: Steph Stewart and the Boyfriends: Nobody's Darlin'

76: Lack: Atemporal

77: American Aquarium: Wolves

78: Monologue Bombs: Single

79: Ruscha: 2015 EP

80: 6 String Drag: Roots Rock N Roll

81: Boneslinger: Boneless Cuts

82: Dogs Eyes: 2015 EP

83: Mandolin Orange: Such Jubilee

84: Terrace Heater: Harris Teeter

85: AL Riggs and The Inconveniences: And I You

86: Alpha Cop: Acid Cop

87: Magnolia Collective: Coldest Winter

88: Songs from the Road Band: Traveling Show

89: Tashi Dorji: Appa

90: Villages: Procession Acts

91: Canine Heart: Sounds Live on the Moon

92: Greg Hawks: What Goes Around

93: Weedeater: Goliathan

94: Lost Trail: One Day We'll All Walk Outside and Stare Up at the Blameless Sky and Wait for Something to Happen

95: Malcolm Holcombe: The RCA Sessions