syoung's blog

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for the latest installment of Jukebox Graduates, the program produced by students in the Githens Middle School's Bruce Springsteen fan club. Each month, the kids share stories and songs spanning the Boss's career.

Goodnight Gracie, the show that revisits the Golden Age of Radio, is next at 7:00. Tonight’s program features a 1940s-style battle of the sexes through the eyes of the characters of two popular working-class comedies of the era: Fibber McGee and Molly and The Life of Riley. First on tonight's program, in a December 8, 1942, episode titled "Women are Taking Over," we join Jim and Marian Jordan, the husband and wife vaudeville duo-turned radio team better known as Fibber McGee and Molly, as Fibber is upset by the wartime influx of women into the workplace. Then we'll meet Chester A. Riley, played by William Bendix, who tries to prove women are--and should be--inferior to men in a January 1, 1948, episode of The Life of Riley called “Equal Rights."

Spend your Easter evening with WXDU!

Tune in at 6:00 for the Endless Frontier, WXDU's own science news and interview program.

Then join WXDU News at 6:30 for a look at the growth of evangelicalism in Guatemala, a nation with a centuries-long tradition of Catholicism. In the "Soul of Guatemala," producer Jesse Dukes explores how this South American country has become Latin America's Evangelical Frontier.

WXDU Sports is up next at 7:00. Tonight's show will feature a recap of the Duke women's basketball team's road to the Sweet Sixteen and an update on the men's team's Final Four play.

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for Hip Hop Historics with DJ Goatt, a show that tracks the careers of some of hip hop's biggest players. Each month, DJ Goat tours a different artist's catalog to explore how they influenced and responded to cultural movements. Tonight's program features Black Star, a duo that came out of the hip hop underground to impact the genre's current atmosphere.

Then at 7:00, join us for a conversation on what Islam is--and is not. WXDU's Helen Yu will speak with Rasheed Barbee, Imam of Masjid Tawheed wa Sunnah in Durham, about understanding this religion and its perceived association with terrorism. Imam Barbee is an active speaker on the teachings of the Quran and Islam's opposition to terrorism.

Friday was the first day of spring, and as life begins to resurface, we join With Good Reason tonight at 6:00 for a look at some of the issues facing two living things--Monarch butterflies and birds. In "The Monarch Massacre," host Sarah McConnell explores the dwindling number of this butterfly "king" due to threats to its main food source. She'll also talk to an author who examines how bird songs are changing in urban environments. This episode also covers young volcanoes along eastern North America, the use of oysters as living reefs and how radar helps to track songbird migration.

Then at 7:00, tune in for an island-themed BackStory with the American History Guys episode titled "Island Hopping." This program explores teaching the history of the Hawaiian islands, the Puerto Rican fight for independence, Mormon followers who settled on Michigan's Beaver Island and the stories of Asian immigrants held on San Francisco's Angel Island. Finally, the Guys answer one of life's most pressing questions: why is that orange salad topping called Thousand Island dressing?

Check out the latest in science news on the Endless Frontier at 6:00.

Then at 6:30, WXDU News will feature an episode of DW's Living Planet series called "Africa at Risk." This report examines ecological issues jeopardizing Africa's population and economy, including how climate change affects the continent despite its relatively low contribution of greenhouse gases, one engineer's response to power disruptions in South Africa, the impact of the water shortage in Kenya and threats to a species of tree that plays an integral role in medicine.

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for Jukebox Graduates, the show produced by students in the Githens Middle School Bruce Springsteen fan club.

Then revisit the Golden Age of Radio at 7:00 with Goodnight Gracie. Tonight’s show highlights two 1950s programs that explore unknown frontiers, albeit in different times: Have Gun - Will Travel shares the exploits of Paladin, the gentleman gunslinger of the Wild West of 1875, and X Minus One, featuring tales of the future—in “a million could-be years on a thousand may-be worlds.”

The episodes we’ll play tonight have two common themes: deviance from behavioral expectations and the influence of war. “Comanche,” a July 5, 1959, episode of Have Gun - Will Travel tells the story of a man who, after deserting his cavalry unit, regains his sense of duty once he learns of his fellow soldiers’ fate. The story is interspersed with U.S. government propaganda PSAs that promote the importance of democracy and the goodwill efforts made by our servicemen overseas to “understand” foreign customs.

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for the Endless Frontier. Tonight's show explores new research that suggests that biological sex exists on a spectrum rather than as a set of binary options. Then we'll take a look at DNA's ability to store information and the structural similarities between the brain regions responsible for movement coordination in humans and lampreys.

At 6:30, WXDU News has an episode of Spectrum, Deutsche Welle's news magazine program, called "the Good and the Bad." DW's reporters examine the impacts of India's recent swine flu outbreak and how declining Ebola infection rates hamper vaccine development. This episode also delves into the effort to create a safer Internet, the move to get kids more involved with computer programming in Europe and music's growing medical application in Australia.

Tune in at 6:00 tonight for Hip Hop Historics, a show that tracks the careers of some of hip hop's biggest players as they responded to and impacted social and cultural movements. Tonight, DJ Goatt takes a look at how Run DMC took the leap into the mainstream.

Next at 7:00, I Liked You Better Before You Sold Out welcomes Cantwell, Gomez & Jordan to the studio to talk about their upcoming album, titled Half Finished Bobcat. The group will play a show with Pipe, Whatever Brains and Whorecough to celebrate the CD release on March 6 at Nightlight in Chapel Hill.

The Endless Frontier is first at 6:00 tonight. On tonight's show, learn more about a study from UNC that challenges long-held beliefs about how bubonic plague is transmitted. Plus, we'll discuss an African species of fish that offers a new model system for studying aging and experiements with mice that reveal new genetic interactions that help determine sex.

The news is next at 6:30. For tonight's show, we join Deutsche Welle for "Magic Moments," an episode of its Spectrum series. This program starts with a look at what scientists expect to learn from NASA's New Horizons spacecraft, which has finally reached Pluto. Later in the show, we'll hear more about the effort to establish a high-speed broadband network in rural India and a new filtration system that might save millions of people in Bangladesh from poisoning by high levels of arsenic in well water. Finally, the program shares one organization's goal to increase awareness of statues by making them talk and a New Zealand company's new product that brings science fiction to life--the personal jetpack.

Jukebox Graduates is up first at 6:00 tonight. Tune in as middle school students in this Bruce Springsteen fan club explore the music and career of the Boss.

Then at 7:00: It's the debut of Goodnight Gracie, where we revisit the Golden Age of Radio. On tonight’s show, we’ll pay tribute to Jack Benny—one of the greats of old-time radio—who would have celebrated his 39th birthday on February 14 (for the 83rd time). Up first: An episode of Maxwell House Coffee Time with George Burns and Gracie Allen called “How Jack Benny Became Cheap” that aired on March 31, 1949. The episode reveals that George and Gracie are responsible for their friend’s transformation from “Generous Jack” to the penny-pincher we know and love. We continue our tribute to Jack Benny with an episode of his own show on the Jell-O Program. “Jack’s Birthday” aired on the star’s 43rd birthday: February 14, 1937. This episode features Jack’s regular cast—Mary Livingstone, announcer Don Wilson, orchestra leader Phil Harris and singer Kenny Baker—plus a guest appearance of “the Old Maestro,” Ben Bernie, and a “tribute” to Jack’s nemesis, Fred Allen.