Best of Public Radio: 2007 Archive

On Saturdays at 4 pm, NHPR presents documentaries, special reports and features. Tune in for a sampling of the very best in public radio.

Find the latest programs on the Best of Public Radio schedule page.

Dec. 29, 2007 Watch Night    
  Watch Night is a vigil kept on the last night of the year in services that are thoughtful, solemn, soulful, joyous and celebratory. Congregants sing hymns, share testimonies and give thanks.  "Watch Night" showcases this observance and highlights its unique, historic meaning for African American churches, illuminating and personalizing the significance of the service using interviews, music, poetry and song.  Because the Emancipation Proclamation went into effect at midnight on New Year's Eve 1863, black Christians have invested the Watch Night tradition and its rituals with new depths of meaning, often calling it Freedom's Eve. "Watch Night" is a contemporary look at historic changes in a centuries-old vigil. 
   
Dec. 22, 2007 Zorba Paster: In The Kitchen for the Holiday
  Hosted by WUMB’s John Hingsbergen and Cheri Lawson, Interconnect is a weekly program from WMUB in Oxford, OH that explores spirituality, alternative health and lifestyle topics.  For this special program, The Interconnected Christmas, John and Cheri interview 9 guests about the meaning of the holiday.  The show includes discussion with Pat Betty, aromatherapy expert, Barbara Biziou, author of “The Joy of Ritual” and author and teacher Deepak Chopra. 
   
Dec. 15, 2007 An Interconnected Christmas
  Hosted by WUMB’s John Hingsbergen and Cheri Lawson, Interconnect is a weekly program from WMUB in Oxford, OH that explores spirituality, alternative health and lifestyle topics.  For this special program, The Interconnected Christmas, John and Cheri interview 9 guests about the meaning of the holiday.  The show includes discussion with Pat Betty, aromatherapy expert, Barbara Biziou, author of “The Joy of Ritual” and author and teacher Deepak Chopra. 
   
Dec. 1-8, 2007 The Message in Music
  The Message In Music is a weekly one-hour music and talk radio program that connects listeners to an "experience" with issues that really matter in our lives. It is produced in Concord, NH by host Micah Rubenstein.  On December 1st, we explore cultural integrity.  In a world proliferated with fast food chains, U.S. brand soft drinks and an “American way of life,” some would say cultural boundaries are disintegrating. What is the value of cultural integrity? Is there power in diversity? On December 8th, we look towards the future.  We may live our lives in the present, but we often seem to keep one foot in the past and one eye turned toward the future. Some believe the future is preordained, yet others say we are the architects of our own destinies... What, then, actually is the future? 
   
Oct. 27-Nov. 24, 2007 The DNA Files
  The DNA Files returns to public radio this fall with five new one-hour documentaries. The award-winning NPR series explores the intriguing world of genetics and its impact on life in the 21st century. For the new season, reporters traveled to Canada, Mexico, India and Australia to discover tales of food in the age of biotechnology; how environment works in concert with genetics; the interplay between the inner mind and the outer world; comparative genomics (what do animals tell us about ourselves?); and the pressure of climate change on the species of our planet. Peabody and Emmy-winning correspondent John Hockenberry hosts.
   
Oct. 13, 2007 The Emergence of Joni Mitchell
  On Sept. 24th, Joni Mitchell released her first album of new material in 10 years. In celebration, Paul Ingles hosts "The Emergence of Joni Mitchell," a two-hour examination of one of the most heralded songwriters of her time. Mixing Mitchell's music with informed commentary from musicians, fans, music critics and archival interviews with Mitchell herself, "The Emergence of Joni Mitchell" articulates what music lovers have found so compelling about this thoughtful and innovative writer and performer. Special guests include music writers Ann Powers, Anthony DeCurtis, Paul Zollo, Lydia Hutchinson and Holly George-Warren as well as musicians Shawn Colvin, Lucy Kaplansky and others.
   
Sept / Oct 2007 Stories from the Heart of The Land
 

"If you could tell any story about people and the natural world, what would it be?" That's what Jay Allison asked some of his favorite radio producers, and they went... all over. "Stories from the Heart of the Land" is a five-part series featuring intimate stories from around the world about the human connection to land and landscape.

   
June 30-Sept. 1, 2007 Monadnock Summer Lyceum
 

Since 1970, the Unitarian Church in Peterborough has hosted the Monadnock Summer Lyceum, an historic series of summer lectures covering a broad range of issues.  The lecture series is a revival of the original Lyceum, begun in the mid-nineteenth century, the first in New Hampshire. It is known as "a feast for the thoughtful" and features prominent speakers from a wide variety of backgrounds and disciplines who discuss topics of importance to our times.  Lectures are held during the summer months on Sunday mornings at 11:00 a.m. The presentations are typically 45 minutes long, with additional time allowed for questions and answers. Audience members are invited to meet each speaker at a reception in the parish hall immediately following the talk. more

   
May / June 2007 Radio Lab
  Season three takes on the big questions with characteristic curiosity and absurdity. Why do we sleep? How much power does belief have? What is a lie? What are zoos for? And can we live till we're one thousand years old? Each hour is full of surprising stories, vivid characters and perspective-shaking ideas. Radio Lab is an experiential investigation that explores themes and ideas through a patchwork of people, sounds, and stories. In each episode, Radio Lab experiments with sound and style allowing science to fuse with culture and information to sound like music.  Hosted by Jad Abumrad with co-host Robert Krulwich, Radio Lab is designed for listeners who demand skepticism but appreciate wonder; who are curious about the world, but also want to be moved and surprised. more
   
May 12, 2007 Mom's Good Move Special
 

Whether they are forced to, or whether they plan to, each year more and more seniors move into retirement homes. In the year 2000, Peg Collison was one of them. Peg left the town of San Mateo, California - where she'd been living for almost 35 years - and moved two hours away into a newly built retirement community in Davis, California. These transitions are often difficult not just for the person who's actually moving but for family members and for friends left behind. Peg's son, Dan, gave his Mom a tape recorder and asked her document her transition. Together, Peg and Dan produced a three-part series in 2000 on Peg's move and what it meant to her and her family. In 2005, Dan updated Peg's situation. This documentary is a hour-long special combining all four stories.

   
May 5, 2007 Philosophy Talk: "Can Science Explain Consciousness?"
  Human are conscious, billiard balls are not, and computers aren't either. But all three are just collections of molecules, aren't they? What is consciousness, and does it go beyond what science can explain? Join John, Ken, and their guest, Joseph Levine from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, as they probe the limits of scientific accounts of that most basic of human qualities, consciousness.
   
April 2007 Shakespeare in American Life
  In celebration of its 75th anniversary in 2007, the Folger Shakespeare Library presents "Shakespeare in American Life," three one-hour documentaries that explore the influence of William Shakespeare's works on American civic, political and cultural life. In "Shakespeare in American Politics," host Sam Waterston explores how Shakespeare's work has been inextricably intertwined with the nation's electoral, geopolitical, racial, class and academic politics.
   
April 7, 2007 The Partisans of Ali: A History of Shiite Faith and Politics
  Islam has far-reaching impact and influence on the international stage. Yet many in the Western world have little grounding in what has shaped the religion and its followers. NPR News brings the background and issues into focus with a new special on the history of Shiism, the second largest branch of Islam. "The Partisans of Ali" looks at the origins and development of Shiism, from the split within Islam in the seventh century to the present day. The one-hour program explores what the key differences between the majority Sunni and the minority Shia are, and what the recent rise of Shiite power and aspirations across the Middle East means for U.S. policy.
   
March 2007 Musicians In Their Own Words
  Renée Fleming crafts an aria by walking her dog. Yo-Yo Ma makes music with a plastic hotel room key. Cyro Baptista scats samba rhythms — and swirls a vacuum cleaner hose over his head. Moments of surprise, moments of insight — these are the moments at the heart of the "Musicians in Their Own Words" project.  Since 2002, many of the "Musicians in Their Own Words" portraits have aired on the national news programs. At a certain point, though, deeper themes began to emerge. In separate interviews, different musicians would take up the same questions. What makes a great groove? How can music connect East and West?  The result is these four, hour-long "Musicians in Their Own Words" specials.
   
March 3, 2007 Birth
  Few things are more profound or delightful than bringing new life into the world. "Birth" traces this phenomenal, yet commonplace event, beginning with early perceptions about the process. This sound-rich program examines the birth process from multiple perspectives — emotional, physical and philosophical. "Birth" features Tina Cassidy, author of "Birth: A Surprising History of How We're Born," and includes interviews with doctors, midwives, doulas, historians, parents and kids.
   
February 2007 Every Voice: The Early Legends and The Legend Grows
 

NPR's Michele Norris hosts this 2-part special on the choral legacy of historically Black colleges and Universities.  "The Early Legends" explores the founding and growth of the Black Colleges, the birth and development of their choirs, how the early directors and their groups built a repertoire and a following, and how they played such a vital role in the survival of many of those colleges. "The Legend Grows" explore the lives, works and accomplishments of some of the college choir directors and composers.
   
February 10, 2007 W.C. Handy's Blues
  William Christopher Handy didn't invent the blues, but he heard them in a deep, comprehending way. He figured out how they worked, wrote down and arranged them, and brought them to the world. Handy was one of the first African American composers to retain the rights to his music, publishing his own work and that of other black composers. His Handy Brothers Music Company is still in business on Broadway.  "W.C. Handy's Blues" features interviews with the legendary composer; his grandson, Dr. Carlos Handy; Ellis Marsalis, Richard Johnson and other musicians; Dan Morgenstern, Rutgers University director of the Institute of Jazz Studies, historians and others.  
   
February 3, 2007 Gulf Coast Blues: The Clarence Williams Story
  Born in the Mississippi Delta in the late 1890s, pianist Clarence Williams was Creole and Choctaw Indian. As an adult, he produced and performed on thousands of recordings with artists who became legends — Bessie Smith, Fats Waller, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong and more — but he took credit for composing a long list of jazz standards.   "Gulf Coast Blues: The Clarence Williams Story" chronicles Williams' life with all of its contradictions.
   
January 2007 Radio Lab
  Radio Lab walks the seam between science and the humantities, not quite ‘culture’ and definitely not just ‘news’, but rather something of a survey of big ideas in ways that are odd, surprising, and often dreamy. The series is full of stories, conversation and vivid places.  We like to think of it as magical realism for the radio. 
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