Hour 1
Six months into a new strategy in Afganistan which sent an additional 30,000 troops into battle, there is increasing concern as to the pace of progress being made to uproot the Taliban. Complicating the debate is an interview Gen. Stanley McChrystal gave in which he criticized the Obama administration. We talk about our strategy in Afghanistan with ROBERT HADDICK of Small Wars Journal, journalist JAMES TRAUB and ANTHONY CORDESMAN, a military analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

Filed under: military, politics, world |

Hour 2
Tweets, facebook status updates, personal blogs now make it possible for our friends and followers to instantly know the most intimate details about our lives. Have we a culture of narcissists, uninhibited, over-sharers. Our guests are Business Insider Nick Saint, Temple Professor Don Hantula, and Jamie Switzer of the Colorado State University.

Filed under: social issues, technology, teens |

Hour 1
With oil still spewing from the well in the Gulf, some people are pushing for natural gas as a cleaner alternative – and Pennsylvania is rich with it. More than three-fourths of the state sits on top of the Marcellus Shale, a geological formation filled with natural gas. But retrieving the gas from the rocky shale has many residents and environmentalists concerned about the health and environmental effects. A recent blowout at a well in Clearfield County sent wastewater and chemicals spraying into the air and there have also been incidents of water contamination. But others say that the economic benefits for the state from taxes and job creation far outweigh those worries. This hour, we'll debate drilling for natural gas in the Marcellus Shale with Pennsylvania State geologist TERRY ENGELDER and senior attorney wit the Natural Resources Defense Council, KATE SINDING.

Filed under: environment |

Hour 2
BOBBY McFERRIN is one of the world's best-known vocal innovators and improvisers, a world-renowned classical conductor, the creator of "Don't Worry Be Happy," one of the most popular songs of the late 20th century, and a passionate spokesman for music education. His recordings have sold over 20 million copies, and his collaborations including those with with Yo-Yo Ma, Chick Corea, the Vienna Philharmonic, and Herbie Hancock have established him as an ambassador of both the classical and jazz worlds. His first new album in eight years, "VOCAbuLarieS," is a collaboration with composer/arranger/producer Roger Treece, as well as more than 50 of the world's finest singers, recorded one at a time and in small groups to create a virtual choir made up of over 1,400 vocal tracks.

Filed under: arts, music, world |

Hour 1
There is a bill before the New Jersey assembly that would give adult adoptees access to their birth records. While adoptees argue that they have a right to this information, others say that the privacy rights of the birth parents should be protected. This hour, we'll debate this issue and look at the growing trend toward openness in adoptions. Our guests are University of Pennsylvania law professor Anita Allen and the executive director of the Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, Adam Pertman.

Filed under: family issues, parenting, social issues |

Hour 2
JESSICA STERN directs Harvard Law School’s terrorism program; she’s one of the world's foremost experts on religious terrorism, militant jihadism and post-traumatic stress disorder, and last appeared on "Radio Times" in January to discuss efforts to "deradicalize" terrorists. Jessica Stern is also a survivor of a brutal rape, as she reveals for the first time in her new book, "Denial: A Personal Memoir of Terror." Jessica was 15, her sister 14, in 1973 when a stranger broke into their home and raped them for over an hour. He left, and was never caught. Three decades later, after a career that has taken her into some of the world’s most dangerous places, a devoted police detective reopened her case, and she opened her own investigation. Along the way, she confronted her own post-traumatic stress disorder, and much, much more.

Filed under: author, crime, criminal justice, politics, religion, world |

Hour 1
On this week's "Radio Times" journalists' roundtable, we turn our focus to goings-on in the city of Philadelphia. Guest host CHRIS SATULLO will talk to a talented trio of local journalists: Philadelphia Daily News columnist ELMER SMITH, It's Our Money blogger BEN WAXMAN of the Philadelphia Daily News and WHYY, and Philadelphia Inquirer City Hall Bureau Chief MARCIA GELBART. Among the topics they might touch upon are the city budget, as well as the big-picture fiscal issues that aren't part of the budget process; row offices and the sheriff succession; party politicking in both local Dems and GOP; ethics and City Council; the scandal over the Family Court construction project and possible conflicts of interest; casino developments; municipal labor contracts; and an early preview of the next mayor's race.

Filed under: politics |

Hour 2
Rebroadcast:
Americans are spending less due to the recent recession, but pinching a penny is a longtime virtue. Our guest journalist LAUREN WEBER grew up with a tightwad father – he didn’t like to use the family car’s brakes as the pads would later need to be replaced; and reused his tea bags up to ten or twelve times. Weber has taken her childhood experiences and has examined our country’s history of thrift and what was behind the aphorisms of famous Americans like Ben Franklin, and has written a book, "In Cheap We Trust: The Story of a Misunderstood American Virtue."

Filed under: author, family issues |

Hour 1
The flotilla raid by the Israeli Navy last month highlighted growing tensions in the Middle East and the delicate balancing act the United States is playing between nations there. Former "New York Times" foreign correspondent Stephen Kinzer thinks it’s time for the United States to reexamine our relations in the Middle East and consider some new partners. In his book "Reset: Iran, Turkey, and America's Future," he argues that the U.S. should work on its relationship with Iran and Turkey, two Muslim countries that share many of our democratic values. We'll talk to Kinzer about U.S. relations with Iran and Turkey and the challenges in the Middle East.

Filed under: author, military, politics, world |

Hour 2
We invite University of Pennsylvania Theater Arts and English lecturer DAVID FOX back to "Radio Times" for a short summer series on musical theater. The lyricist-composer Stephen Sondheim turned 80 this year and we thought his career would be a perfect topic for our kick-off show. With all the attention of jukebox musicals and the TV show "Glee," that were featured on this week's TONY Award show, Broadway is rarely without a Sondheim revival. Currently one can see 1957's "West Side Story" and the 1973's "A Little Night Music," in which Catherine Zeta Jones contributed to the Sondheim Tony roster for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. We'll discuss some of the Sondheim cannon and listen to excerpts from "Company, Pacific Overtures, Sweeney Todd, Sunday in the Park with George, Into the Woods" and other musicals that affirm why Sondheim is a master architect of musical theater.

Filed under: arts |