Hour 1 The Delaware River Port Authority Board of Directors has voted in favor of several reforms, and is still considering others. Board Chairman John Estey has said he will step down at the end of the year, but legions of critics of the DRPA are demanding that CEO John Mattheussen join him. We’ll talk [...]

Filed under: politics |

Hour 2 How and why do companies change their names and what happens when they do?  Then, what our own names say about us.  Our guests are ERIC DEZENHALL, who counsels corporations on damage control. Then PAMELA REDMOND SATRAN on what our names say about us. Listen to the mp3 Listen: [Audio clip: view full [...]

Filed under: social issues |

Hour 1 Vast swaths of Russian forests are aflame in wildfires. The United Nations humanitarian relief office says the destruction wrought by Pakistan floods are worse than the 2005 earthquakes in  Pakistan, January’s earthquake in Haiti and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami … combined. Large ice sheets continue to cleave off of glaciers at the [...]

Filed under: economy, environment, politics, world |

Hour 2 University of Pennsylvania’s theater arts lecturer DAVID FOX returns to Radio Times to tackle another element of musical theater with Marty. This time he’ll tell some of the stories behind ‘flops’ from the big stage. We’ll listen to some memorable and not-so memorable music from Broadway shows including Stephen Sondheim’s “Merrily We Roll [...]

Filed under: arts, music |

Hour 1 During a visit to Ohio earlier this week, the President assured a crowd of supporters that “slowly but surely the economy is moving in the right direction.”  Yet yesterday the Labor Department issued the sobering news that claims for unemployment benefits unexpectedly rose last week to the highest level in nine months.  So [...]

Filed under: economy, politics |

Hour 2
The late musician, Nina Simone, wanted to stay outside any conventional category. Her classical piano training backed up her identity as a songwriter, jazz singer, a blues singer, pop singer and a soul singer. She was ‘misunderstood,’ as one of her famous recordings revealed. Writer NADINE COHODAS helps us to understand Simone’s difficult life in her new biography, "Princess Noire: The Tumultuous Reign of Nina Simone." Cohodas has written several books including a biography of Dinah Washington and the story behind Chess Records.

Filed under: arts, author, entertainment, music |

Hour 1 America’s wealthiest citizens are on a giving binge. First, Bill and Melinda Gates and Warren Buffett pledged to give away at least half their wealth to charity. Then a few weeks ago, they announced that 40 wealthy families and individuals have joined them and signed their “Giving Pledge.” Philadelphians weren’t surprised to see [...]

Filed under: economy, politics, social issues, world |

Hour 2 Large scale commercial fishing, extensive farm fishing and questionable environmental standards have stressed our oceans' ecosystems to the point that many wild fish species are on the brink of extinction.  For his new book, Four Fish, writer PAUL GREENBERG traveled from the wild salmon runs in Alaska and the massive fish farms in [...]

Filed under: author, environment, health, science |

Hour 1 As of this past Sunday, unless a you chose to opt-in for overdraft protection from your bank, your ATM and debit card purchases will now be declined if you have insufficient funds in your account.  This protection is thanks to a provision of the Credit Card Act of 2009 which was designed to [...]

Filed under: economy, family issues |

Hour 2 A new study shows that quality kindergarten really pays off for students.  Harvard economists found that kids with better kindergarten teachers earned more when they were in their twenties than those with worse teachers.  But many education experts say that there is a crisis in today's kindergarten classes — testing and drilling has [...]

Filed under: economy, education, family issues, social issues |