Stay Connected***No longer adding new episodes*** On The Record was co-hosted by Sheilah Kast and Ashley Sterner. Sheilah and shared conversations with audacious artists, intrepid scientists, community leaders and more. And of course, tales from the beloved Stoop Storytelling Series.
On The Record was produced by Melissa Gerr. Jon Ehrens created the theme music. Louis Umerlik designed the logo.
Copyright: © 2024 WYPR Baltimore
The Mount Vernon Virtuosi ensemble comprises recent graduate musicians who have a passion for performing. They share their talents at no charge to the public -- not because classical music is not worth paying for … but because disseminating it may hold the power to transform people into better human beings. We hear why ... from its founder and artistic director, Amit Peled:
“Music is the most important language, it’s because it’s the only language that forces the people who speak it, also to listen to it. And I believe if I can teach my kids to just listen to other people, I think they will be better citizens in democracy.”
Links: Mount Vernon Virtuosi, Autumn Tales performances Oct. 29-31.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Here’s a Stoop Story from Dr. Maneesha Ahluwalia about transforming her own loss and heartache into compassion and a second chance for someone else.
Hey--that craving you're feeling? Maybe it’s not for Hallowe’en sweets. Maybe you’re itching for some LIVE Stoop Stories! You can satisfy that urge next Wednesday, Nov. 3rd, at Creative Alliance! The open-mic show starts at 7:30 p.m., and the theme is ‘Night Life: Stories about wild times, unexpected encounters, and after-dark escapades.’
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Today we begin a new series called ‘Pass the Mic.” We invite a host to choose guests and direct the conversation. Musician and activist Lea Gilmore talks with writer and educator D. Watkins about the premise of his book, ‘We Speak for Ourselves’:
“I’m taking aim at this idea of people who are brave enough to jump in front of a crowd and say that they’re advocating for people that they normally don’t talk to. You can’t tell the world what’s your big platform, what I want and what I need, without asking me what I want and what I need.”
Plus, Aladrian Wetzel and Christen Cromwell, founders of ‘Two Strikes Theatre Collective’ talk about their upcoming show that explores the power and politics around Black women’s bodies.
Links: We Speak for Ourselves, Brown Sugar Bake Off.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
When The Baltimore Banner launches next year, its plan is to cover news of the Baltimore region intensely. Stewart Bainum Jr., the millionaire force behind it, just hired a top editor from The Los Angeles Times to lead the reporting--and says he expects her to take risks, "If we’re not willing to experiment and be willing to fail different experiments, this won't succeed because there's no map for making a local digital online news site financially stable and sustainable.'The Banner will be owned by a nonprofit. Bainum says it won’t succeed unless it produces news that subscribers are willing to pay to read. His goal is not making The Baltimore Sun extinct, he says, but keeping public leaders accountable and citizens informed.
Links:The Venetoulis Institute for Local Journalism
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
In her new collection of short stories, Baltimore writer Rosalia Scalia connects us to people we might never get to know by ourselves. Maybe they’re a lot older or younger than we -- or from a different ethnic group, and without Scalia at our side we wouldn’t realize that their families struggle like ours. Or maybe they’re just nasty, like the crotchety guy in the title story, 'Stumbling Toward Grace.' We learn right away that he’s a bigot who’s cut off his daughter and never met his grandkids. Somehow Scalia helps us see not just his mistakes, but why he’s made them.
“There are many people around us who have things about them that are unlikeable but they themselves are not bad people, they’re just flawed.”
Links: Scalia at Ivy Bookshop Thurs. Oct. 28 at 7pm, and In conversation at Lost City Books in Washington, DC Friday Nov. 5 at 7:30 pm.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Since he was a kid, Conor McDowell had wanted to defend his country. He was proud to be a Marine, but the risks started to worry him. In 2019, his father Michael McDowell and mother Susan Flanigan got the awful news their only son had been killed: the light armored vehicle he commanded rolled over, crushing him. The investigation the McDowells pushed for counted hundreds of similar accidents in the last decade, many-preventable.
We talk to the McDowells, and to Maryland Congressman Anthony Brown, about changes that could save lives.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Here is a Stoop Story from Matt Hayat about discovering the unexpected language of martial arts.Listen to more of the Stoop Storytelling Series and check out upcoming live events. On November 3rd, the Stoop will present, "Night Life: Stories about wild times, unexpected encounters, and after-dark escapades."
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Unreliable transportation, work obligations that don’t allow for personal time during typical business hours, fickle internet connections. These factors can prevent people from taking care of healthcare concerns or legal questions.The Job Opportunities Task Force seeks to remove those barriers. Tomorrow, the nonprofit is hosting an all-night resource clinic in Baltimore, bringing volunteer lawyers and social workers to the community. We speak with CEO Caryn York.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
It’s documented that using social media -- the scrolling, the likes, the shares -- is addictive and seductive. If that’s its effect on adults, what about young kids?
Dr. Drew Pate, chief of psychiatry at LifeBridge Health, talks about the different ways social media influences the minds and moods of children.
Then Danny LaBrecque, creator of ‘Danny Joes Treehouse’ and ‘Cookies for Breakfast,’ says he’s wary of platforms that have plans to aim content at pre teens. But he believes the control of a medium has more to do with education and intent than rules and regulations:
“Whether it’s a stick, or a stone, or a smartphone, there are all these tools. We decide how to use these tools, not the other way around.”
Links: Danny Joe's Treehouse, Cookies for Breakfast
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
Author Jen Michalski centered her third novel, You’ll Be Fine, on a magazine writer in her 30’s who’s still carrying baggage from a couple foiled love affairs, as she tries to find common ground with her feckless younger brother and deals with A LOT of unresolved conflicts with her bohemian mother. And then her mother dies.
Still, Michalski says, she and her editor felt the family was working out the tensions in a predictable way.
“I began to think, what sort of monkey wrench can I throw into their relationship. And just out of the blue this character named Johanna stepped in, like clearly as she walked into the door of my mind. And was like, ‘hello’ and I was like, ‘hello!’ And then the novel just became completely transformed.”
Links: Jen Michalski and James Magruder will discuss their latest books at a Writers LIVE! event at Enoch Pratt Central Branch Library Oct. 26 at 7pm.
Do you have a question or comment about a show or a story idea to pitch? Contact On the Record at: Senior Supervising Producer, Maureen Harvie she/her/hers mharvie@wypr.org 410-235-1903 Senior Producer, Melissa Gerr she/her/hers mgerr@wypr.org 410-235-1157 Producer Sam Bermas-Dawes he/him/his sbdawes@wypr.org 410-235-1472
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