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
Baltimore’s massive water and sewage system is its most valuable asset, and delivers water and wastewater services to more than 1.5 million people in the city, Baltimore county and neighboring counties.
The system is owned and operated by the city, but the future governance is unclear. The Baltimore Regional Water Governance Task Force has spent months considering potential changes, with disagreement between the county and city on how it should be run.
Professor Louise Seamster joins us to discuss how metropolitan areas similar to Baltimore have handled the question of governance over their water and sewage systems, and where those choices have led them.
Seamster is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology and African American Studies in the University of Iowa, where she studies how cities and counties own and operate water-wastewater infrastructure.
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
If you imagine Baltimore city as a human body, its pipes and water mains could be compared to arteries, its trash and recycling services to white blood cells and its sewage lines as the lower intestines.
All of this infrastructure, critical for daily life in Baltimore, are overseen by one department: The Department of Public Works.
Interim director Richard Luna, named to the position last June, is tasked with the response to several pressing challenges, including aging infrastructure, a 2002 consent decree regarding sewage and wastewater overflows and potential changes to the oversight of the city's water and wastewater systems.
(Photo by Elvert Barnes, via Flickr. License: CC BY-SA 2.0 DEED)
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
From rowhomes in Baltimore to tobacco barns in Southern Maryland, the survival of historic buildings depends on training the next generation of masons, carpenters, and roofers.
We speak with preservationists and business owners, and hear about a national initiative to promote jobs in the historic trades. Original airdate: 12/7/23
Guests:
- Nicholas Redding, president and CEO of Preservation Maryland and The Campaign for Historic Trades
- Natalie Henshaw, director of The Campaign for Historic Trades and the owner of Henshaw Preservation, a window restoration and historic masonry company
- Darius Johnson, who is pursuing a graduate degree in preservation at Goucher College in Baltimore County
- Mae Bowley, executive director of Re:Purpose Savannah, a nonprofit focused on the salvage and reuse of historic buildings
Learn more:
- Labor study on the status of historic trades in the United States
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
Every third Monday in January, we mark Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And every year, the generation of the Civil Rights Movement, its leaders and the everyday people who powered it, inch further and further into history.
The archives maintained by The AFRO American Newsare seeking to build a link to that history, by preserving the record of its past editions spanning all the way back to the paper's founding in 1892.
Alexis Taylor, managing editor of The AFRO American News, is here with me to talk about the legacy news organizations and the history contained in its pages.
(Photo from The AFRO Archives)
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
The year Martin Luther King Jr. was murdered, 1968, was a big year for a cause Rev. King championed: the labor movement.
King was in Memphis, Tennessee, to campaign with unionizing sanitation workers. In April, he would be shot and killed.
His death reverberated across the county. But the success of the sanitation workers in Memphis would have direct consequences for Baltimore and Maryland, where thousands of public sector workers were seeking to unionize.
Jane Berger, PhD, is an Associate Professor of History at Moravian University. She is also author of “A New Working Class: The Legacies of Public-Sector Employment in the Civil Rights Movement.”
(Photo from the AFRO American Newspapers Archives.)
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
Christy Villalobos shares a Stoop Story about love, loss, and letting go. Listen to the Stoop podcast.
The next Stoop event is two weeks from tomorrow - January 27th - at Morgan State University, in partnership with the Baltimore City House Delegation. The theme is “Baltimoored: Stories about transportation barriers to getting around town.”
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 "I Will Eat You Alive," audiences are invited to a dinner party. With each "course," a trio of actors confront diet culture, fatphobia, and society’s expectations. We speak with Baltimore playwright Katie Hileman about reclaiming the word "fat."
“I Will Eat You Alive" runs from January 25th through February 10th at The Voxel theater in Baltimore.
Related events (to be held in the lobby of The Voxel):
-Plus-size clothing swap with The Skylight Boutique, February 3rd, 11:00am – 4:00pm
-Round table discussion with the cast and director Katie Hileman moderated by Kayla Stansberry, February 4th, 4:30 – 5:30pm
-Two Strikes Theatre Collective storytelling hour, February 10th, 2:00 – 4:00pm
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
Black teachers in Maryland leave the profession at higher rates than their white teacher counterparts. Why? We talk with Baltimore Banner education reporter Kristen Griffith about what she learned. Plus, Wallace Lane, Michelle Early and Danielle Ferrentino talk about their very different experiences in the Maryland education system.
Baltimore Banner article, "Black teachers are leaving. How can Maryland schools get them to stay?"
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
A recent study by the Maryland Center on Economic Policy argues more of Maryland’s welfare funds should go to cash assistance. We speak with author and MDCEP State Policy Fellow Jasmin Aramburu.
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
For more than a year and a half, Baltimore City has been running an experiment - $1000 a month to low-income young parents. How are families using the money? How have participants created a sense of community?
Tonaeya Moore is the director of policy for the CASH Campaign of Maryland. Tazhane Jordan is a participant in Baltimore City’s guaranteed income pilot program.
Learn more about the Baltimore Young Families Success Fund (BYFSF):
Guaranteed Income Pilots Dashboard - Baltimore
Baltimore tests a guaranteed income for 200 young parents
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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