STL on the Air 📻

Barricades and “park closed” signs weren’t quite the sort of sights Andy Magee anticipated photographing when he embarked a couple weeks ago on a 365-day tour of the National Park Service’s 418 units around the U.S. But so far, his "418 Parks" Facebook page is full of such photos – evidence of the ongoing partial shutdown of the federal government.

The first African-American to hold the post, Wesley Bell discusses his current focus on implementing the reforms he campaigned on during his recent race against longtime incumbent Bob McCulloch. Bell takes questions from host Don Marsh and from listeners on a range of topics.

Illinois Public Radio statehouse reporter Brian Mackey joins host Don Marsh to discuss the inauguration of Illinois' new governor J.B. Pritzker. Mackey highlights key moments of Pritzker’s speech and touches on what’s ahead for the governor and the state.

“City of Ink,” set in early 18th-century Beijing, is Elsa Hart’s third novel. She’s currently at work on her fourth. Hart talks with host Don Marsh about her characters and settings, some of her influences and favorite authors, and how she goes about bringing a centuries-old world to life for her readers.

Later this month, baseball fans and writers will react to who is inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame. How is those players chosen? St. Louis Post-Dispatch sportswriter Derrick Goold details that process in conversation with host Don Marsh.

Host Don Marsh talks with St. Louis Public Radio's Shahla Farzan and Kae Petrin about their recent reporting on the number of scooter-related injuries that area emergency rooms are seeing.

Longtime St. Louis journalist Linda Lockhart retires this month after a media career spanning more than four decades. She talks with host Don Marsh about the changes she's seen in the industry over the years and highlights her favorite moments. 

Terry Jones, who is a professor emeritus of political science at UMSL and the author of “Fragmented by Design: Why St. Louis Has So Many Governments," offers his take on the latest talk of a city-county merger.

STLPR political reporter Jo Mannies reflects on her career as a journalist and talks about the big and memorable stories she covered. Mannies is retiring but will work part time beginning in March.

Moonlighting, freelancing, working a second job, picking up a side hustle – all of these terms and cobbled-together career strategies have become common themes in an ever-changing 21st-century economy. And many people in the St. Louis region are among those who have adopted such an approach to making a living. Host Don Marsh leads a discussion about such labor trends, digging into the reasons behind them.

Host Don Marsh talks up some of the latest additions to the St. Louis region’s food-and-beverage community with Sauce Magazine’s managing editor Heather Hughes and art director Meera Nagarajan.

Host Don Marsh talks to St. Louis Public Radio political reporter Jason Rosenbaum as the Missouri General Assembly begins its 2019 session in Jefferson City.

In 2014, writers Michael Walker and Kristen Adele Calhoun met for the first time as grad students in New York City through a play-reading group. On that same day, a young man named Michael Brown was shot nearly 1,000 miles away in Ferguson, Missouri.

Years later, they join host Don Marsh along with The Black Rep's producing director Ron Himes to discuss their "Canfield Drive" production. 

For more than 20 years, the City Museum in downtown St. Louis has provided a unique getaway. The museum is partly a playground, but it also contains numerous architectural marvels, many of which are the creation of Bob Cassilly, the founder of City Museum who died in 2011.

Host Don Marsh talks with Rick Erwin, director of the City Museum, about the history of the institution and about its recent sale to Premier Parks, an Oklahoma-based theme-park company.

Ahead of his Jan. 22 appearance in St. Louis, Republican politician and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush discusses everything from the passing of both of his parents in 2018, to the uncertainty and future of the United States, to the current situation in Washington.

Host Don Marsh leads a discussion about observing and appreciating urban wildlife in the bi-state area. Joining the conversation are Danny Brown, a lifelong Missourian, retired biologist and avid wildlife photographer; and Mark Glenshaw, a local naturalist whose focus is the owls who reside in Forest Park.

Jeff Tweedy discusses his memoir, childhood, musical influences and founding Uncle Tupelo and Wilco. We also sample and analyze some songs from Tweedy's career.

Fourteen-year-old St. Louisan Kennedy Holmes made her hometown proud this past fall as she competed on NBC's "The Voice." She made it to the final episode of the season, ultimately snagging fourth place on the wildly popular show. St. Louis Public Radio newscaster Marissanne Lewis-Thompson talks with the young star shortly after the competition's conclusion.

Rossino’s and Café Balaban are two restaurants many St. Louisans remember fondly. They're among the more than 40 restaurants highlighted in Ann Lemons Pollack's new book "Lost Restaurants of St. Louis." Pollack recalls bygone eateries that loom large in memories. She also profiles three iconic restaurants that still exist and even traces the food history of the 1904 World’s Fair.