RadioWest
471 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 711 ratingsKUER’s award-winning interview show explores the world through deep thinkers who host Doug Fabrizio asks to think even deeper. Join writers, filmmakers, scientists and others on RadioWest: A show for the wildly curious.
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Episodes
A Struggle for the Soul of Mormonism
September 21, 2023 23:25 - 49 minutes - 22.5 MBIn September of 1993, six prominent intellectuals were disciplined and excommunicated from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
The World’s Most Successful Art Thief with Michael Finkel
September 21, 2023 22:03 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBBetween 1995 and 2001, Stéphane Breitweiser stole 239 works of art from more than 100 museums around Europe. He never sold a single one.
The Case for the Gondola
September 16, 2023 03:36 - 49 minutes - 22.5 MBMore than fifty years ago, there was a proposal to build a gondola from the base of Little Cottonwood Canyon to Snowbird Ski Resort. What if it was the right idea all along?
How Parking Explains the World. Seriously.
September 14, 2023 20:48 - 50 minutes - 22.9 MBHere’s a way in to understanding what author Henry Grabar wants to tell you about parking: it’s one of the reasons we’ve got a housing crisis in America.
The New Science and Enduring Mystery of Owls
September 08, 2023 15:50 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBLook into the eyes of an owl and what do you see? Is there any way to know what’s hidden behind those eyes? Thanks to new research, there might be.
Oliver Burkeman: How to Spend Four Thousand Weeks of Life
September 07, 2023 20:47 - 49 minutes - 22.7 MBIf each of us lives to be 80, we’ll have spent about four thousand weeks being alive on this planet — which isn’t really much time at all. So, how should we spend it?
What Happens to the Group When the Individual Tops All?
September 01, 2023 17:47 - 49 minutes - 22.5 MBAmerican culture promotes a strong sense of individualism. But, what happens when individualism trumps community?
Clint Eastwood: The Man with No Name
August 31, 2023 23:06 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBClint Eastwood has been a constant in American cinema for more than 60 years. But if you think it’s all Westerns and machismo, you’d be wrong.
Is a Gondola the Silver Bullet for Little Cottonwood’s ‘Red Snake’?
August 25, 2023 18:06 - 46 minutes - 21.3 MBBy now you’ve probably heard about the gondola, the one that’s slated to go up Little Cottonwood Canyon. It’s still decades away, but debate over the plan is holding steady at a fever pitch.
The Whales of the Great Salt Lake
August 24, 2023 22:42 - 50 minutes - 22.8 MBIn 1888, the daily Salt Lake Herald-Republican reprinted a story from a Canadian paper. The headline? That a family of whales was flourishing in the Great Salt Lake.
Kelsy Burke on America’s Pornography Obsession
August 21, 2023 01:06 - 49 minutes - 22.7 MBIn 2016, Utah Republicans declared pornography a public health crisis. But their resolution was merely a modern salvo in the ongoing pornography wars.
Timothy Egan on the KKK’s Plot to Take Over America
August 21, 2023 01:04 - 49 minutes - 22.5 MBAt the height of its power, the Ku Klux Klan was run by a depraved charlatan named D. C. Stephenson, until a woman's deathbed confession brought him down.
Searching for Paradise with Pico Iyer
August 14, 2023 13:53 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBReligions and myths tell us of paradise — where there is no suffering and bliss abounds. But can a real paradise ever be reached or made?
Alvin Hall Drives the Green Book
August 11, 2023 15:46 - 48 minutes - 22.2 MBIn 2019, author and broadcaster Alvin Hall drove from Detroit to New Orleans, using the same guide that was used during the height of segregation, The Negro Motorist Green Book.
Through the Lens: '32 Sounds' with Sam Green
August 03, 2023 20:55 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBFilmmaker Sam Green is obsessed with sound. After you see his documentary, you might feel the same way.
Ramesses II: The King of Kings
August 03, 2023 20:53 - 50 minutes - 23 MBThe first known peace treaty was negotiated by Ramesses II, a pharaoh who came from a line of commoners and was the only Egyptian king known as “the Great.”
The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 2: Blood, Blood, Blood
July 27, 2023 23:16 - 48 minutes - 22.1 MB“Did Brigham Young order the Mountain Meadows Massacre?”
The Mountain Meadows Massacre, Pt. 1: Too Late, Too Late
July 27, 2023 23:12 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBOn September 11, 1857, a Mormon militia attacked a wagon train of California-bound emigrants. They killed more than a hundred men, women and children.
Web Extra: Revisiting Operation Underground Railroad
July 27, 2023 18:54 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBWith the release of the new film, “The Sound of Freedom,” Operation Underground Railroad and its founder, Tim Ballard, are back in the news, so we are reposting our 2022 episode about the organization and the realities of child-sex-trafficking. This episode mentions an investigation into Operation Underground Railroad, which has since been dropped.
David Remnick on the GOATs of Pop Music
July 21, 2023 16:56 - 47 minutes - 21.8 MBAs the longtime editor of The New Yorker, David Remnick has profiled many of rock n’ roll and pop music’s greatest performers, often later in their lives.
The Alien Abduction of Betty and Barney Hill
July 20, 2023 22:31 - 48 minutes - 22.3 MBOn September 19, 1961, Betty and Barney Hill claimed they were abducted by “beings that were somehow not human.”
David Grann on the Disastrous Voyage of the Wager
July 14, 2023 22:47 - 49 minutes - 22.4 MBIn 1740, the Wager set sail from England in search of Spanish treasure. Just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong.
Never Heard of Scrupulosity? Neither Have Many Who Suffer From It
July 14, 2023 22:47 - 50 minutes - 23 MBEven if you aren’t afflicted by it, you probably know about obsessive compulsive disorder. But even if you have it, there’s a good chance you’ve never heard of scrupulosity.
Through The Lens: Users
July 07, 2023 17:16 - 49 minutes - 22.8 MBAfter the birth of her son, documentary filmmaker Natalia Almada asked herself: Will technology be a better mother than me?
Awe and the Science of Wonder with Dacher Keltner
July 06, 2023 21:37 - 48 minutes - 22.1 MBYou know that feeling you get when you see something so incredible that it transcends understanding? That’s awe. But, really, what is awe?
Michael Finkel on the World’s Most Prolific Art Thief
July 01, 2023 00:28 - 50 minutes - 22.8 MBBetween 1995 and 2001, Stéphane Breitweiser stole 239 works of art from more than 100 museums around Europe. He never sold a single one.
The Revolutionary Samuel Adams with Stacy Schiff
June 29, 2023 17:53 - 52 minutes - 23.7 MBThe role that Samuel Adams played in fomenting the American Revolution once made him the most wanted man in the country.
Quentin Tarantino and ‘Inglourious Basterds’
June 22, 2023 22:24 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBWhat do you get when you mix conversations about burgers in Europe, debates about Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” plus lots of violence? A Tarantino movie.
Is Utah Ready For The Big Leagues?
June 16, 2023 18:16 - 49 minutes - 22.8 MBAn effort is underway to bring a Major League Baseball team to Utah. But what does it mean, and what does it take to make the jump to the big leagues?
Abraham Verghese On ‘The Covenant of Water’
June 15, 2023 22:43 - 49 minutes - 22.7 MBAbraham Verghese’s new novel “The Covenant of Water” is already a critical sensation. We’re talking with him about writing it, as well as the intersection between art and medicine.
Through the Lens: ‘Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)’
June 09, 2023 23:58 - 45 minutes - 20.7 MBWhat do Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” and “Elegy” by The Nice have in common? All are iconic albums — visually, as well as musically.
Through the Lens: ‘Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)’
June 09, 2023 23:58 - 45 minutes - 20.7 MBWhat do Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” and “Elegy” by The Nice have in common? All are iconic albums — visually, as well as musically.
RadioWest’s 2023 Summer Book Show
June 09, 2023 16:54 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBWith summer here, it’s time once again to gather our trio of booksellers, who are full of good ideas about what to read poolside this year.
Through the Lens: ‘Squaring the Circle (The Story of Hipgnosis)’
June 08, 2023 23:24What do Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon,” Led Zeppelin’s “Houses of the Holy” and “Elegy” by The Nice have in common? All are iconic albums — visually, as well as musically.
A History of Utah Pride
June 02, 2023 19:36 - 47 minutes - 21.8 MBToday, we’re talking about the history of the LGBTQ+ experience in Utah. At the beginning of Utah’s statehood, it was common for people of the same gender to live together. Think of groups of women in polygamist households or scores of men living together on ranches. So, did anyone question these groups’ sexuality?
John Vaillant On The Personality Of Fire
June 02, 2023 01:38 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBIf you’ve been following the news, you’ll know that Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are currently burning. But this area of Canada, located just above the Northeastern U.S., is not one of North America’s hot, dry, fire prone areas.
Toby Wilkinson on Egypt’s King of Kings
May 26, 2023 17:23 - 49 minutes - 22.8 MBThe first known peace treaty was negotiated by Ramesses II, a pharaoh who came from a line of commoners and was the only Egyptian king known as “the Great”.
Latino History in Utah with Professor Armando Solorzano
May 26, 2023 17:23 - 49 minutes - 22.6 MBArmando Solorzano, a professor at the University of Utah, says the time has come for Latino-American Utahns to reclaim their history and regain a sense of belonging to this state.
Little Moon Sits at the Tiny Desk
May 19, 2023 18:58 - 49 minutes - 22.5 MBIn 2008, NPR Music created the Tiny Desk concerts — a video series of live concerts performed at the desk of “All Songs Considered” host Bob Boilen. What began as a simple and intimate performance has turned into somewhat of a “cult following.”
John Hendrickson on Making Peace with a Stutter
February 09, 2023 23:47 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBIn 2019, The Atlantic published a story by John Hendrickson about Joe Biden’s struggle with stuttering. And it forced John to reconcile with his own stutter, too.
Through the Lens: Hidden Letters
February 03, 2023 19:27 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBFor thousands of years, women in China shared a secret language — a code only women could read, that bonded them together in solidarity and sisterhood.
Lake Bell: The Human Voice
February 03, 2023 00:28 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBA true multi-hyphenate, writer-director-actor Lake Bell is obsessed with how we sound. Her new audiobook celebrates that “least-appreciated” trait: our voices.
Coming to Terms with Agriculture in the West
January 27, 2023 18:16 - 52 minutes - 24.2 MBBy one estimate, agriculture in Utah consumes 75% of the state's water. Given that fact, along with historic drought and a drying Great Salt Lake, people are starting to ask: Can we continue to farm here?
Sundance 2023: ‘Bad Press’
January 26, 2023 23:56 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBIn 2015, tribal officials for the Muscogee (Creek) Nation called an emergency session. There, they repealed the Free Press Act, gutting protections for journalism.
Utah’s Cold Fusion Moment
January 20, 2023 21:51 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBIn 1989, The University of Utah was in the national spotlight when two of its chemists announced the discovery of a powerful energy source that would solve the world’s energy problems: cold fusion.
Sundance Film Festival: Food and Country
January 20, 2023 06:04 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBThe Covid-19 pandemic upended just about every system we rely on, including the chain linking farmers to chefs. A new documentary examines the farm-to-table relationship.
Managing the Colorado River ... 100 Years Later
January 14, 2023 15:39 - 51 minutes - 23.7 MBWhen state and federal negotiators met in 1922 to divide up the water in the Colorado River, they did so with a mistaken understanding of how much water there actually was in the river. It’s a mistake we’ve been dealing with ever since.
David Quammen on the Race to Defeat Covid-19
January 13, 2023 01:45 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBThe story of Covid-19 is far from over. In fact, it may not have an ending at all. But the tale of how we got here and where we’re headed is coming into focus.
2023: The Year Ahead
January 07, 2023 16:06 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBIn 2022, our water levels continued to shrink, LDS Church practices came under the microscope and Utah’s Republican status was tested. So, now what, 2023?
The Greatest Speeches Never Heard
January 06, 2023 00:30 - 53 minutes - 24.2 MBHave you ever wondered what Hillary Clinton might’ve said if she’d become president? Actually, you can know — by reading her speech that was never delivered.