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
2022 Sundance Film Festival: 'Descendant'
January 28, 2022 19:20 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBIn 1860, the Clotilda docked in Mobile, Alabama — the last known slave ship to land on U.S. shores. The ship's story and legacy are the subject of Descendant, a documentary screening at this year's Sundance Film Festival and the focus of our show this hour.
Dana Stevens on Buster Keaton And The Invention Of The 20th Century
January 28, 2022 03:48 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBIn a new book, the film critic Dana Stevens explores the creative genius of Buster Keaton. She is, of course, interested in Keaton’s indelible contributions to cinema, but she also sees him as a window, or better yet, a mirror of his cultural era.
2022 Sundance Film Festival: 'The Mission'
January 21, 2022 17:23 - 50 minutes - 23 MBFour teenagers left their homes in the U.S. to live in Finland for the next eighteen months or two years. Why? They're missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — and a 2022 Sundance Film Festival documentary shares their stories.
Journalist Andrew Lawler Goes 'Under Jerusalem'
January 20, 2022 23:55 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBThe city of Jerusalem is widely thought of as the gateway to heaven. And yet, as the journalist Andrew Lawler reveals in a new book, what lay below the Holy City is almost as intriguing as what many believe awaits above it.
How The Utah Legislature Really Works
January 14, 2022 18:14 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBTuesday, Jan. 18, is the kick-off date for the 2022 General Session of the Utah Legislature. So, how does our state government actually pass laws? And who are the people who decide the rules that affect all of us?
Web Extra: Art And Belief And The Reconciliation Of Trevor Southey
January 14, 2022 04:57 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBIn a new documentary film, the artist and painter Nathan Florence explores a collective of influential Utah artists who aimed to use their creative gifts to make the kind of work collected in major museums that also expressed their deeply held faith in the LDS Church.
Art And Belief And The Reconciliation Of Trevor Southey
January 14, 2022 04:57 - 26 minutes - 12.1 MBIn a new documentary film, the artist and painter Nathan Florence explores a collective of influential Utah artists who aimed to use their creative gifts to make the kind of work collected in major museums that also expressed their deeply held faith in the LDS Church.
Who's Responsible For Racism In Davis County And The Rest Of Utah?
January 14, 2022 01:37 - 51 minutes - 23.6 MBLate last year, the Department of Justice chastised the Davis School District for failing to address “serious and widespread” racist behavior. But where does the buck stop for that problem?
Who's Responsible For Racism In Utah?
January 14, 2022 01:37 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBLate last year, the Department of Justice chastised the Davis School District for failing to address “serious and widespread” racist behavior. But where does the buck stop for that problem?
Is Child Sex Trafficking The Epidemic Operation Underground Railroad Says It Is?
January 07, 2022 22:14 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBThe Utah-based anti-child sex trafficking group Operation Underground Railroad has gained immense popularity on social media in recent years. But according to a recent article in The Atlantic, the group and many of its well-meaning followers are spurred on largely by conspiratorial thinking.
Embracing Habit With Meghan O’Gieblyn
January 07, 2022 19:13 - 51 minutes - 23.5 MBLooking to feel more peaceful this year? Maybe even a little more transcendence? The writer Meghan O’Gieblyn has some advice: Lean into daily routines. Cultivate habits.
'The Language Of Fanaticism' With Amanda Montell
December 31, 2021 06:59 - 51 minutesWe can probably all picture the stereotype of cult members: glassy-eyed, dressed alike, fixated on their leader. And then we might feel smug, because we’re nothing like them. Right?
The Science Behind Why We Avoid Exercise With Daniel Lieberman
December 31, 2021 06:57 - 50 minutesIf it feels like a slog to get to the gym and hit the weights, the reason may be much deeper than laziness — it could be evolution asking you to stay home.Our guest, paleoanthropologist Daniel Lieberman, says regular exercise — working out, on purpose, to get healthier — was never part of the plan for natural selection. (Hey, as long as the species keeps breeding, right?) But we’re also not supposed to sit around all day and do nothing. We did evolve to use our bodies and even to work them pr...
Web Extra: Desmond Tutu On Forgiveness
December 28, 2021 19:15 - 50 minutesDesmond Tutu passed away on December 26th, 2021. We’re sharing Doug Fabrizio’s 2002 interview with him.
The Story Behind Handel's 'Messiah'
December 24, 2021 07:38 - 51 minutesHandel’s Messiah is likely the world’s most famous oratorio – it’s certainly the most performed. But what's the story behind it?
Two Stories For Christmas
December 24, 2021 07:36 - 59 minutesOn this 2021 Christmas, we know the holidays still might look different than in years past. RadioWest’s gift to you is something familiar – two of our favorite holiday stories.
George Packer: America’s 'Last Best Hope'
December 16, 2021 20:48 - 51 minutesJournalist and author George Packer is one of the country’s most astute observers of American society – with all of its flaws. But after years of reporting on our decline, Packer experienced a new feeling while writing his latest book: hope.
Restitution And Reconciliation On America’s Stolen Lands
December 16, 2021 20:05 - 51 minutesWhat would it look like, and what would it mean, if the United States acted to reconcile its brutal treatment and violent dispossession of Indigenous people?
Web Extra: Can We Ever Solve Homelessness?
December 09, 2021 23:28 - 1 hourOn December 8th, RadioWest’s Doug Fabrizio and the Salt lake City Public Library hosted a virtual conversation about homelessness. Is it a problem that can actually be solved?
Saving The Future With Katharine Hayhoe
December 09, 2021 23:22 - 51 minutesClimate scientist and evangelical Christian Katharine Hayhoe says one of the most important ways to fight climate change is to talk about it. And she wants to show people how.
Filmmaker Glenn Meehan On The 'Invisible Civil War' In Short Creek
December 09, 2021 23:02 - 51 minutesTen years after FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was imprisoned for child sexual assault, his former fiefdom, the southwestern Utah community of Short Creek, continues to struggle to find its identity.
Porter Fox On The Future Of Winter
December 02, 2021 22:25 - 50 minutesWinter is shrinking. In Utah, we see snowlines receding up the mountain and around the world, ice is melting at incredible rates. In a new book, the writer Porter Fox explores this drastic change and how it could change much of the world.
RadioWest's 2021 Holiday Book Show
November 25, 2021 00:44 - 51 minutesIt’s that time of year again! Time for the RadioWest Holiday Book Show!
History And Recipes From A New Native Kitchen
November 19, 2021 01:28 - 50 minutesThanksgiving is fast approaching, and we’re marking the occasion with a conversation about indigenous foodways.
What Is Happening In The Davis County School District?
November 19, 2021 00:02 - 51 minutesA Department of Justice report released in October detailed “serious and widespread” racist behavior against Black and Asian-American students in Utah’s second largest school district.
Emily Kaplan On The Rise of the Liberal Latter-day Saints
November 11, 2021 22:02 - 49 minutesIn a feature piece for the Washington Post Magazine, reporter Emily Kaplan writes that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is an institution “that has excelled at survival and, often, reinvention.”
RadioWest 20th Anniversary: The Human Voice
November 11, 2021 22:01 - 51 minutesRadioWest commemorated its 20th anniversary this week with a live show celebrating the human voice. If you couldn’t join us, don’t worry — we recorded the event.
Composer Jan Swafford on 'Mozart: The Reign of Love'
November 04, 2021 19:44 - 51 minutes - 3.01 KBYou could say that Mozart is the gateway drug to a love of classical music. But who was the person behind the music? Author-composer Jan Swafford joins us to help us better understand the most famous name in classical music .
'Finding the Mother Tree' With Suzanne Simard
November 04, 2021 19:44 - 51 minutes - 3 KBIf you look at a forest, what do you see? It’s just trees, right? Well, when Suzanne Simard looks at a forest, she sees a community of social, cooperative, communicative creatures with lives very much like our own.
John McWhorter On Woke Racism
October 28, 2021 23:24 - 51 minutes - 3.01 KBAre aspects of today’s so-called “woke” culture and anti-racism actually harming the cause of racial equality in America? Author and linguist John McWhorter says yes.
Radio Hour Episode 15: SLEEPY HOLLOW
October 28, 2021 20:30 - 47 minutes - 2.81 KBPlan-B Theatre and RadioWest are back with a new hour of live radio theatre!
An American Indian Captive In The House of Brigham Young
October 22, 2021 00:22 - 50 minutes - 2.98 KBIn 1847, soon after Latter-Day Saints settled in Utah, a battered and bloody young Pavant Ute woman was traded to the family of Brigham Young for a rifle. Given the name Sally Kanosh, she lived the next 30 years as a servant in the household of the LDS leader.
Richard Thompson Ford On How The Laws Of Fashion Made History
October 22, 2021 00:20 - 51 minutes - 3 KBIn his new book, author Richard Thompson Ford examines the history of how we dress and how clothing affects individuals and society — for the good and the bad. For as long as we’ve clothed ourselves, what we wear has offered an immediate look into who we are and where we come from. But beyond what clothes say about us, how we choose to dress — and how we’re told to dress — reveals just as much about who has the power in society. In the 18th century, if Black Americans dressed “above their sta...
Dr. Bruce Greyson on Near Death Experiences
October 15, 2021 01:05 - 51 minutes - 3 KBStories of near-death experiences are not uncommon, but science generally dismisses them as tricks of the brain. But is dying really the end of consciousness?
McKay Coppins On The Vultures Ravaging America's Newspapers
October 14, 2021 23:02 - 50 minutes - 2.98 KBNewspapers across America have been struggling for years. Some of that can be chalked up to failing to adjust to the digital age. But then there’s the case of Alden Global Capital. It’s a hedge fund, run by two men who, a new article by The Atlantic says, gutted newsrooms across the country in their pursuit of profit.
The State And Fate Of The Great Salt Lake, Part II
October 08, 2021 17:00 - 51 minutes - 3.01 KBAccording to scientists who study it, the Great Salt Lake — the largest saltwater lake in the western hemisphere — is drying up.The lake has already reached the lowest water level in history, and its receding waters and growing shorelines could bring massive changes to its complex ecosystem.
Brad Ricca On The Real Raiders Of The Lost Ark
October 08, 2021 02:18 - 51 minutes - 3 KBThe 1981 film Raiders of the Lost Ark is a cultural icon. Less known is the true story of the 1909 expedition lead by British nobleman Montagu Parker to find the Ark of the Covenant.
More Than Green Jell-O: Utah's Food Traditions
September 30, 2021 22:49 - 48 minutes - 2.82 KBWe’re talking about Utah foodways this week. Plenty of places have distinctive culinary traditions, but what are Utah’s?
Eric Garcia on Autism: 'We’re Not Broken'
September 23, 2021 23:10 - 51 minutes - 3.01 KBThe title of journalist Eric Garcia’s book, We’re Not Broken: Changing the Autism Conversation , says it all: People with autism don’t need to be fixed.
‘Sagebrush Empire’ And The Battle Over Public Land
September 23, 2021 23:05 - 51 minutes - 3 KBA war over public lands in the Western U.S. has been raging for decades. And the epicenter of that battle? According to journalist Jonathan Thompson, it’s in southeastern Utah’s San Juan County.
How Do We Talk About The Painful Legacy Of Native American Boarding Schools?
September 17, 2021 02:51 - 51 minutes - 3.01 KBIn August, The Salt Lake Tribune reported that the bodies of Paiute children are likely buried on the property of a former Indigenous boarding school in Panguitch, Utah. It's a difficult and painful subject to talk about, and some members of the Paiute tribe wish the story had never been told by the media in the first place.
Kathryn Bond Stockton on Gender(s)
September 10, 2021 06:10 - 48 minutes - 2.83 KBHow many genders are there? Nonbinary.wiki lists 32 common genders — and that’s just the beginning. It can get confusing … and queer.
When Nature Breaks The Law With Mary Roach
September 09, 2021 22:11 - 50 minutes - 2.96 KBHumans mostly keep a clear line between our world and the animal kingdom. But animals have a habit of crossing that line — to funny and sometimes dangerous effect.
What It Means To Be Alive with Carl Zimmer
August 19, 2021 21:58 - 51 minutes - 3 KBIt seems an obvious question: What is life? But science writer Carl Zimmer says the answer to it is far more complicated than it appears at first glance.
Rebecca Wragg Sykes On Our Neanderthal Ancestors
August 19, 2021 21:57 - 51 minutes - 3 KBThe pop-culture stereotype of a Neanderthal – even the word itself – conjures the image of a stumbling buffoon, dressed in a loincloth, banging some rocks together. But who actually were our ancient relatives?
The State And Fate Of The Great Salt Lake
August 12, 2021 23:13 - 49 minutes - 2.91 KBThere’s no sugarcoating it: The Great Salt Lake is dying. In fact, the obituary has already been written , and according to the people studying the problem, we may only have a matter of months before the fate of the lake and all that it supports is sealed for good.
Niall Ferguson On The Politics Of Catastrophe
August 12, 2021 23:04 - 50 minutes - 2.97 KBThe historian and author Niall Ferguson says that, on some level, every disaster is man-made—that so-called “natural” disasters are usually made worse by our bungling.
The Science Behind Why We Avoid Exercise
August 05, 2021 19:12 - 50 minutes - 2.94 KBIf it feels like a slog to get to the gym and hit the weights, the reason may be much deeper than laziness — it could be evolution asking you to stay home.
Heather McGhee And The Hidden Cost Of Racism
August 05, 2021 19:11 - 49 minutes - 2.91 KBWe know that racism is dangerous to a healthy society — physically dangerous, morally dangerous and also, Heather McGhee argues, economically dangerous for everyone in the country.
Web Extra: On the History of LDS Temple Garments
July 30, 2021 19:13 - 15 minutes - 909 BytesRecently we talked about about LDS temple garments and the Mormon women who aren’t comfortable wearing them. We’re also interested the history of these garments.