Programs

This episode was recorded on March 17th, 2024 at the Culture Center Theater in Charleston, WV. The lineup includes Nothin' Fancy, Missy Raines & Allegheny, Rory Block, Ed Snodderly, and Meredith Moon.  https://bit.ly/3xMupLZ

Remembering is a tricky, unstable business. This hour: a look behind the curtain of how memories are made…and forgotten.  The act of recalling in our minds something that happened in the past is an unstable and profoundly unreliable process–it’s easy come, easy go as we learn how true memories can be obliterated, and false ones added. Then, Oliver Sacks joins us to tell the story of an amnesiac whose love for his wife and music transcend his 7-second memory.Our newsletter comes out every Wednesday. It includes short essays, recommendations, and details about other ways to interact with the show. Sign up (https://radiolab.org/newsletter)!Radiolab is supported by listeners like you. Support Radiolab by becoming a member of The Lab (https://members.radiolab.org/) today.Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @radiolab, and share your thoughts with us by emailing radiolab@wnyc.org.Leadership support for Radiolab’s science programming is provided by the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation, Science Sandbox, a Simons Foundation Initiative, and the John Templeton Foundation. Foundational support for Radiolab was provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot talk all-things college radio with Dr. Katherine Rye Jewell, author of Live from the Underground: A History of College Radio. Jim and Greg also review the latest records from Alejandro Escovedo and Vampire Weekend.Donate to Al Otro Lado Here: gum.fm/charityVolunteer with Al Otro Lado Here: alotrolado.org/volunteerJoin our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/3eEvRnGMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah  Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundops Featured Songs:R.E.M., "Radio Free Europe," Murmur, I.R.S., 1983The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967Alejandro Escovedo, "John Conquest," Echo Dancing, Yep Roc, 2024Alejandro Escovedo, "Too Many Tears," Echo Dancing, Yep Roc, 2024Alejandro Escovedo, "Bury Me," Echo Dancing, Yep Roc, 2024Alejandro Escovedo, "Last to Know," Echo Dancing, Yep Roc, 2024Vampire Weekend, "Prep-School Gangsters," Only God Was Above Us, Columbia, 2024Vampire Weekend, "Mary Boone," Only God Was Above Us, Columbia, 2024Vampire Weekend, "Ice Cream Piano," Only God Was Above Us, Columbia, 2024Vampire Weekend, "Gen-X Cops," Only God Was Above Us, Columbia, 2024Man or Astro-man?, "Television Fission," Experiment Zero, Touch and Go, 1996The Replacements, "Left of the Dial," Tim, Sire, 1985Pixies, "Monkey Gone to Heaven," Doolittle, Elektra, 1989Phil Collins, "You'll Be in My Heart," Tarzan: An Original Walt Disney Records Soundtrack, Walt Disney, 1999See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The brightest star in the night sky is getting ready to leave it for a while. Sirius, the Dog Star, is low in the southwest as night falls. Over the next few weeks, it’ll sink deeper into the twilight, then disappear from view. Sirius is almost nine light-years away. And it actually consists of two stars, not one. The one we see is a good bit bigger, brighter, and heavier than the Sun. The other is about the same mass as the Sun, but a whole lot smaller — only as big as Earth. That star is a white dwarf. It’s the crushed core of a star that originally was more massive than its companion. Because of those extra pounds, the star aged more quickly. It puffed up to giant proportions. When it could no longer produce energy in its core, it cast off its outer layers, leaving only the dead core. The white dwarf is so small and faint that it’s visible only through a telescope. The bright star of Sirius eventually will suffer the same fate. And so will the Sun — but not for several billion years. Sirius will return to view — in the morning sky — in August, with the exact date depending on your location. From ancient Egypt, it disappeared for about 70 days. Sirius was important in both religious and secular life. So 70 days became the length of time set aside to prepare a dead king’s body for the afterlife. And the star’s reappearance marked the start of a new year — in a calendar regulated by the Dog Star. Script by Damond Benningfield

We spotlight our fave tracks of the 2020's to date, including songs from Cimafunk, Trueno, Marilina Bertoldi, Francisca Valenzuela, Girl Ultra, Ramona, Bizarrap & Snow The Product and more!

A girl signs up for a class. A couple hires an accountant. A group of co-workers decides to pool their money and buy a couple of lottery tickets. In the beginning, they're full of hope and optimism — and then something turns. Stories of good ideas gone bad. Prologue: Paul was a cop. One night he was pulling second shift when he had a perfectly good idea: He'd stretch out in the back seat and take a little nap during his break. He fell right asleep, and slept well until he woke up and realized the funny thing about the back seats of cop cars: The doors don't open from the inside. Paul is author of the book Bad Cop: New York's Least Likely Police Officer Tells All. (8 minutes)Act One: It was two months into the tour. Katie Else and the rest of the Riverdance cast had been performing eight shows a week. They decided to pool their money for the Mega-Millions lottery. Lotto fever gripped the cast. They started to genuinely believe they would take home about $2 million each, and quit Riverdance the next day. They took the stage the night of the drawing and pulled off their best performance ever, "For the Lotto!," trying to direct their energy towards the win. An hour later, at the hotel bar, the numbers came in. (17 minutes)Act Two: After years of neglecting their personal finances, Joel and his wife finally decide to sort things out. They hire a tax accountant named Len, whose casual manner is a real comfort, at first. But then, "casual" turns into "drunk" and then it's clear that he's just plain delinquent. Joel tries to take his business elsewhere, but Len refuses to let go of their file. He begs for a second chance, which it seems, came too late. Joel Lovell is executive editor at Pineapple Street Media. (8 minutes)Act Three: Davy Rothbart was on a 136-city tour appearing on morning TV talk shows to promote his book Found: The Best Lost, Tossed, and Forgotten Items from Around the World. Just before one appearance he had what seemed like a great idea at the time. Without letting the host know, he tested it out, live, on-air. Davy is the creator of Found Magazine and author of the book of essays My Heart Is An Idiot. (6 minutes)Act Four: When Elspeth was a girl, she wanted nothing more than her father's attention. He was busy, a doctor, and distant. One day he agrees to put on a volunteer seminar for their church, about his area of expertise: "The Function of the Heart." Elspeth and her best friend are the only two kids who show up, and Elspeth is attentive and engaged, the perfect student. It was an incredible experience for her, the best day she's ever spent with her dad…she thinks. That is, until her mother takes her aside and explains her big mistake. (8 minutes)Transcripts are available at thisamericanlife.org