Results tagged “npr”

Bummed Talk Of The Nation and Afropop got booted in the latest reshuffle of the WBEZ schedule? Want to know why there's only 5 episodes of Radiolab listed? Bummed you have to wait until the afternoon to hear Terry Gross spar with guests like Gene Simmons? Acting Program Director Steve Edwards explains all.

We all remember the famous appearance by a coyote in a Loop Quizno's a few years ago and we also know it wasn't the first such sighting. Now a report on NPR's All Things Considered confirms what we always suspected: an army of coyotes is quietly amassing itself for a ruthless take-over of the city. Okay, it's not that bad, but still, there are an awful lot of coyotes hiding around the city.

Whack-ass weather be damned, it's summer, and Millennium Park is plowing ahead like we aren't in the middle of the lousiest warm season in twelve years. The gems continue Thursday evening with a free taping of "Wait, Wait...Don't Tell Me!"

Ah, the public radio fundraising drive. We love NPR - and we've got a whole heap of love for the badasses at WBEZ - but sometimes we get a bit miffed with the interruptions asking us for money. Well, our pals at the BEZ have come up with a pretty clever campaign that not only raises money to help keep them on the air, but keeps us entertained to boot. They've launched WBEZ20, a new website featuring videos, comments, and other interactive features while at the same time asking readers to donate $20 to help keep the station going. It's a pretty great idea and will help keep their programming interruption to a minimum.

This American Life is hitting the road to record some live shows this spring. Ira and crew will be hitting the Chicago Theatre on April 19 for a live recording. Per the Theatre's website, "The performance will include extra-special visual components, and feature audience favorites Dan Savage, David Rakoff, Starlee Kine, Mike Birbiglia and Dave Hill." Sounds good to us! Tickets go on sale this morning in...about half an hour, so get your clicking fingers ready! [via Gapers Block]

WBEZ announced two new additions to its Saturday afternoon line-up. Definitely Not The Opera and Ideas will run from 2 p.m. - 4 p.m. and replace the canceled Weekend America.

Was this a slip? Was someone supposed to muzzle this unwitting sap before he spilled the beans? No matter what, we now know that the hit WBEZ show has arranged to film a pilot episode has been talking with CBS about maybe making it into a series.

Despite being one of the city’s most notorious warm-weather tourist hubs, Millennium Park just keeps bangin’ out some rather impressive locally oriented programming. This week is no exception, as the Park celebrates Blockbuster Week, a celebration of some of Chicago’s “most beloved cultural gems.” Two highlights, both of which come at no charge to you:

. The Peabody board describes the show thusly: "A zippy update of one of broadcasting's long-ago staples, this live quiz show reminds listeners of the week's news even as host Peter Sagal and various panelists make witty sport of it."

Funny Ha-Ha is a guaranteed good time. Tonight's edition at The Hideout features a host of writers, but seems to be "headlined" by Eric Zorn. We love Zorn, but find it kind of funny his credit is "Chicago Tribune Columnist & Blogger" while Claire Zulkey's is "Blogger & TV Critic for The Onion & Los Angeles Times."

Bill will chill has been answered with the announcement of the former president's campaign itinerary. Next stop on the legacy-tarnishing express: Edwardsville, IL. Hillary's more controversial half will be campaigning in the small town near St. Louis tomorrow morning, hosting a "Solutions for America" rally at Southern Illinois University at 7:45 a.m.

We first heard of Acrassicauda through a story on NPR, describing the trials and tribulations of these heavy metal band of Iraqi refugees. They were recently hunkered down in Damascus, but got out in the nick of time when Syria started ejecting all Iraqi refugees, and not the group is in Istanbul ... trying their damndest to keep from getting sent back to Bagdhad.

Intonation is back! And they’ve partnered with the MCA to put on a big ‘ole party as part of the museum’s 40-year celebration. Even better? The whole show is as free as air. Intonation’s Rock/Art kicks off on tomorrow at 1 p.m. with a whole slew of local bands, representing some of the most notable sounds to come out of Chicago in the recent past. When you get there, check out the new Sympathy...

Winner of a special prize at the Berlin Film Festival, #12 on Metacritic's All-Time High Scores and one of the first 50 films chosen for preservation in the National Film Registry, Killer of Sheep has always been a film more talked about than seen. Until now. This week you'll probably be hearing a lot more about it, because twenty years after it was finished it's finally getting a release; it opens Friday at the Music Box.

What's Carl's Itinerary?

NPR Host Peter Sagal — Again

A.O Scott’s review of the new Michael Moore movie begins with a very astute observation; namely, that whenever Moore’s name is brought up it is inevitably attached to adjectives such as “polarizing,” “controversial,” “provocative,” and “muck-raking.” And that it is the media itself which perpetuates the use of these adjectives. Would one describe Steven Spielberg as “polarizing?” Spielberg has two films in the top ten highest-grossing films of all time and no one describes him that way. Yet (among documentaries) Moore has two films in the top five. How “controversial” can a filmmaker be and yet sell so many tickets? We just think he’s a filmmaker possessing a keen instinct for issues that get people riled up, which is a good thing.

We're not sure if she got the idea from the teens who were on NPR or not, but state senator Carol Ronan is taking on the "alcopops".

After careful thought and consideration about whether he will run for President in 2008, Senator Barack Obama announced today that he will begin even more serious thought and consideration today.

Chicagoist loves the iTunes. When we purchased our first Mac back in 2002, iTunes was our favorite application for messing with our (then) ten gigs of MP3s. We previously used MusicMatch Jukebox, but iTunes simply beat the socks off of that and turned us into a die-hard Apple fan.

We were on our way to work this morning and happened upon this hilarious story on NPR about our capital city hiring a “bird whisperer” to handle a bothersome pigeon situation downtown. Slow news day, we thought. But then the plot thickened. Jim Soules, owner of Soules Bird Repellant Co., gets paid to ward off birds from various Illinois cities, and he claims to do so without harming the creatures in any way. All he says about his methods is that he doesn’t shoot, poison, or trap the birds, or use lights, sounds or smells to scare them off. The 84-year-old has “whispered” for the city of Decatur already, and Springfield just signed the guy up to a 3-year $164,000 contract.

If it weren't for our life as an -ist, we're not sure we'd ever leave our apartment. Fortunately, to fully -ist, one must seek out the new, the fresh, and the unknown. Brand new, or just new to us, that's what we're all about this week.

Last evening at the Park West, Chicagoist attended the Mason Jennings show. Mason Jennings has stated that he is interested in the experience of life and his songs relate those experiences in an extremely personal way. In fact, it’s a little shocking at just how vulnerable he allows himself to be in his songwriting.

Thanks to an incentive-laden deal with the state, Pabst Brewing Company is moving their corporate headquarters from San Antonio (WTF? Milwaukee was so bad they had to move to San Antonio?) to suburban Woodridge, according to an article in today's Sun-Times. The deal, which gives Pabst a nearly $1 million tax incentive and training funding package for 31 executives, to be hired from the area. Pabst itself ifs spending $2.4 million to lease a facility...

Newspaper publishers shocked the world ... of geeky stock analysts yesterday when many posted dismal results for the first quarter.

In today’s Sun-Times, David Jakubiak discusses a CD spotlighting the local hip-hop radio show “CTA Radio” broadcast on the University of Chicago’s WHPK 88.5 FM. The comp will be released on New York label Raptivism Records. Artists like Twista, Kanye and Common have led many to suggest a renaissance is brewing for Chicago’s hip-hop community and Raptivism label head Vincent Merry agrees: "It's a really large city with a very diverse population and numerous institutions...

We’ve already told you about the weekly tapings of locally produced NPR hit Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me. We decided to attend yesterday's taping when we heard that Sarah Silverman was to be a call-in guest, since we honestly can’t get enough of that gal. Though we do admit to being totally mystified as to why a woman that cool is dating Jimmy Kimmel. Ah, those vexing mysteries of life. We arrived at the taping...

A couple of things caught our attention yesterday and we thought we’d share them. First off Ike Reilly will be on NPR’s World Café today. Now this would be easier if Chicago’s WBEZ carried the show, but it doesn’t so we all have to continuously check the Archives in order to see when they have that up to hear the stylings of Libertyville's finest. And far be it from us to not break news...

We're not proud, but man we are facinated with bank robberies in Chicago this year. As we mentioned a couple of weeks ago, Chicago was on pace to shatter the 1995 record of 195 robberies. On December 2nd, we did that. Local media has been tracking the robberies daily, with today's count at 212, according to an NPR report Chicagoist heard this morning. The robbery spree isn't limited to just particular Chicago banks. The pictures...