St. Louis on the Air
St. Louis Public Radio
St. Louis on the Air creates a unique space where guests and listeners can share ideas and opinions with respect and honesty. Whether exploring issues and challenges confronting our region, discussing the latest innovations in science and technology, taking a closer look at our history or talking with authors, artists and musicians, St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region.
Episodes
Mentioned books
May 23, 2022 • 15min
Soccer star and World Cup-winner Lori Lawson cheers equal pay breakthrough
In 2015, Lori Lawson won a World Cup with the U.S. national team. But she and her teammates were paid significantly less for the win than male players — and that unequal system persisted until last week, when U.S. Soccer announced a new collective bargaining agreement that equalizes pay for men and women. Lawson joins St. Louis on the Air to discuss what led to this historic agreement.
May 23, 2022 • 19min
Amur leopard cubs at St. Louis Zoo owe their existence to ‘computerized dating’
Amur leopard cubs Anya and Irinia were born last month at the St. Louis Zoo. Steve Bircher, curator of carnivores at the St. Louis Zoo, explains how their birth is part of an elaborate scientific matchmaking service that’s meant to preserve the species. Fewer than 100 Amur leopards now exist in the wild.
May 20, 2022 • 18min
15 years in the making, St. Louis band Thor Axe releases debut album
Guitarists Phil Ring and Ryan Wasoba share the secrets of Thor Axe, a long-running side project for members of indie rock band So Many Dynamos that brings humor (and influences of Nintendo video game soundtrack) to the St. Louis band scene.
May 20, 2022 • 14min
How a surprising MoBot discovery is saving Mead’s milkweed
Beloved by Monarch butterflies, Mead’s milkweed has become threatened as prairie habitats disappear. Now researchers at the Missouri Botanical Garden have made a surprising discovery that is giving the species a fighting chance at survival. MoBot scientist Christy Edwards discusses how her research changed conservation practices.
May 20, 2022 • 23min
How a fuel specialist fights fire with fire in Missouri’s Mark Twain forest
Bennie Terrell has worked for 22 years as a fuel specialist in Missouri’s Mark Twain National Forest. He describes how prescribed burns help restore ecosystems — while also addressing an ongoing controversy over a prescribed burn gone terribly awry in New Mexico.
May 19, 2022 • 26min
Afghan refugees now have permanent housing in St. Louis. Next up: classes, grants and new careers
Seven months after landing in St. Louis, nearly 600 Afghan refugees are living in permanent housing. But the International Institute has higher aims: to turn St. Louis into a destination for more Afghan refugees. CEO Arrey Obenson and Moji Sidiqi, who manages the Afghan Support Program, discuss what’s on tap.
May 19, 2022 • 8min
Bilingual International’s senior center reunites after two years of separation
Missouri’s only senior center devoted to immigrants and refugees resumed its popular senior groups in April. Producer Kayla Drake went to the Macklind International Senior Center’s picnic in Tower Grove Park — their first since the pandemic started.
May 19, 2022 • 20min
Campbell House tells the story of Eliza Rone and slavery in the 19th century
Up until about a decade ago, it was believed that prominent 19th-century St. Louisans Robert and Virginia Campbell had never enslaved people at the St. Louis mansion that bears their name. A small detail in a St. Louis census changed that understanding, and now the story of an enslaved woman, Eliza Rone, is told in the new exhibit, “The Back of the House: Servants and Slavery at Campbell House.”
May 18, 2022 • 20min
After his ‘little brother’ was murdered in Kinloch, author Ben Westhoff sought answers
Ben Westhoff discusses his relationship with Jorell Cleveland, with whom he was paired by Big Brothers Big Sisters — and his quest for the truth about Cleveland’s life and death after the 19-year-old was murdered in north St. Louis County.
May 18, 2022 • 32min
Post-Dispatch Editor Alan Achkar: Changes are coming
Former Post-Dispatch metro editor Alan Achkar recently returned to lead the daily as its editor-in-chief. He discusses what got him into journalism, what brought him back to St. Louis, and why he’s axing arts reviews. He also takes questions from callers.
