St. Louis on the Air

Those who staff and depend on the St. Louis region’s public transit system have seen some significant changes in recent days, particularly with the implementation of Metro Reimagined, Metro Transit’s overhaul of its Missouri-side bus lines. Host Sarah Fenske talks with transit riders and other stakeholders about the current state and future of public transit in the region. Joining the conversation are Metro Transit executive director Jessica Mefford-Miller, Citizens for Modern Transit board member D'Andre Braddix and St. Louis resident and frequent transit rider Mitch Eagles. The discussion also includes pre-recorded comments and live calls from commuters.

Women comprise nearly half of the United States’ civilian labor force, according to the Department of Labor’s latest statistics. Yet their annual median earnings — about $42,000 — still fall about $10,000 short of the median paycheck men see each year. And along with the compensation gap, other workforce gender-equity disparities remain common for many industries and employers. The Women’s Foundation of Greater St. Louis aims to measure progress on that front with its Women in the Workplace Employment Scorecard. The voluntary rating system, which is now underway for this year, includes a voluntary employer survey exploring policies, practices and work culture. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with Women’s Foundation Executive Director Lisa Weingarth about the organization’s findings on what makes a company work for women. The conversation also includes Affinia Healthcare's Kendra Holmes and NCADA's Stacie Zellin as well as the perspectives of fellow working women Catherine Brown and Emily Cantwell on what makes a job environment a great one — and what doesn’t.

Host Sarah Fenske gets the details on a controversial aerial surveillance program being proposed for St. Louis city.

Host Sarah Fenske delves into the purpose of emotional support animals, how they differ from standard service animals or pets, and what the law says about them.

University City, Missouri, is considered to be among the more diverse communities in a region still grappling with the stubborn legacy of segregation. But five decades ago, things were different in U. City, including at the local schools. When Judy Gladney began attending University City High School in the '60s, she was one of its very first African American students, and found herself bridging two disparate worlds. So did Eric Vickers, Gladney’s future husband. Years later, the two would send their children through the same school district, which is now largely non-white. As Gladney looks toward her 50th high school reunion this month, she joins host Sarah Fenske alongside her daughter Erica Vickers Cage and local journalist and storyteller Ellen Futterman.

While the sun’s rays were at full effect this August, the Missouri Botanical Garden launched its Grow Solar St. Louis program for St. Louis-area home and business owners. Property owners throughout the city and county can participate in this pilot program to help pool their buying power for discounts on solar panels. Host Sarah Fenske delves into why the initiative was started and how interested St. Louisans can use green energy to power their homes.

Only 10% of domestic violence shelters accept pets. That means many people fleeing abuse find themselves giving up animals with whom they’ve formed meaningful bonds. Lydia’s House is a St. Louis shelter that houses battered women and their pets for up to two years. The pet-friendly amenities at Lydia’s House are the result of Purina’s Purple Leash Project and the work of Rescue Rebuild. In this interview, Sarah Fenske talks about this ongoing effort with Purina president Nina Leigh Kruger and Karen Kirk, the executive director of Lydia’s House.

The late, great jazz composer and bandleader Duke Ellington once said, “Whether it be Shakespeare or jazz, the only thing that counts is the emotional effect on the listener.” In the summer of 1956, Ellington found himself seriously digging the bard. Inspired by his encounters with the Stratford Shakespeare Festival while on tour in Stratford, Ontario, he composed a twelve-part suite titled “Such Sweet Thunder.” This week, the critically acclaimed suite becomes the soundtrack for a new joint production from Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, Nine Network of Public Media, Jazz St. Louis, and The Big Muddy Dance Company. In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks about the production with Tom Ridgely, executive producer of Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, and Gene Dobbs Bradford, president and CEO of Jazz St. Louis.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with our partners at Sauce Magazine about the latest additions to the St. Louis region’s food-and-beverage community.

Growing up in Great Britain, Susan Walker heard bits and pieces about her great-aunt Mary Ranken Jordan, who had immigrated to the U.S. from Northern Ireland in the late 19th century. But several years ago she became determined to learn more about this distinguished yet mysterious relative. She knew of her lasting impact in St. Louis, and now Walker’s research into Ranken Jordan’s life and legacy has her traveling overseas herself to the Gateway City. In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks with Walker about the children’s hospital Jordan founded in 1941, what she’s learning through her research — and about what she’s still hoping to discover about her great-aunt from others.

Lt. Darla Gray remembers being the last person to enter the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department’s cadet program before it was dissolved in 1981. Now Gray is helping to lead its return. The program started back up in 2018 and presently boasts 64 aspiring officers. “I was actually looking at retirement, and they told me they were starting the program back up and asked if I would like to help develop it,” explains Gray. “And I postponed my retirement to do it, because I believe in this program that much.” In this episode, host Sarah Fenske talks with several of the young people currently participating in the cadet program as well as with Public Safety Director Jimmie Edwards.

Much of the conversation about contemporary American health care revolves around money more than actual medicine. But given the crushing costs associated with seemingly every aspect of the industry, that focus isn’t so surprising. As Dr. Marty Makary of Johns Hopkins University notes in his newly published book “The Price We Pay: What Broke American Healthcare — And How To Fix It,” one in five Americans currently has medical debt in collections. In this episode, Makary joins host Sarah Fenske to talk about his research into why costs are skyrocketing — and what can be done to redesign the broken U.S. health care system.

Among the local politicians with huge sway over the potential privatization of St. Louis Lambert International Airport is St. Louis Board of Aldermen President Lewis Reed. Host Sarah Fenske gets the politician's thoughts on the city’s exploration of a controversial experiment in privatization. Reed could ultimately prove the swing vote that determines whether an airport lease is approved.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with New York-based journalist Meaghan Winter about her book: “All Politics Is Local: Why Progressives Must Fight For The States.” It examines how Missouri, once a purple state, had become solidly red — with GOP representatives handily passing legislation that just years before might have felt too extreme.

In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks with Gena McClendon of Washington University about a study finding that on Election Day, voters encounter more obstacles in predominantly black and low-income neighborhoods. Local election board directors from the city and county, Gary Stoff and Eric Fey, also join the conversation.

Host Sarah Fenske takes a closer look at a St. Louis story, about a baby found in a freezer, that riveted the nation when it first broke. The family mystery behind the shocking headline is the focus of a new Riverfront Times feature.

The artistic path of Brian Owens has long charted both tribute territory and totally new ground, and Owens is known to navigate both well. The local singer-songwriter’s 2017 album “Soul of Cash” premiered via Rolling Stone, and that same year Owens released the song “For You,” showcasing the vocals of five-time Grammy winner Michael McDonald alongside his own. McDonald and Owens share a hometown — Ferguson, Missouri — and are collaborating musically again this Sunday during a benefit concert at the Touhill Performing Arts Center celebrating McDonald’s legacy. Owens joins host Sarah Fenske to discuss the event, which is billed as “A Night for Life” and also features “The Voice” contestant Kennedy Holmes. Owens also discusses his journey as a musician and community activist.

The Missouri Botanical Garden's scientists are closely surveying Midwestern plant life. Host Sarah Fenske talks about climate change’s effects on them with Missouri Botanical Garden's assistant scientist, Adam Smith, and Daria McKevley, a supervisor of home gardening information and outreach at the center.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Corinne Ruff about Denver’s failed effort in airport privatization. Does it present a cautionary tale for St. Louis?

Attorney Javad Khazaeli discusses the many complaints about former officer Eddie Boyd’s behavior over the years ⁠— and the fact he was hired in Ferguson after complaints of misconduct as a St. Louis Metropolitan Police officer. He also reveals that Boyd has recently left the Ferguson Police Department. In addition to the conversation with Khazaeli, this segment includes an interview with Walter Rice, Khazaeli's client, who details for the first time the impact that his arrest, and that of his wife, has had on their family.

Sauce Magazine’s latest issue features local career servers at some of St. Louis’ oldest establishments, like Tony’s and Sidney Street Cafe. Host Sarah Fenske talked with two of them about why they love what they do, how they’ve made a living in a job so dependent on gratuity and why the job is something for others to consider.

Host Sarah Fenske discusses Empower Missouri’s latest SNAP Challenge, which invites state and federal legislators to participate and shop for a three-day supply of food for a family of four using only the amount of money available to families from the program. She talked with Empower Missouri’s executive director, Jeanette Mott Oxford, and Shavanna Spratt, a stay-at-home mother who relies on SNAP benefits, and State Rep. Mary Elizabeth Coleman (R-Arnold), who participated in the challenge and documented her experience on Twitter.

In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Sarah Fenske talks with NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg. They discuss the rate at which the Trump administration has appointed federal appeals court judges and district court judge, the upcoming Supreme Court docket, and the loss of Nina's friend and colleague, Cokie Roberts.

Since 1999, Washington University’s Mini-Medical School has taught students everything from the basics of a checkup to how to repair nerves via microscopic surgery. In this episode of St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske learns more about Mini-Medical School by chatting with its director, Dr. Cynthia Wichelman. One of the courses’ presenters, a physician who studies gastrointestinal diseases, also joins the conversation alongside her patient, who lives with a chronic, inflammatory bowel disease.

Several years ago, restaurant industry veteran Michael “Kup” Kupstas was happily enjoying retirement when the appeal of Lion’s Choice prompted a change of plans. He wound up reentering the workforce in 2017 as the regional fast-food chain’s president and CEO. “It was really the similarity of an experience I had early on [in a previous role] with Panera, to be honest,” Kupstas says in this episode, explaining what impressed him about Lion’s Choice. “I think what makes certain brands stand out is that they are able to differentiate dramatically in a really crowded field.” Kupstas tells host Sarah Fenske that he was also drawn to the “loyal, fanatic fans” and the employees of Lion’s Choice, which Food & Wine magazine recently deemed Missouri’s best fast food.

St. Louis on the Air host Sarah Fenske was joined by Bill Freivogel of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, Mark Smith of Washington University, and Mary Anne Sedey of Sedey Harper Westhoff P.C. for September's legal roundtable. This included a federal lawsuit seeking class action status in connection with the so-called “kettle” arrests from 2017, an ongoing case about whether a Missouri representative can block a constituent on Twitter, and recent happenings in the St. Louis circuit attorney’s office.

Yesterday, Missouri Governor Mike Parson came to St. Louis for a packed afternoon of meetings. The topic: crime in St. Louis. His solution? More state troopers assigned to the city, in a variety of roles. And more funding -- $2 million -- for victims of violent crime. In this St. Louis on the Air segment, Sarah Fenske talks with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Rachel Lippmann about the governor's priorities.

The Loop Trolley platform just outside the Pageant in the Delmar Loop was packed last Friday evening with people waiting to board. That hasn’t been a common sight in recent months following the launch of the controversial trolley, but on this particular night, something was different. Local comedian Yale Hollander was rolling out the first iteration of Laugh Tracks, a unique comedic combination in which attendees need only pay the $2 trolley fare for about 45 minutes of family-friendly standup while riding the nostalgic vehicle. He talks with host Sarah Fenske and with local developer and trolley booster Joe Edwards about the comedy, the trolley and more.

Forward Through Ferguson has released the second report of their State of St. Louis series, “The State of Police Reform: What has and hasn’t changed in St. Louis policing?” The report concludes that since the Ferguson unrest, there have been more programs implemented than actual changes in policy, and that these programs bring short-term benefits, stopping short of lasting growth. The report says that the St. Louis region is in desperate need of holistic public safety policies that don’t rely on an arrest-and-incarcerate model. Sarah Fenske talks with Karishma Furtado, data and research catalyst for Forward Through Ferguson, in this episode of St. Louis on the Air.

Host Sarah Fenske talks with Western Wear Night ringleaders Ryan Koenig and Lucas Hanner. The segment also takes listeners to the latest iteration of the monthly event at the Whiskey Ring, which in some cases has attracted hundreds of attendees over the course of the evening.

Comptroller Darlene Green joins host Sarah Fenske to explain her outspoken views on airport privatization and a number of other city matters.

For five years, Champale Anderson has been distributing free snack bags to the kids in her neighborhood who would otherwise go hungry. She had been supplying the snacks out of pocket for awhile, and decided recently to start a GoFundMe campaign. She started the campaign with a goal of raising $1,500, and as of September 16, has raised more than $60,000. In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks with Anderson about her hopes for the campaign, which she is calling Champ’s Teardrops.

Before she became a household name for her internationally acclaimed illustration work, Mary Engelbreit was a typical young adult finding a way to make a living in St. Louis. In her late teens and early 20s, she worked at a local art store and an ad agency — and then landed a job as an editorial artist for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. But she was let go during her probation period, as she tells host Sarah Fenske in this episode, after she challenged the fact that men were paid much more than women. Leaving the daily newspaper gave her the time to develop greeting cards, and from there, what would become a wildly popular company bearing her name. Throughout her career, her lifelong love for drawing has remained central. She continues to call St. Louis home, and she talks about her journey and her craft ahead of her appearance at this weekend's BookFest in the Central West End.

In this interview, Sarah Fenske talks with historian Connie Sexauer about her new book “From A Park, To A Stadium, To A Little Piece of Heaven."

“Soul Train” was on TV. Groovy teachers were teaching “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” to the high school English classes. David Bowie stopped by Kiel Auditorium to promote a little album called “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.” Was there a more idyllic time to be a teenager than Creve Coeur in the early 1970s? For Jonathan, the protagonist of James Brandon’s new young adult novel “Ziggy, Stardust & Me,” it isn’t quite that simple. Sure, the music is incredible. But Jonathan is gay. And in St. Louis in 1973, that means intense and even painful therapy.

Bill McClellan has been entertaining and enlightening the readers of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for 39 years, all but three of them as its columnist. In recent months, even as he battles cancer for a second time, he has continued to file regular dispatches that probe the city’s past and its future with insight and good humor. In this episode, McClellan talks about the future of daily newspapers, the columns he’s lived to regret and the reason he continues to write, despite enduring regular chemotherapy treatments.

Since Jessica Ciccone moved back to her hometown of St. Louis in 2012 after years living in Boston, she’s found a niche connecting local professionals with business resources and service activities — and with each other. Those passions all come together in the nonprofit she helped to form a couple years ago, St. Louis Startup Ambassadors, for which she now serves as board vice president. The organization helps transplants find their way in what can be an insular town — although St. Louis natives and “boomerangs” like herself, who’ve moved back after years away, are also welcome. In this episode of the talk show, host Sarah Fenske chats with Ciccone and with Samantha Rudolph, the founder of Babyation, a company Rudolph describes as “unapologetically for moms." The shared their insights on starting businesses based in St. Louis and their experiences as professionals in a place recently named No. 1 among U.S. cities for its number of female entrepreneurs. The conversation also includes comments from Anthony Bartlett, who runs St. Louis Transplants, and Pravina Pindoria, co-founder of Tallyfy, as well as listeners.

Sarah Fenske talks with the new music director of the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra (SLSO), Stéphane Denève, ahead of its 140th season. Marie-Hélène Bernard, president and CEO of the SLSO, also joins the conversation.

The Missouri Alliance for Historic Preservation is releasing its 2019 "Places in Peril" list today, which details places threatened by deterioration, lack of maintenance, insufficient funding, imminent demolition and development. Sarah Fenske talked with Missouri Preservation's executive director, Bill Hart, about the places included on this year’s list.

The Municipal League of Metro St. Louis is in the process of submitting petitions to the election boards of the city and county that would begin the Board of Freeholders process. In this segment, Sarah Fenske talks with political correspondent Jason Rosenbaum and Municipal League executive director Pat Kelly who help explain how the Board of Freeholders process will work in the coming weeks and months.

On Thursday’s St. Louis on the Air, host Sarah Fenske was joined by Richard Ivey and Bailey Gettemeier, the actor managers of The Darkness and Creepyworld, respectively. They talked about running haunted houses, getting punched in the face on the job, and what it means to work as a scare actor.

Dr. Benjamin Rush is not yet the subject of a Ken Burns miniseries, but he surely ought to be. The Philadelphia physician was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, an anonymous polemicist who helped inspire the Boston Tea Party and the editor of Thomas Paine’s wildly influential “Common Sense.” And, as detailed in a new biography by Stephen Fried, he both treated and became a close friend to several U.S. presidents. He personally brought Thomas Jefferson and John Adams back together after their friendship seemed permanently ended. In this episode, Fried discusses “RUSH: Revolution, Madness, and the Visionary Doctor Who Became a Founding Father.” Published last year, the book is just out in paperback.

A lot has been said about music streaming, from its power to shift consumer habits to its role in shaping how artists get paid. For better or worse – it’s completely disrupted the music industry. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Anthony Anderson, founder of GF Music Group, and St. Louis Musician Kayla Thompson (KV The Writer). Also featuring comments from Jay Washington (Qwerty) in conversation with STLPR producer Alexis Moore.

Two high-ranking city officials join host Sarah Fenske to discuss the state of the St. Louis Lambert International Airport privatization process: Paul Payne, the city budget director and chairman of the airport working group, and Linda Martinez, deputy mayor for development.

LA-based comedian and podcaster Rhea Butcher is well aware that there are some bad things going on in today’s world. But the focus of Butcher’s current “Good Things Comedy Tour” lies elsewhere: with the good stuff. “To only look at the bad would be to give in to the bad, I feel like, in these times,” the Midwest native tells St. Louis Public Radio’s Kae Petrin. “And so to have a good time, or to spend time in goodness and having fun and being kind and being joyous and happy, is not to ignore the bad things. It’s actually a form of self-care and growth and invigoration to take care of each other, I’ve found.” That’s the kind of vibe that eventgoers of all ages can expect at the Ready Room this Sunday.

Danny Wicentowski conducted lots of different interviews for his latest Riverfront Times cover story digging into the status of a proposed $190 million Novus redevelopment near Interstate 170 and Olive Boulevard. The same word — limbo — kept popping up in his conversations with various sources, as he mentions in his piece. The proposed development was publicly unveiled more than a year ago. Yet residents and business owners in the path of the Costco-focused "University Place" are still waiting to find out whether it's definitely moving forward. That's left their future in the neighborhood uncertain. Host Sarah Fenske talks with Wicentowski about his reporting on the saga. The conversation also includes comments from longtime U City homeowner Letha Baptiste, who has thus far declined to accept Novus’ offer of an option contract on her house.

Thirteen-year-old St. Louisan Tarek Husseini spent four weeks in Los Angeles this past summer competing for a $25,000 prize. Now, for the last six weeks, viewers of the Food Network’s “Kids Baking Championship” have watched Husseini and other up-and-coming bakers impress the judges with one kitchen creation after another. The Ladue resident made it through the semifinal episode that premiered on Monday. In this talk show segment, he chats with host Sarah Fenske ahead of next week's final episode.

In this interview, Dr. Jessica Gold, an assistant professor of psychiatry at Washington University in St. Louis, talks with Sarah Fenske about the danger of a perceived link between mental illness and gun violence.

A multitude of truncated earthworks — more commonly known as mounds — once dotted the St. Louis landscape. For the ancient Mississippian people who constructed them many centuries ago, these structures were full of meaning and purpose. The mounds also drew the interest of European newcomers to the region long after the mounds were built. But by the late 19th century, most of these sacred Native American places had been destroyed — the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site in Collinsville, Illinois, being a significant exception. In this conversation, host Sarah Fenske talks with Patricia Cleary, a St. Louis native who is currently working on a book about the mounds that she plans to publish leading up to Missouri’s bicentennial celebration of statehood in 2021.

In April of 1968, Jane Elliott was a third-grade teacher in the small town of Riceville, Iowa. On the day after Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, she felt compelled to shift her lesson plans. She decided to teach her young white students about discrimination by telling the children that brown-eyed people were superior to their blue-eyed peers. She watched as the students turned on each other. Then, the next day, she reversed the script. The exercise highlighted the arbitrary and irrational basis of prejudice, an issue that Americans continue to grapple with more than five decades later. In this episode, host Sarah Fenske explores that topic and others with Elliott ahead of the internationally known lecturer’s address at the Washington University School of Medicine on Monday evening. Also joining the conversation is Rachelle D. Smith, a Diversity, Equity & Inclusion Leader for the School of Medicine.