St. Louis on the Air

<p>Thirty years ago, Bruce Vantine decided he wanted to take the power of narrative choral music to a new level. "I had seen how effective [these] programs could be, and very often they’ve been focused on Christmas,” Vantine, who was on the University of Missouri-St. Louis music faculty at the time, recalled on Monday's <em>St. Louis on the Air</em>. "But I got the idea of doing a Thanksgiving type of a program with a social-justice message – so that we could touch people’s hearts." So began his St. Louis-based nonprofit organization that continues to spread its message of empathy throughout the U.S. and Canada.</p>

<p>A Dutch historian is in St. Louis this week searching for information about 172 African-American soldiers who are buried or memorialized in the Netherlands American Cemetery.</p>

<p>Host Don Marsh talks with three local Jewish residents participating in the first Jewish arts and culture festival taking place in the city. </p>

<p>Host Don Marsh discusses the mounting effort to bring a team to St. Louis with Webster University's Jack Croghan and local attorney and soccer enthusiast Brian Howe.</p>

<p>Olivia Lahs-Gonzales, Miriam Ruiz and Colin McLaughlin - plus two very young local artists - explore immigration, labor and identity through a creative lens.</p>

<p>On Thursday's <em>St. Louis on the Air,</em> host Don Marsh spoke with author and St. Louis native William Knoedelseder about his latest book, "Fins: Harley Earl, the Rise of General Motors, and the Glory Days of Detroit.”</p>

<p>On Wednesday's <em>St. Louis on the Air,</em> host Don Marsh was joined by two Sauce Magazine contributors for a conversation about the best new local restaurants in the month of October.</p>

<p>“We’ve got over 1,400 careers that we’ve launched so far in the five years that LaunchCode has been [in St. Louis], but that doesn’t count the people who have taken our training and gotten placed elsewhere,” explains entrepreneur and investor Jim McKelvey.</p>

<p>Ever get the feeling of excessive exhaustion, lack of sleep and motivation from working? Host Don Marsh talks about ways in which people who are invested in emotionally draining work can avoid burnout and practice self-care. </p>

<p>Musical-theater aficionados likely associate four-time Tony nominee Terrence Mann with the original Rum Tum Tugger of “Cats,” Inspector Javert in “Les Miserables” or perhaps one of the titular characters in “Beauty and the Beast.” Now the acclaimed actor is diving into yet another key role – this one on a St. Louis stage that will take him under the sea as King Triton.</p>

<p>The Hispanic community in the Missouri region has grown significantly over the past few decades and it's made it's impact on small businesses. In light of Hispanic Heritage Month (Sept. 15 to Oct. 15), host Don Marsh talked to Gabriela Ramirez-Aarellan, business counselor at the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in St. Louis and. co-host of DMeToo podcast, photographer Carol Lara and Ness Sandoval, associate professor of sociology at St. Louis University, about the influence of Hispanic businesses on the region. </p> <p> </p>

<p>On Monday's <em>St. Louis on the Air</em>, host Don Marsh discussed Christopher Columbus’s complex legacy with Peter Kastor, professor and chair of the Department of History at Washington University. Marsh also spoke to Bill Reininger, the executive director of Tower Grove Park, regarding the status of the commission tasked with determining the future of the park's Columbus statue.</p>

<p><em>St. Louis Public Radio political reporter Jo Mannies and retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Jim Craig, director of UMSL’s Veterans Studies program, offer their perspectives on one of the big news stories of the week.<br /> <br /></em></p>

<p>Joneal “Jop” Joplin has lost count of exactly how many roles he’s performed on St. Louis-area stages during his long acting career based in the region. “I know that I’ve done something like 215, 220 shows in St. Louis – 101 at the Rep, 66 at the Muny,” he estimated Friday while talking with host Don Marsh on <em>St. Louis on the Air.</em></p>

<p>Host Don Marsh talks to local organizers of voter registration drives to see how they will try boost voter participation for the Nov. 6 midterm elections. </p>

<p>Midterm elections are important. But Sandra Moore, former president of Urban Strategies, told "St. Louis on the Air" host Don Marsh that “mobilizing folks to register and vote” is what's most important. She helped organize a voter education and registration drive that seeks to energize women in north St. Louis and north St. Louis County for the Nov. 6 election. </p>

<p>Stephen Sondheim hesitates to settle on a single beginning point from which his now 70-year-long career in musical theater took off. There were the piano lessons he began taking as a young child, something he acknowledges may have “infiltrated” him early on. Then there’s the show he wrote at age 15, a script family friend Oscar Hammerstein gave an unsparing critique. He also credits his enjoyment of films growing up.</p>

<p>UMSL Chancellor Tom George and Provost Kristin Sobolik address the state of the university.</p>

<p>13-year-old Kennedy Holmes took many people by surprise because of her mature voice on the 15th season of NBC's The Voice singing competition. During the blind auditions, all four celebrity judges spun around in approval to ask Holmes to join their team. Host Don Marsh talked to the Florissant teen about her experience on the show and what her life has been like since going viral. </p>

<p>Over the past 40 years, San Francisco-based Chanticleer has gone to great lengths and unexpected places to refine and expand its vocal repertoire, bringing striking arrangements of popular music into the mix as well as commissioning new choral works by contemporary composers. But centuries-old songs can also be full of surprises – including Antonio de Salazar’s arrangement of “Salve Regina.”</p>

<p>On Tuesday's <em>St. Louis on the Air </em>host Don Marsh spoke with author and Harvard political philosopher Michael Sandel about the erosion of civil public discourse, political polarization, and the role of truth in American democratic life.</p>

<p>On Monday's St. Louis on the Air, host Don Marsh talks with Sue McCarthy, the owner of Vault Luxury Resale and author of the new book "Good Better Best: The Rags-to-Riches Story of the Upscale Retail Queen."</p>

<p>East St. Louis native and Olympic gold medalist Dawn Harper Nelson is taking a break from running and spoke to host Don Marsh about her career, being a female athlete, activism and upcoming speaking engagements. </p>

<p><em>Longtime journalist Margaret Wolf Freivogel shares her impressions of the Supreme Court confirmation hearings she observed in 1991 and 2018.</em></p>

<p>The universal concept of friendship will be explored musically in the St. Louis Chamber Chorus's opening concert to its 2018-2019 season, “States of Being." The SLCC's artistic director Philip Barnes and Latvian composer Ēriks Ešenvalds talked to host Don Marsh about their musical collaboration. </p>

<p>Rosetta Watson was functionally evicted from Maplewood after a former boyfriend attacked her. She recently spoke with St. Louis Public Radio’s "We Live Here" podcast team after winning a settlement against the city.<em><br /> <br /></em></p>

<p>Host Don Marsh talks to St. Louis Public Radio education reporter Ryan Delaney, who clarified the status of charter schools in the St. Louis area.</p>

<p>Host Don Marsh delves deeper into the “<a href= "https://apps.kbia.fm/2018-beyond-the-ballot/" data-cke-saved-href= "https://apps.kbia.fm/2018-beyond-the-ballot/">Beyond the Ballot</a>” project with St. Louis Public Radio reporter Ashley Lisenby and Harvest Public Media editor Erica Hunzinger to see what Missouri voters' aspirations are for the November midterm elections. </p>

<p> Dr. Sandeep Jauhar spoke about his newest book 'Heart: A History,' which examines the historical, philosophical, and physiological characteristic of the human body's most complex organ, the heart.</p>

<p><em>St. Louis on the Air's</em> monthly Legal Roundtable reconvened Wednesday to discuss a variety of local and national legal stories, from the Kavanaugh confirmation controversy to the new sex discrimination lawsuit surrounding a retirement community in Sunset Hills.</p>

<p>Store owners Vincent Hromadka, Maddie Earnest and Chris Goodson are each familiar with the challenges – and the joys – of running a smaller grocery operation in the city.</p>

<p>An evening of merriment, fun and flavor doesn’t have to involve alcohol – that’s an oft-repeated and frequently doubted notion. But it’s a growing mantra even among some bartenders and drink-industry enthusiasts, and it needn’t be a buzz kill.</p>

<p>Mark Sutherland and Thomas Richardson discuss the influence of Scottish culture on the St. Louis region ahead of the 15th annual St. Louis Scottish Games & Culture Festival.</p>

<p>Deb Gaut, Paul Weiss and Dr. Ken Druck discuss aging successfully and living a full and healthy life.</p>

<p>Host Don Marsh talks to educators Julie Smith and Marialice Curran about digital wellness and citizenship, and how to help guide children though the digital world. </p>

<p>Host Don Marsh discusses the plot and musical set of The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis' "Evita" production with the company's artistic director Steve Woolf and actor Pepe Nufrio.</p>

<p>Amber Sebold and Carmen Connors discuss how they adapted minimalism to their own lives.</p>

<p>Ken Nix explains the importance of the work done by the St. Louis Regional Computer Crimes Education and Enforcement Group.</p>

<p>Host Don Marsh talks with St. Louis native Neal Bascomb, author of "The Escape Artists: A Band of Daredevil Pilots and the Greatest Prison Break of the Great War."</p>

<p>The former FBI director expresses both concern and hope about the state of U.S. institutions and the rule of law during a St. Louis Public Radio interview with Don Marsh.</p>

<p>Where some school districts lack, charter schools provide. Host Don Marsh talked with Engin Blackstone, Christie Huck and Stella Erondu about what charter schools have to offer local communities.</p>

<p>Marie-Hélène Bernard and Erik Finley discuss the upcoming season for the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra ahead of its debut weekend.</p>

<p>Kris Kleindienst need only glance out toward the entrance to her bookstore at the corner of Euclid and McPherson avenues for some solid reminders of St. Louis’ literary legacy. The busts of four canonical writers adorn the intersection. But she's just as enthusiastic about St. Louis’ contemporary writing community as she is about the region’s historical claims to writerly fame.</p>

<p>Photographer Fadi BouKaram, from Lebanon, talks to host Don Marsh about his return trip to U.S. towns named Lebanon. </p>

<p>St. Louis Circuit Attorney Kim Gardner has been on the job for a little over a year and a half and her office has been the subject of some controversy and criticism, as highlighted in an in-depth piece in the Riverfront Times. Gardner agreed to join Don Marsh to respond to the recent attention.</p>

<p>Felicia Shaw, executive director of the Regional Arts Commission, talked about a new in-depth report that highlights the importance of the arts in St. Louis and calls for more collaboration.</p>

<p>The civil rights activist and prominent Ferguson protester has a new book out, titled "On the Other Side of Freedom."</p>

<p>For nearly 35 years now, St. Louis-based Boulevard magazine has been publishing works of fiction, poetry and nonfiction by both luminaries and emerging writers</p>

<p>Henry Biggs remembers hearing "a lot of talk" about bridging St. Louis’ racial divides and disparities in the months that followed Michael Brown’s death. "But I didn’t really see many people saying, 'OK, well, what’s the thing that I could do?'"</p>

<p><em>Alongside the work of established artists, entertainers and educators, artwork created through several outreach-oriented organizations will be in the spotlight this weekend in St. Charles.</em></p>