Episode 400 - Charles Monroe-Kane

Charles Monroe-Kane is a Peabody award-winning radio producer who spent 24 years as a senior producer and interviewer for the national public radio show To the Best of Our Knowledge which WGCU aired on Saturday mornings until about a month ago when it ended at least in part due to recent funding cuts across the public radio world.His 2024 audio documentary, “The Spirit of Jim Thorpe,” was awarded first place by the Indigenous Journalists Association and in 2025 he produced the “Climate Narratives” audio documentary series in Greenland.Charles’s 2016 book "Lithium Jesus: A Memoir of Mania" recounts many of his you could say far-out life stories: including being a teenage faith healer, world traveler, smuggler, liberation theologian, ladder-maker, squatter, halibut hanger, grifter, environmental warrior, and circus manager—all the while wrestling with schizophrenia and self-medication. SONG 1: "Nighthawk Postcards (From Easy Street)" by Tom Waits from his 1975 album Nighthawks at the Diner. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlPN2vtn-0sSONG 2: “Trucker Speed” by Fred Eaglesmith – it was released in 2012 on the album 6Volts. Live – The Fred Eaglesmith Travelling Steam Show on Sept. 30, 2012. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HFr0CzZti2MSONG 3: Massive Attack’s “Protection” ft. Tracey Thorn from the album of the same name released in 1994. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Epgo8ixX6Wo