Episodes
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What’s next for Israel after Arab parties’ historic gains
Plus, Los Angeles city attorney candidate Marissa Roy on how she wants to fight crime in LA, our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman has some “serious coffee” recommendations.
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Dolores Huerta, powerful-yet-flawed labor leader, dies at 96
Plus, a Los Angeles rabbi arrested in the West Bank, LA city attorney candidate John McKinney’s plan to address homelessness, and filmmaker Kirsten Johnson assesses the Elizabeth Holmes documentary.
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How America became a fearful nation that normalized white supremacy
Plus, California’s competitive Congressional races could determine who controls the House, and horror TV recommendations if you feel like staying home on Halloween night.
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Dexter Story’s tribute to the spiritual practice of fasting
Plus, the strength of Mayor Karen Bass’ campaign on her signature issue: homelessness; an appeals court questions Trump’s attempt to disqualify 20,000 California ballots, and LA’s 101 best restaurants.
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Why is LAX’s People Mover such a boondoggle?
Plus, LA could soon have a DSA mayor, but what do the Democratic Socialists of America actually stand for? Our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman’s easy (and tasty!) chicken recipes.
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Meet Sunil Malhotra, the new voice of Apu on ‘The Simpsons’
Plus, “bad will” for Nithya Raman as no city councilmembers endorse her for mayor, why Netflix has “hit a wall” as it reports its slowest growth in years, and how abortion bans impact everyone’s health.
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John Green on what Hollywood’s fame machine does to young actors
Plus, a violent interaction with ICE in Long Beach sends a U.S. citizen to the hospital. And two weeks from Election Day, we sort through California’s 14 ballot propositions.
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Guitarist Julian Lage’s lessons from a lifetime of accolades
Plus, the Justice Department sues California over noncitizen voting, recently unsealed court records suggest OJ Simpson may have had an accomplice, and the dirty business of farmed fish.
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Steve Hilton on affordability, homelessness, and yes…that ad
Plus, our weekend film reviews, including the Elizabeth Holmes documentary that had a surprise premiere at Telluride, and Evan Kleiman on how to make and where to find the best bento box.
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Shiny ceilings. Flavortown! Burbank airport’s new terminal opens
Plus, LA’s mayoral candidates try to appeal to the large chunk of undecided voters, the state warns LAUSD it may take over the district if it can’t balance its budget, and fall book recommendations.
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“Lazy, unfunny, sexist.” Shane Gillis’ SNL monologue sparks outrage
Plus, Elon Musk spends hundreds of millions to elect Republicans, Gov. Gavin Newsom ponders commuting death sentences, and three new exhibitions explore architect Paul R. Williams’ life and work.
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Childhood nostalgia for Saudi Arabia on Bedouine’s new album
Plus, three-story-tall waves wreak havoc on Long Beach, why the Department of Justice is investigating Minnesota Democratic Congresswoman Ilhan Omar, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels attack Riyadh.
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Low morale, suicide attempts: USS Abraham Lincoln comes home
Plus, the Dodgers are now one step closer to a World Series threepeat, our weekend film reviews, including a four-hour Elon Musk documentary, and Evan Kleiman’s tips for a road trip to Julian.
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Oct. 7 response looms over Netanyahu's reelection
Plus, how one LA school attacked the heat by planting trees, TV critic Eric Deggans has his fall recs, and a new exhibit at LACMA presents past visions of the perfect kitchen.
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Disney v. FCC, Skydance closes in big day for LA media giants
Plus, the botched execution of Christa Pike and why Americans are turning against the death penalty. And before Google, there was the LA Public Library, whose librarians would try to answer any question.
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The Strokes were supposed to save rock ‘n’ roll. They didn’t
Plus, the Supreme Court is back in session and justices will decide if Boulder, Colorado can sue companies for climate disasters. And how surveillance culture makes it harder to hook up in your car.
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Recapping the final (and only) Becerra-Hilton debate
Plus, our weekend film reviews, and a pro’s guide to going out in LA when you have a toddler.
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Bass and Raman’s differing views on Israel’s war in Gaza
Plus, filmmaker John Wilson's new documentary about the history of concrete has a lot under its surface. And KCRW’s LeRoy Downs stops by to discuss jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, who was born 100 years ago this month.
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'You don’t need to learn everything' to win on Jeopardy!
Plus, an LA artist receives the MacArthur Foundation’s “genius grant,” and Angelenos screen their home videotapes on VHS for the first time with the help of T.A.P.E. Collective.
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Baby monitoring tech also collects data
Plus, Trump’s new TV ad was funded by taxpayers, how cuts to Medicaid are impacting some California hospitals, and Chuck Klosterman’s alternative history of alternative rock.
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The tension and division when home ownership is out of reach
Plus, the EPA permanently restores grants to UC researchers whose funding it stripped, our weekend film reviews, and we sent lifelong Angeleno Evan Kleiman to find the best Texas-style food in L.A.
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West Nile on the rise in LA. How concerned should we be?
Plus, Latino voters may be swinging back to Democrats, Emily St. John Mandel’s new book is set in dystopian Los Angeles in the not-too-distant future, and the case for starting holiday prep in September.
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Min Jin Lee on betrayal, class struggle in the Korean diaspora
Plus, ICE stopped disclosing where it's holding thousands of undocumented immigrants, a new documentary features the oldest people in the world, and coyote sightings light up an Encino group chat.
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Settlement clears the way for Paramount-Warner Bros. merger
Plus, news outlets banned from the White House sue on First Amendment grounds, Gov. Newsom declares a state of emergency due to El Niño, and a scathing review of a mostly-AI hip-hop album.
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Kahlo. Rockwell. Jabba the Hutt. Inside the new Lucas Museum
Plus, a conservative judge who advised Mike Pence after the 2020 election warns Republicans may try to keep Democrats from taking their seats in Congress after the midterms. And our weekly film reviews.
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Rhea Seehorn finally gets Emmy love for ‘Pluribus’
Plus, twin crashes in Chatsworth involving a bus, an SUV, and then a helicopter. LA County moves to tax private jets, and Evan Kleiman is here with her favorite cheese.
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‘Widow’s Bay’ cleans up, and makes history, at the Emmys
Plus, President Trump lost at the Supreme Court, but he has other plans to limit mail-in voting. The Los Angeles Times opposes the billionaire’s tax, and Jarvis Cocker on the band Pulp’s comeback.
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The Linda Lindas are growing up. And have a new album
Plus, AI leaders say we need to pump the brakes, President Trump wants to make it harder for immigrants to access government benefits, and why the Emmys’ comedy category is filled with dramas.
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Teaching 9/11 to a generation too young to remember it
Plus, is the U.S. better prepared for a 9/11-style attack today? Our weekend film reviews include a sequel to 1998’s Practical Magic, and Evan Kleiman has dessert ideas for the Jewish High Holidays.
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How McCarthy-era 'Scoundrel' Roy Cohn shaped Donald Trump
Plus, Congresswoman Laura Friedman wants federal tax incentives to keep film production in the U.S., and how conspiracies that flourished after 9/11 had roots in government actions before then.
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LA County sues State Farm over Palisades, Eaton fire response
Plus, the health effects from 9/11 25 years after the attacks in New York, President Trump asks the Supreme Court to allow restrictions on mail-in voting for the midterms, and AI is making music.
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Press Play 'Producer's Cut': Ariana Morgenstern, Dan Tana's
On this Labor Day, it's a special "Producer's Cut" edition of Press Play. Extended versions of some of our favorite interviews that we've never broadcast before. Like our conversation with resterauteur Dan Tana's daughters. And Ariana Morgenstern, who helped shape KCRW's signature sound.
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How Black women inspired Gloria Steinem’s feminism
Kimberlé Crenshaw on what her friend meant to her, and the feminist movement. Plus, a scandal involving the Los Angeles Clippers, weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman’s party ideas for Labor Day.
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Former DOJ official: USPS ballot rejection unlikely to work
Plus, ebola is still spreading fast in Central Africa, how the arrest of “El Chapo” created a Sinaloa Cartel power vacuum, and an idea to move homes slated for demolition to Altadena’s burnt-out lots.
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Why some LA renters are revolting against shared utilities
Plus, California lawmakers pass a bill that would let you put solar panels on your balcony, the Defense Department in disarray under Secretary Pete Hegseth, and why tennis is “the cruelest game.”
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The science behind the perfect pop song
Plus, LA leaders are getting nervous about the Olympics’ price tag, why Southern California is wetter and hotter than it’s ever been, and a pair of court cases challenges the Pentagon on First Amendment claims.
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Yayoi Kusama’s polka dots and infinity rooms conquered the art world
Plus, why it’s so hard to get rid of LA’s oil wells, our critics review Wile E. Coyote’s fight against the all-powerful Acme Corporation, and Evan Kleiman on the disappointment of nonstick pans.
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LA’s 2000s nightlife and a more innocent pre-social media era
Plus, how Dolly Parton’s role in 9 to 5 became iconic, Meta’s $18 billion settlement and child safety online, and new tests can reveal if you have an increased risk of getting Alzheimer’s.
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Remembering larger-than-life country music icon Dolly Parton
Plus, a new study finds that at least 25 percent of NFL players could have the brain disease CTE. And artist Charles Ross’ 50-year endeavor to build an observatory in the New Mexico desert.
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Paul Simon’s magnum opus ‘Graceland’ turns 40
Plus, is the electric grid up for LA’s hottest week of the year? California’s Supreme Court hears arguments over Chad Bianco’s ballot seizure, and how President Trump’s loyal aide became a major news story.
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Bass, Raman trade barbs throughout a testy mayoral debate
Plus, their plans for homelessness and housing; a young woman diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis finds relief in weightlifting, our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman’s heaven on Earth.
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Why Pico-Robertson’s Orthodox Jews are scootering on Shabbat
Plus, why polling missed the mark this primary season. A promising potential skin cancer vaccine. And a new biography of Howard Zinn looks at how A People’s History of the United States became a bestseller.
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Buss vs. Buss: Spicy sibling dispute over Lakers sale
Plus, LA’s jazz version of the disastrous Fyre Festival, political commentator and feminist Molly Jong-Fast on why she wrote about her facelift, and World War II internment of Japanese-Americans as told in a new novel.
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Meta faces $1.4 trillion reckoning in ‘tobacco moment’ lawsuit
Plus, how evangelical Christians’ embrace of President Trump is costing them young worshipers, and longtime Dodgers pitcher Tommy John has died. He’s the namesake of a now-common surgical procedure.
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Air Force One switcheroo a ‘Russian nesting doll of scandal’
Plus, a new study finds people really don’t like it when other people use GLP-1s to lose weight, our weekend movie reviews, and breakfast burritos do’s and don’ts with Evan Kleiman.
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What Iceland’s melting glaciers teach us about time, memory
Plus, LAUSD students head back to the school as the district faces a fiscal crisis, declining enrollment, and rotting food stinking up Boyle Heights, and the loved-and-loathed Real Housewives turn 20.
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Jackie the eagle, P-22, and the allure of celebrity wildlife
Plus, a counting error means LA’s homeless numbers aren’t as bad as initially reported, LA’s Olympics tickets are the most expensive ever, and an Iranian documentary about murder and retribution.
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Great outfits, street parties, swagger: Tana Yonas’ essential summer tracks
Plus, Mark Zuckerberg’s manifesto for speeding up open source AI development, President Trump’s refusal to take no from the Supreme Court, and what led up to the arrest of the man accused of killing Tupac Shakur.
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Eaton Fire victims’ lawyer thinks new report will encourage Edison to settle
Plus, Iran launches cyberattacks on Minnesota and President Trump blames America, first. Our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman recommends the best chocolate chip cookies in town.
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Jane Schoenbrun’s campy and surrealistic take on teen slasher movies
Plus, AIPAC's decline as a major political player, what happened to people with asthma when scientists replaced gas stoves with electric ones, and did you know avocados change their sex throughout the day?