WRFI Community Radio News

Host Michael Rhynes continues to explore the role of poetry and literature in the lives of people affected by the carceral state.In this episode, we hear Michael's interview with Ketu Oladuwa an octogenarian poet who was wrongfully locked up for 5 years on death row in the 1960s.This program is funded by a ⁠2025 Humanities New York⁠ grant and by WRFI's listeners. It's produced in collaboration with ⁠Civic Ensemble⁠, ⁠Prisoner Express⁠, and the ⁠Cornell Prison Education Program. 

WRFI talks to filmmakers Glenda Drew and Jesse Drew on their documentary 'Open Country'.Join WRFI for a screening of 'Open Country' on Monday July 14th at 6:30pm, with a Q&A with Glenda & Jesse following the screening.ABOUT THE INTERVIEWEESGlenda Drew is an interdisciplinary artist and filmmaker whose work lies at the intersection of visual culture and social change, with a strong emphasis on working-class narratives. Her multifaceted practice — spanning film, video, motion graphics, photography, interactivity, and audience participation — centers on subjects such as country musicians, waitresses, feminists, and precarious workers. Influenced by her formative years with Paper Tiger Television in San Francisco, drew embraces a DIY aesthetic and media-critical approach aimed at accessibility and social critique. She is an active member of the Class Conscious Photographers and Artnauts collectives. Through her work, drew continues to explore the power of media to question, connect, and catalyze change. She is currently professor of Design at UC Davis, where she teaches screen-based interactive design.Jesse Drew's research and practice centers on alternative and community media and their strategic use in building movements for democracy and justice, particularly among the global working class. An active audio-visual artist, his interactive, cinema, photography and installation work has been featured in showcases and galleries internationally. His writings have appeared in numerous publications, journals and anthologies, including Resisting the Virtual Life (City Lights Press), At a Distance (MIT Press), Collectivism After Modernism (University of Minnesota), and West of Eden (PM Press). His book, A Social History of Contemporary Democratic Media is published by Routledge. He is currently professor of Cinema and Digital Media at UC Davis, where he teaches media archaeology, radio production, documentary studies, electronics for artists, and community media. Before coming to UC Davis he headed the Center for Digital Media and was Associate Dean at the San Francisco Art Institute.Aired Wednesday, July 9, 2025 on WRFI.

WRFI talks to author and Cornell Associate Professor of Literature, Jeremy Braddock, about the history and culture of the 60’s-70’s era (and beyond) surrealist comedy troupe Firesign Theater. Jeremy recently published the book “Firesign: The Electromagnetic History of Everything as Told on Nine Comedy Albums” (University of California Press). Jeremy discusses Firesign Theater with Peter B (of WRFI’s Burning Airlines) about the background, methods, and connections to the troupe. Topics includes their use of the audio technology of the time, responses to historical events, and long standing cultural impact. Classic albums such as Don’t Crush That Dwarf, Hand Me the Pliers and I Think We Are All Bozos On This Bus are explored.This interview with Jeremy Braddock aired on May 18th 2025, hosted by WRFI DJ Peter B..

The Ithaca Pride Alliance (IPA) was formed in 2024 to serve as the first official group of organizers for LGBTQ+ focused events in Tompkins County. Andrew Scheldorf, local drag performer and current Chair of the IPA Board talked with WRFI in advance of their second annual "Pride in the Park" festival, which will take place Sunday June 15th in DeWitt Park. Supporting events and programming celebrating queer joy and LGBTQ+ community will occur across the community throughout the month of June.This interview with Andrew Scheldorf hosted by Executive Director Ben Coakley aired on WRFI on Wednesday June 11th.

The Gayogo̲hó:nǫˀ Learning Project is inviting the community to a FREE screening of the acclaimed film "Neither Wolf Nor Dog" on Sunday, June 1st, 2025, at 2:30 PM at Cinemapolis in Ithaca.The film is based on the award-winning novel by Kent Nerburn, "Neither Wolf Nor Dog", and offers a rare exploration of a complex relationship between a 95 year-old Lakota elder and the white writer he’s invited to help him write a book about his people.Hear Nerburn’s interview with WRFI’s Felix Teitelbaum Thursday May 22 and Thursday May 29 at 5pm on WRFI.Kent will be joined by Jim Wikel of the Seneca-Cayuga Nation in Oklahoma, via Zoom for a post-screening talkback.

“Human Again” is an emotional and inspiring documentary focusing the Phoenix Players Theatre Group at Auburn Correctional maximum-security prison. Cinemapolis will host a free screening of “Human Again” Sunday April 27 at 2:30.The film follows the group as they prepare for an original play combining Shakespearean influences and the actors' own lived experiences.Michael Rhynes, host of “The Undiscovered Country” on WRFI was the group’s co-founder and is featured in the film.He will facilitate a discussion following the screening along with several since-released members of the Phoenix Players.Michael works with the Civic Ensemble's ReEntry Theatre Program along with Leroy Barrett. They joined WRFI's Felix Teitelbaum in studio to talk about the film and about the transformative role of theatre in the lives people impacted by the criminal justice system.

Guitarist Mike Baggetta calls his band MSSV a post-genre power trio—and this band does pack a punch. Baggetta is joined in the band by Mike Watt of the Minutemen and Firehose, and Stephen Hodges who played with Tom Waits on several albums, as well as with Mavis Staples, Wanda Jackson, and Jonathan Richman.Baggetta spoke with WRFI's Felix Teitelbaum from the road about their new album "On and On," the meaninglessness of genre, and more!

Jacob White of "Jamaican Clash" presents two important interviews examining the intersection of poetry, liberation, and reggae music. Kwame Dawes is the Poet Laureate of Jamaica as well as reggae scholar and the author of over 30 books. He's done award-winning reporting on AIDS in Haiti.Ishion Hutchinson is the author of three books of poetry and has won the National Book Critics Circle Award, the Rome Prize, a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Whiting Award, and other honors. His newest book, School of Instructions: Poems, explores the role of West Indian soldiers in WWI.

In this episode we meet Quentin Lewis who is fighting his conviction while locked up at Wende Correctional in Western New York. Hear his poems, and listen as he joins Michael in conversation about writing in prison, Quentin’s work as a jailhouse lawyer, and the burden of being imprisoned while maintaining one’s innocence."The Undiscovered Country" is a partnership between WRFI, Prisoner Express, the Cornell Prison Education Program and Civic Ensemble's Re-Entry Theatre project and supported by a grant from Humanities New York. To support the Undiscovered Country, please contact Felix Teitelbaum at WRFI.

This episode will feature poet Quentin Lewis who is imprisoned at Wende Correctional Facility in Western New York.It will air Tuesday, March 25 at 2 and 5pm, and Friday, March 28 at 5pm on WRFI and will post to this feed following the debut.Hamlet calls death "the undiscovered country," a mysterious land from which no one returns. Host Michael Rhynes repurposes the concept to highlight the invisibility and disenfranchisement of prison populations. Although incarcerated people are all around us, they are largely invisible to us, their humanity erased.In the program, Michael engages poets and writers who are incarcerated in New York. We hear about about their work and lives. The project aims to elevate theses writers' voices and restore what's lost to all of us when people are exiled to the "Undiscovered Country."Michael was wrongfully incarcerated in New York State for 39 years and was exonerated in 2023. While in prison he published poetry including a chapbook entitled "Guerillas in the Mist" and started a theatre troupe. He brings his wealth of lived experience to discussions of incarceration, re-entry, and criminal justice.The program is under development but has already aired some preliminary episodes. It's a partnership between WRFI, Prisoner Express, the Cornell Prison Education Program and Civic Ensemble's Re-Entry Theatre project and supported by a grant from Humanities New York.

Julia Senzon the new Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Daily Sun, sits down with WRFI's Felix Teitelbaum for a quick welcome and "get to know you" followed by a look back at the week in news at the Sun.

What’s happening inside NY’s prisons? In December corrections officers beat Robert Brooks until he died in Marcy Correctional Facility where he was imprisoned. Just days ago another inmate, Messiah Nantwi, was allegedly also beaten to death at Midstate Facility. Prison guards across the state have striking since February 17 in violation of the Taylor Law.On Thursday, March 6 WRFI’s Michael Rhynes and Felix Teitelbaum spoke with Phoebe Brown of the Alliance of Families for Justice and Donald Curtis of the Unified Black Caucus about criminal justice in New York and about a town hall meeting the two groups are organizing at Southside Community Center in Ithaca on SATURDAY, MARCH 15 from 2:30 - 6:00 PM.

Gabe Levin, Editor-in-Chief of the Cornell Daily Sun, sits down with WRFI's Felix Teitelbaum for a look back at the week in news at the Sun. The stories covered in this week's episode include:Department of Education Orders Academic Institutions to End All Race-Based Programs Within Two WeeksCornell, 11 Other Universities Sue NIH After Multi-Million Dollar Grant Cuts AnnouncedSen. Cruz-Led Investigation Labels $18.7M in Cornell Research Grants as Promoting DEI, ‘Neo-Marxist Class Warfare Propaganda’University to Cut Off Over $100K in Annual Funding for Center for Transformative Action, Home of Anabel’s GroceryAccused of Workplace Bullying, Ousted From Nonprofit — and Then Elected to Ithaca’s Common Council

Gabe Levin and Maryam Ismail of the Cornell Daily Sun sit down with WRFI's Felix Teitelbaum to discuss the Sun's coverage of the reverberations of Trump's 2025 executive orders on Cornell and Ithaca communities.

“Living With Grief” explores the ways people navigate the journey of losing a loved one. The series is produced by WRFI’s JT Stone. In this episode Makayla Podufalski, a 22-year-old emergency dispatcher in Ithaca, opens up about how she copes with the death of her mother, Catherine, who died after a years-long struggle with substance abuse.  The Tompkins County Whole Health provides resources that can help those experiencing substance abuse. The Finger Lakes chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness can also provide information about grief support services.

Host Michael Rhynes interviews attorney Jason Hoge about the new legislation that will make a difference to men and women coming home from prison. The law holds a unique promise for 2.3 million New Yorkers with conviction records. The law will clear the path for them to access the employment, housing, education and other opportunities they need to successfully reenter and contribute to their communities. Plus, NYS stands to recover approximately $12.6 billion in lost wages every year due to reduced earnings related to a conviction record. Listen and learn more about the important changes that will support formerly incarcerated people as they re-enter society and the law's public safety safeguards.

Local News: May 28, 2024

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Cornell Palestinian Solidarity Encampment Closes

Investment Crowdfunding Platform Launches In Ithaca

Local News: May 10, 2024

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Local News: May 6, 2024 - 2024 ICSD Elections

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LISTEN: Freedom of Expression at Cornell - Academic Freedom

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