Viewpoints Radio
Award-winning reporting on current issues featuring America's leading experts.
Leading up to each Viewpoints Radio program, every story is carefully selected and thoroughly researched to provide candid insight from the nation’s foremost experts. Through skillful copywriting and masterful studio production, the one-of-a-kind show covers timely topics aired to millions of listeners each week.
We all get gut instincts when we walk into a room of strangers. Do we fit in here? Do these people seem friendly? Snap judgments are simply a part of how we function. But Princeton University psychology professor Alexander Todorov says that while these first impressions are natural, we should try to resist them.
For decades, science fiction was a genre written almost exclusively by white males. Now, the genre is flourishing with diverse voices, thanks in part to the trailblazing writer Octavia E. Butler. Historian Gerry Canavan discusses the obstacles Butler faced and her legacy on one of the most popular genres in American literature.
In Meredith May’s new book, she examines the parallels between the inner workings of beehives and our society, and how beekeeping taught her numerous life lessons as a child. She also discusses the threat to bees with commercialized beekeeping and what we can do to protect these insects vital to our ecosystem.
In the 20 years since writing the young adult novel Speak, based on her own rape, author Laurie Halse Anderson has met with numerous audiences of adolescents. She has found a huge gap in the ways girls and boys perceive what constitutes sexual consent, abuse, and the consequences of assault.
Fashion advertising raises issues about confidence, self-esteem and body image. Our guest discusses why it’s important to look beyond the advertisements and find the fashions that are right for you, how cheap clothing is hurting developing countries and the environment, and why designers and manufacturers need to change how they create clothing for and …
Everyone knows about the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt, but not many know about the powerful and loyal confidant FDR relied on, Marguerite “Missy” LeHand. Our guest discusses the life and work of this remarkable woman and how she helped and influenced one of the greatest chief executives of our time.
Horror movies are major box office. Some experts see the film “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” as a turning point. One reason is the Gill Man character, created by an often overlooked female trailblazer in monster design, Millicent Patrick. An author who has researched Patrick discusses her significance in American culture and the horror film genre.
Statues commemorating the Confederacy remain in some towns in the US South, though its principles promoting slavery and oppression of blacks are in disrepute. Some towns have removed these statues in the face of heavy opposition. A former Mayor of New Orleans describes how his thinking evolved toward a decision to remove the statues in his city, and the …
Recess helps kids unwind during the school day, but it’s much more than just a time to exercise. We talk to two recess “specialists” about the mental as well as the physical benefits of recess, and learn about some recess activities that help a child be more creative, more social as well as more physically active.
You see authors thank their editors all the time in the acknowledgements section of a book. But exactly what does an editor do? We talk to an editor himself who explains to us what an editor does to get the book from a manuscript to the finished copy on store shelves.
Gardeners always seek to get the most out of their plants, but some are finding that their plot of land doesn’t produce the way it used to because of wildly changing, extreme conditions—torrential rain, then draught, heat then cold. We talk to two experts who explain ways to increase your garden’s productivity, and how it can help combat climate change.
For a few decades now, teens have flocked to YA novels like The Hunger Games or The Fault in Our Stars. Why are they so popular? We talk to two novelists who say young adult fiction can help teens consider big issues and life and ‘practice’ their responses to real-world problems like violence and drugs.
Subscribe to get the latest from Viewpoints Radio directly in your inbox.
