1972 The Birth of Pong and the Rise of Video Games
Is This Why We Don’t Leave Our Houses Anymore?

Pong introduced America to video games and now there seems to be no turning back.
As more and more people around the world use video games to pass the time, to teach and learn and to create alternative realities, it is time for us to consider what its implications are and whether or not we are leading or being led-and to where.
Available: PRX, FTP (email for instructions)
Listen HERE

Action Speaks! takes on:
Conflict and Amusement in America

This year Action Speaks! examines how the border between conflict and amusement is disappearing and what it portends for good TV…are we all embedded?

The popular Action Speaks! series of specials returns in October with four one-hour programs looking at contemporary issues by using underappreciated dates of the twentieth-century that changed America.

Host Marc Levitt assembles a panel of scholars, artists, practitioners, and government officials, and adds archived sound and audience participation to create Public Radio’s most lively and entertaining discussions.

2011 topics:

• 1961 – President Eisenhower’s Military Industrial Complex Speech
• 1972 – The Birth of Pong and Video Games
• 1971 – The American Family; Our First Reality TV Show
• 1981 – President Reagan Fires Air Traffic Controllers

COST: FREE
LENGTH: 1 hour
AVAILABLE: PRX, CD, FTP (email for instructions)

NEW EPISODES AVAILABLE WEEKLY STARTING OCTOBER 15th

PREVIOUS years episodes available now on PRX
For more information, visit www.actionspeaksradio.org

“All countries in the world play accordion. It’s one of the few instruments that bridges the gap between all borders.”

-Martin Hergt, Cotati, CA

Squeezebox Stories, a sound-rich, narrative-driven public radio documentary hosted by Marco Werman of PRI’s The World, explores the rich musical worlds and diverse social history of the accordion.

In this hour-long special, listeners go on an accordion tour, visiting Zydeco dance halls and Mexican Norteño clubs, punk rock apprentices and Arabic master musicians-all to discover what’s behind the surprisingly wide appeal of this ultimate people’s instrument.

Produced by radio journalist, Julie Caine, and ethnomusicologist and accordion player, Marié Abe.

COST: FREE
LENGTH: 54 Minutes
AVAILABLE: PRX, Content Depot, CD, Download (request info)
For more information, visit the Squeezebox Stories website: www.squeezeboxstories.com

Check out the NEW one-hour special from Bioneers Radio!

Natural Magic, explores the time-tested processes, relationships and recipes that have allowed life to flourish during 3.8 billion years of evolution.

What life does is create conditions conducive to life. Scientists call it the “Gaia hypothesis”-the idea that the entire symphony of living things self-regulates the Earth’s conditions to make the physical environment hospitable for them, just as our bodies know how to regulate themselves. Yet at this critical moment, for the first time in history, humanity has the capacity to destroy the conditions conducive to life on a global scale.

For more information, click HERE.

LENGTH: 1 hour   ~   COST: FREE  ~   AVAILABLE: Content Depot, PRX, Download, CD

Check out the Specials that are available for Labor Day!

DREAM JOBS: OUTSIDE THE CUBICLE – Hear the stories of three very determined people who struggled to find the career path outside conventional workplaces in this one-hour special report from IEEE Spectrum.  Training astronauts in robotics, pioneering a four-year engineering academy, and a globe-trotting career as a cable-laying technician and a coastal waters scientist are very diverse careers that for the individuals involved, dreams jobs. When the economy’s bad and the job market’s worse, you have to think outside the cubicle to find your bliss! Perfect for LABOR DAY!
LENGTH: 1 Hour
COST: FREE
AVAILABLE: PRX, Content Depot, Downloads (email for info)

L.A. THEATRE WORKS LABOR DAY SPECIALS
WORKING
From the book by Studs Terkel
Adapted by Stephen Schwartz & Nina Faso
Studs Terkel’s Working is for anyone who has ever punched a clock, a cow, or a supervisor — or wanted to. This rousing musical is based on Terkel’s interviews with American workers, which was first published in 1974. It is an exploration of what makes work meaningful to people in all walks of life, with songs and stories about real experiences, bringing to life the soul of the American worker.

CAST: Eileen Barnett, Orson Bean, Harry Groener, Kaitlin Hopkins, Michael Kostroff, Kenna Ramsey, Vickilyn Reynolds, Vincent Tumeo, B.J. Ward
LENGTH: 1hour 30min
COST: FREE
AVAILABLE:  PRX, Download

FIRED
Created by Annabelle Gurwitch
Rejection has never been so hilarious! After her role in a much-anticipated Woody Allen play was recast, actress Annabelle Gurwitch was devastated. Then she began collecting tales from fellow performers who at one time had also been canned, canceled or dismissed. In a series of monologues, Gurwitch and a cast of show-biz veterans share their stories of hilarious mistakes and misadventures that happen on the job.
LENGTH: 59min
COST: FREE
AVAILABLE: PRX, Download

Schedule them today!