The Idea Hour / September Series

RadioLab

September 9: Woodstock

Hear exclusive interviews with rockers Grace Slick, Mickey Hart, and Richie Havens, combined with brand-new, never-before-heard audio recorded during the festival. Get behind-the-scenes stories from Eddie Kramer (who engineered the original gathering) and Woodstock’s promoter, Michael Lang. Hear from Bob Weir, Robbie Robertson, Leslie West, Arlo Guthrie, Wavy Gravy, and more in this two-hour special from World Cafe.

September 13: Nerds in the Hood

Take a look at kids from some of the toughest streets, on both U.S. coasts, who have managed, despite their dicey backgrouinds, to become exemplary achievers.

September 20: The First Freedom

Freedom of religion is gospel in the U.S., and it’s canonized in international law. There is growing evidence it helps create stable societies, and that religious repression in the world is a national security threat. Despite a U.S. law that commands the government to promote international religious freedom, the secular State Department hasn’t quite found its calling. “The First Freedom” visits Vietnam, where U.S. pressure has led to moderate religious reforms, and Pakistan, where promoting religious freedom takes a back pew to U.S. strategic interests.

September 27: Sperm

Radio Lab hosts Jad and Robert delight in the discovery of sperm, become hysterical about the possibility of a world without men (now that science has reproduced life without men), and empathize with a wife contemplating inseminating herself with her dead husband’s sperm.