Podcasts: Talk The Talk

Talk The Talk

Weekdays 8:00 -10:00 a.m. EST; rebroadcast 4:00 – 6:00 p.m. EST

Bill Newman and Friends host newsmakers, activists, authors, & artists – including:

Mayors Monday(Northampton, Holyoke, Easthampton) & Amherst Town Mgr Paul Bockelman, Salman Hameed’s Universe, the Comedy Quiz, Black In the Valley (Professor Amilcar Shabazz) Political Gold (Josh Silver), Our House (Congressman Jim McGovern), DA David Sullivan, Writers Block (Megan Zinn), Science and Sensibility (Brian Adams), Righting Wrongs (ACLUM Carol Rose), State Senators Comerford & Mark, Representatives Sabadosa, Duffy, & Domb, ArtBeat (Donnabelle Casis), Cool Films (Larry Hott), Feminist Futures (Carrie Baker), Talkin’ Baseball & Fair Play (Duke Goldman), Your State U (MTA Pres. Max Page) All That Jazz (Ruth Griggs & John Anz), Exec. Editor, DHG & Gfld Recorder, Dan Crowley.  

Young People

6/12/25: Journalist Craig Johnson: “How to Talk to Your Son About Fascism.” Ruth Griggs w/ Koan Collective musicians Ian Behrstock & Jahain Cooper-Monize. Rep. Natalie Blais: HIP, SNAP, POTpourri, Pride, & students’ testimony. EHS educators Kelley Brown & Jeff Sealander, w/ students Oscar, Leia & Michael – a cross-generational book club: founding fathers & “The Pursuit of Happiness.”

Untangling Webs

6/11/25: Amherst Council Pres Lynn Griesemer: ICE in Amherst, school budgets, Juneteenth. Alex Osterman & Victoria Worth: the ACLU in Ashfield. Filmmakers Larry Hott, Andy Kolker & Paul Stekler: political films—past present & is there a future? GCC science prof Brian Adams w/ UMass Ph D candidate neuroethologist & Jumping Spider expert, Alex Winsor.

Teaching

6/10/25: Northampton Ed Foundation’s Dale Melcher & Joy Hermansen: the upcoming Showcase. Ed Collab’s Todd Gazda w/ Hadley Super & MA Assoc School Super Ex Comm mem Anne McKenzie: one tough job. Smith Coll Prof Carrie Baker w/ PVPA’s Gary Hugget & his former, now Smith Coll, student Talia Villalobos-Sharone: saving DEI. Duke Goldman: THE AMAZING Catch, Yankees & Sox.

Protest: it’s not rebellion, it’s patriotism!

6/9/25: Bill and Buz on Trump’s authoritarianism and the need to resist it. Megan Zinn w/ Carolyn Zaikowski, new poet laureate of Easthampton. Amherst Prof Austin Sarat on Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in spite of Gov Newsom’s condemnation as the Guard’s Commander-in-Chief. UMass Prof Amilcar Shabazz outlines local Juneteenth commemorations.

Timmon Wallis

Visions

6/6/25: Fritz: Saturday’s Franklin County Pride in Greenfield. Timmon Wallis: “Nuclear Abolition: A Scenario.” Jody Rosenbloom and JoEllen Mackenzie: Forbes Library Garden Tour on 6/14. Hamp Coll Prof Michael Klare: Putin’s retaliation, drone warfare, & atrocities in Gaza. Donnabelle Casis w/ Andrae Green: “Peripheral Visions” at OOO Gallery in Easthampton.

Human Rights

6/5/25: Ashfield human rights atty Laura Pitter & Freedom Now Ex Dir Andrea Prasow: jailed journalists. Susanne Personette & Lois Barber: Amherst Plein Air Society’s show at Forbes. Rep Jim McGovern: democracy in peril. ABA Human Rights Hero Maria Foscarinis: “And Housing for All: The Fight to End Homelessness in America.”

The Breath and Breadth of Life

6/4/25: DA David Sullivan: ICE arrests here & Deerfield Academy’s sex abuse victims. Serious Play Director Sheryl Stoodley, John Feffer (ISP) & actor David Keohane: “Lungs.” Brian Adams w/ Smith Coll astronomer Kimberly Ward-Duong: life on other planets. Documentary filmmakers Larry Hott & Lous Alvarez: “American Tongues” & politics.

ReMarkable

6/3/25: Sen Paul Mark: his invitation from Pres Trump. James Kitchen: his HUGE sculpture, from recycled 19th century metal girders & tools, here. Jade Jump & Nate Clifford, owners of Cornucopia: moving on. Harley Erdman, Eric Sawyer & Barry Werth: “The Garden of Martyrs” & “The Scarlet Professor” at Historic Northampton.

Resistance and Resilience

6/2/2025: Nick Mottern & Ruth Moushabeck: Saturday’s Concert for the Children of Gaza. Megan Zinn w/ Richard Russo: “Life and Art.” Sen Jo Comerford: fighting back against SNAP & Medicaid cuts. Nhmptn Mayor GL Sciarra: school funding & federal cuts & uplifting graduations.

Max Page

Life and Lives

5/30/25: MTA Pres Max Page: Massachusetts legislation to save K-12 and higher ed. Hon. Mary Lou Rup & Ruth Griggs: celebrating Leah Kunkel’s life, her music and advocacy. Elizabeth Minnich: “The Evil of Banality….” on Adolf Eichmann, Hannah Arendt, Trump and ourselves

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