
Boston Public Radio Podcast
Join hosts Jim Braude and Margery Eagan for a smart local conversation with leaders and thinkers shaping Boston and New England. We feature our favorite conversation from each show. To hear the full show, please visit wgbhnews.org/bpr To share your opinion, email bpr@wgbh.org or call or text 877-301-8970 during the live broadcast from 11AM-2PM Monday through Friday.
Latest episodes

Apr 25, 2025 • 34min
Best Of BPR 4/25: Karen Read's Second First Week In Court & Hip Hop Leadership With Paul Willis
Today:GBH’s Adam Reilly & NBC10’s Sue O’Connell are here for media analysis segment “Press Play” – The nation’s journalistic bulwark “60 Minutes” has just lost its lead producer, who quit over loss of journalistic integrity at CBS. Plus, Sue’s dispatch from the Karen Read courtroom.And, Live Music Friday with Paul Willis, a Boston-based rapper and educator who’s spent his career in nonprofits helping youth with his artistry. His latest project is “Hip Hop Leadership,” part album, part teaching curriculum.

Apr 24, 2025 • 37min
Best Of BPR 4/24: Mount Holyoke President Sees "A Positive Shift" In Higher Ed Standing Up To Trump
Mount Holyoke College president Danielle Holley was an early critic of President Trump administration's encroachment into academic freedom. She discusses the growing chorus of college and university leaders standing up for their independence.And, Michael Curry of the NAACP and the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, discusses the fate of Carney Hospital in Dorchester -- shuttered in the wake of the Steward Health Care scandal.

Apr 24, 2025 • 2h 34min
BPR Full Show 4/24: Shut Up And Pack!
Food policy analyst Corby Kummer discusses the FDA moving to ban some food dyes and RFK Jr.'s MAHA agenda. He also discusses a free grocery store in Maryland and Megan Markle’s new jelly endeavor.Danielle Holley is the President of Mount Holyoke College and joins to talk about the role of higher-ed leaders in the era of Trump 2.0. She’s been outspoken about resisting federal pressure and said she’d rather forgo federal contracts than abolish DEI practices. Love Letters columnist Meredith Goldstein ponders the relationship status of Paul Revere and dishes some advice for a woman whose partner likes to go on dates to Costco.The NAACP's Michael Curry joins to discuss recent headlines around healthcare & racial justice, including the latest on the Steward Healthcare case.

Apr 24, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 4/23: Don't Say Please & Thank You
BPR Full Show 4/23: Don't Say Please & Thank You

Apr 23, 2025 • 40min
Best Of BPR 4/23: A Joyful Revolution & Comedians In Shorts
Today: Embrace Boston’s Imari Paris Jeffries and Jenee Osterheldt of the Globe’s “A Beautiful Resistance” series and Everyone 250 join ahead of a major rally happening this Saturday to protest racial injustice happening on the federal level, while also commemorating 60 years since Martin Luther King Jr. led a very similar Freedom Rally here in Boston. And, some very funny figures in Boston’s comedy world join us ahead of a show at the Regent in Arlington tonight: Tony V, Lenny Clarke, Frank Santorelli and director Jordan Tofalo join us to talk about comedy.

Apr 22, 2025 • 38min
Best Of BPR 4/22: Wesleyan President On Trump's Anti-Americanism & 'Divine Intervention'
Today:Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan College, was one of the first university presidents to stand up to federal pressure from the Trump Administration. We discuss the growing chorus following in his footsteps.And, a mother-son duo for the latest iteration of our segment “How Do You Two Know Each Other?” with Marianne Hughes, the first Executive Director with the Interaction Institute for Social Change, and documentary filmmaker Brendan Hughes -- whose podcast, "Divine Intervention" is out now.

Apr 22, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 4/22: Did MAGA Make Meat Great Again?
Michael Roth, president of Wesleyan University, discusses his 'case against cowardice' in the face of Trump's attacks on higher education.Brian McGrory, head of BU journalism, discusses the local reaction to the Pope's death, the latest with Steward Healthcare suing to claw back money from former vendors, and conservative radio callers voicing their displeasure of Trump's tariffs.Marianne Hughes, executive director of the Interaction Institute for Social Change and her son, Brendan Patrick Hughes, documentary filmmaker and podcaster, join for How Do You Two Know Each Other?Lynne Montesanto, publisher of Boston Magazine, discusses this year's Most Influential Bostonians list.CNN's John King discusses the Pope's death, the Supreme Court ruling on deportations, and more national headline

Apr 17, 2025 • 33min
Best Of BPR 4/17: Holding The Trump Administration In Contempt & Higher Ed's 'Demographic Cliff'
Today:Former Massachusetts public safety secretary Andrea Cabral discusses a federal judge holding the Trump administration in contempt over its defiance – The administration refuses to return a man wrongly deported to El Salvador.Then we talk about higher education with the College Uncovered podcast team, GBH’s Kirk Carapezza and the Hechinger Report’s Jon Marcus. Season 4 is out now.

Apr 17, 2025 • 2h 33min
BPR Full Show 4/17: Give Up The Dial
Local woman Sue O'Connell hosts with Margery while Jim slithers somewhere in Cambridge. Political analyst and podcaster Chuck Todd is back for his Thursday D.C. news roundup.Former Suffolk County sheriff Andrea Cabral on the DOJ suit against Maine for its trans high school athletes laws. Plus, why a federal immigration judge denied bond for Rumeysa Ozturk.GBH education reporter Kirk Carapezza and The Hechinger's Report Jon Marcus join to celebrate the season four of “College Uncovered.”MIT economist Jon Gruber explains the trade war between the U.S. and China and why Trump’s 125% tariffs could make things a lot worse before they get better.

Apr 16, 2025 • 36min
Best Of BPR 4/16: 'Show Me Proof Of Life' For Abrego Garcia & Trump Says He Won't Defund Harvard-Affiliated Hospitals
Today: National security expert Juliette Kayyem discusses the normalization of political violence; and calls for the Trump administration to show proof of life for the man wrongly deported to an El Salvador mega-prison.Michael Curry, CEO of the Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, discusses the health and medical impacts of the federal administration's decision to pause more than $2 billion in contracts and grants to Harvard.
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