
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

Jun 12, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 6/12: Put Out That Cigarette!
Chuck Todd on the premiere of his new show “Sunday Night with Chuck Todd,” where he interviewed Steve Bannon.Andrea Cabral on Weinstein verdict.Michael Curry on RFK/vaccine misinformation. Corby Kummer on pricy Boston dining

Jun 12, 2025 • 39min
Best Of BPR 6/12: Topo Gigio vs Topo Chico & The Future Of Carney Hospital
Today:Food policy analyst Corby Kummer discusses the new "dirty dozen" list of grocery store items laden with pesticides.And, Michael Curry, head of the Mass League of Community Health Centers, discusses a new proposal for the shuttered Carney Hospital in Dorchester to be repurposed as a training facility for nurses.

Jun 12, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 6/11: Protesting Feels Different
National security expert Juliette Kayyem discusses the situation in L.A.GBH's Meghan Smith and Alex Green, vice-chair of the Mass Special Commission on State Institutions, both join to discuss the conditions for disabled people in state institutions, and in the state generallyBoston Globe business columnist Shirley Leung discusses the Boston City Hall scandal involving one of Wu's Cabinet chiefs Segun Idowu and a domestic dispute between two staffers who have since been fireNaturalist and author Sy Montgomery on new science on axolotls that may unlock the secret to human limb regeneration.

Jun 11, 2025 • 36min
Best Of BPR 6/11: A Spotlight On Massachusetts' History Of Mistreating Disabled People
Today: A new report shows how, throughout its history, Massachusetts failed thousands of disabled residents living in institutions, and then tried to cover their tracks with bureaucratic stonewalling decades later.GBH’s Megan Smith joins alongside Alex Green, vice-chair of the commission behind this report. And, naturalist Sy Montgomery is back to talk about axolotls, as researchers at Northeastern look into whether humans could ever tap into their secrets around limb regeneration.

Jun 11, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 6/10: Fact From Fiction
BPR Full Show 6/10: Fact From Fiction

Jun 10, 2025 • 38min
Best Of BPR 6/10: RFK Purges CDC Panel & Embrace Ideas Festival
Today:Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett of the Boston Medical Center joins to discuss the latest medical headlines.And, ahead of this year’s Embrace Ideas Festival, we talk with Embrace Boston CEO Imari Paris Jeffries. Plus, joining Imari both at the festival – and today’s show – Giselle Byrd. She’s the first Black trans woman to lead a regional theatre company in the United States at Boston’s The Theater Offensive.

Jun 10, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 6/9: National Guard In Los Angeles
BPR Full Show 6/9: National Guard In Los Angeles

Jun 9, 2025 • 36min
Best Of BPR 6/09: Trump's Law-And-Order Hypocrisy & The American Myth Of Meritocracy
Today:Trump deployed the national guard in California, without the consent of Governor Gavin Newsom. We talk through the existential questions of presidential authority with retired federal judge Nancy Gertner. Plus, her suspicions about the government's new charges of human trafficking against a man they wrongly deported, Kilmar Abrego Garcia.And, journalist Adam Chandler argues in his new book “99% Perspiration” that the American Dream equating hard work with success has turned out to be more of an American fantasy.

Jun 6, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 6/6: The Trump & Musk Feud
WSJ Callum Borchers & GBH Adam Reilly for Press Play this week. They’ll discuss the latest efforts to defund PBS & NPR. The Light in the Piazza is the latest musical at the Huntington Theatre Company. We’ll hear performances from leads Sarah-Anne Martinez and Josh Grosso for this week’s edition of Live Music Friday.Dan Primack, business editor at Axios, joins to talk about steel tariffs, the latest re: the GOP megabill.Parke Wilde, Julia Hansen, and Peter Watson were arrested last year protesting the expansion of Hanscom airfield. Their cases are winding their way through court now, they join to talk about the case.

Jun 6, 2025 • 38min
Best Of BPR 6/06: Protesting Hanscom Field Expansion & Live Music With 'The Light In The Piazza'
Today:Last year, climate activists Parke Wilde, Julia Hansen, and Peter Watson were arrested protesting the proposed expansion of Bedford’s Hanscom Field – the second busiest airport in New England, behind Logan. They join to discuss the importance of civil disobedience, and standing up for the climate.And, Live Music Friday with the lead love interests of Huntington Theatre Company's production of 'The Light in the Piazza' - Sarah-Anne Martinez and Josh Grosso.