

Boston Public Radio Podcast
GBH News
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.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Apr 28, 2025 • 2h 41min
BPR Full Show 4/25: The Karen Read Trial
Paul Willis is a Boston-based rapper and educator who’s spent his career in nonprofits helping youth through hip hop & the arts. His latest project is “Hip Hop Leadership,” a combination album / book / teaching curriculum about what hip hop can teach about leadership. Andera Cabral on the Wisconsin Judge who was arrested. Shirley Leung on nonprofit 826 Boston rejecting $250k in federal grants to maintain their DEI programs. Ken Zuckerman from the national mustard museum & chef Wil Gilson join to promote a liverwurst festival happening Sunday at First Street Market called “Best of the Wurst.”Adam Reilly & Sue O’Connell are our guest for this week’s edition of our media analysis segment Press Play. Main story this week is CBS News & the 60 Minutes chief resigning over editorial pressures.

Apr 28, 2025 • 2h 42min
BPR Full Show 4/18: Getting Marathon Ready!
Twisted Pine performed for Live Music Friday, ahead of shows at the Spire in Plymouth and Lowell’s The Town and The City festival. Sue O’Connell on the Blue Origin flight & the latest on Karen Read.Dr. Katherine Gergen Barnett on RFK’s ongoing vaccine disinformation campaign.BAA CEO Jack Flemming joined to preview this year’s Boston Marathon. He’ll join alongside championship athlete and first-timer Boston runner Barry Keane.Callie Crossley & Yawu Miller on proposed slashes to NPR & PBS

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.


