St. Louis on the Air

St. Louis artists are dishing out chill vibes for this month’s new music round up. Matthew Sawicki and Chris “Klevah” Shaw, co-hosts of Fresh Produce, STL’s monthly beat battle, join producer Miya Norfleet and host Elaine Cha to talk about their local favorites for the month. This month’s selections include alternative folk duo Brawsh as well as pop punk band and our first music show featured artist, Wes Hoffman. Check out our new music roundup playlist.

Dominique Eldraco Price is more than a working musician. Fresh off the release of his latest EP, he and his band FreeNation brought the house down at last weekend’s Music at the Intersection festival with a high-energy mix of soul, funk and glam. Price discusses his journey from incredibly shy preacher’s kid to boisterous on-stage powerhouse. He also breaks down how he made his way to being a working musician in the corporate music world with the event band the Luster Lights in order to fund his original creative work.

When the campus of St. Louis youth literacy nonprofit Urban Born was hit by a tornado on May 16, it also severely damaged the home of the organization’s founders La Tasha and Johnel Langerston, Sr. The married couple describe their up and down experiences with FEMA, and share how their College Hill neighborhood and faith communities have “covered” them as they rebuild.

In June 2022, a fight and carjacking started in a QuikTrip parking lot in Hazelwood. The incident ended with a red Mustang crashing into the city’s police department. But the carjacking victim, Phillip March, whom surveillance video shows being beaten and dragged by his own car, now faces trial for property damage. St. Louis on the Air producer Danny Wicentowski shares his investigation into the incident, the video footage, and Hazelwood’s pursuit of this case.

Ten years after the Ferguson Commission’s landmark Forward Through Ferguson report, which laid out 189 calls to action addressing racial equity in areas such as economic opportunity, education and law enforcement, Annissa McCaskill, executive director of Forward Through Ferguson, reflects on progress, ongoing challenges, and priorities amid funding and post-tornado recovery. STLPR reporter Chad Davis also shares insights on community-level change since the Ferguson Uprising.

The Kemper Art Museum at Washington University has unveiled its largest-ever exhibition, “Making Their Mark: Works from the Shah Garg Collection.” Open through January 5, 2026, the show features more than 80 works by nearly 70 women artists and artists of color, including a monumental piece by renowned artist Joan Mitchell. Collector and philanthropist Komal Shah and Kemper curator Sabine Eckmann discuss the collection, the artists featured and how the exhibition resonates in St. Louis.

Inspired by barbershop chats and a brotherly contest over hip-hop facts, the Black Lit Network is a digital resource designed to make African American literature more widely accessible. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville professor Howard Rambsy II co-leads the project. He discusses how a recent $1.6 million grant to SIUE for the project will boost its reach and impact. He also speaks to the significance of investing in efforts to amplify African American writers, works, and ideas – especially through a public higher education institution in the Midwest, and the larger St. Louis region.

For years, the St. Louis metropolitan area has shown troubling signs when it comes to its population numbers. Preliminary results from the U.S. Census Bureau’s 2024 American Community Survey offer both encouragement and caution for the region’s future. Demographer and St. Louis University Professor Ness Sándoval breaks down the latest census data and shares why elected officials and residents should prioritize the development of single family homes to boost — or at least maintain — the region’s population.

Missouri lawmakers are closing in on the end of one of the state’s most contentious special sessions in recent memory. At stake: a Republican-backed redrawing of the state’s congressional districts that would transform Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s Kansas City-area district into one that’s GOP-leaning — and a push to make it harder for citizens to amend the state constitution through the initiative petition process. STLPR politics correspondent Jason Rosenbaum discusses the latest developments in the Missouri Senate, how Democrats are responding and what these changes could mean for the state’s political future.

St. Louis native Keyon Harrold loves coming home, and Music at the Intersection is bringing him back this weekend. Harrold is the only artist to perform at every Music at the Intersection festival since its inauguration in 2021. The Grammy-nominated jazz trumpeter and composer discusses his love for St. Louis and how Music at the Intersection has evolved since its inception.