Alana Casanova-Burgess

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(Tanya Barrett/Courtesy of the author)

Alana Casanova-Burgess is the co-creator, host and producer of WNYC Studios’ La Brega: Stories of the Puerto Rican Experience, hailed as one of the “Best Podcasts of 2021” by The New Yorker and The New York Times. 

Previously, Casanova-Burgess was a reporter and producer for WNYC’s The Brian Lehrer Show and the Peabody award-winning national public radio show and podcast On the Media. In 2018, her extensive reporting from Puerto Rico after Hurricane Maria led to her being named a Livingston Awards finalist for the On the Media special “After the Storm,” which looked at recovery and media coverage. . 

In 2021, she received an Exceptional Journalism Award from the Women’s Media Center for her work on La Brega. She was also part of a team that won the Alfred I. duPont–Columbia University Award for Blindspot: Tulsa Burning, a six-part podcast co-produced with The HISTORY Channel about the Tulsa Race Massacre of 1921 and history of racial violence in America.

Casanova-Burgess’ audio journalism work has been featured in The Guardian, 99% Invisible, Throughline, The New Yorker Radio Hour, and Latino USA, among other radio shows and podcasts. She is an alumna of the Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, where she now serves as an adjunct. She has roots in the Caribbean and Brooklyn.

Shows:

Alana Casanova-Burgess appears in the following:

2. “El Gran Varón” — Who Was Simón?

Thursday, February 02, 2023

Futuro Media Group
WNYC Studios
This epic salsa tells the story of a father and his child as they face questions of gender and identity, serving as a cautionary tale — but for whom?

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2. “El gran varón” — ¿Quién era Simón?

Thursday, February 02, 2023

Futuro Media Group
WNYC Studios
Esta salsa épica relata la historia de un padre y su hije y sirve como un cuento con moraleja, pero ¿para quién?

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Introducing La Brega: Season Two

Friday, January 27, 2023

An introduction to season two of the podcast "La Brega," which explores the music of Puerto Rico.

La Brega Is Back

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Season 2 of the podcast is out now. 

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1. "Preciosa" — The Other Anthem

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Futuro Media Group
WNYC Studios
How Rafael Hernandez’s defiant ode to the island binds Puerto Ricans across the diaspora – and paved the way for Bad Bunny.

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1. "Preciosa" — El otro himno

Thursday, January 26, 2023

Futuro Media Group
WNYC Studios
Cómo la desafiante oda a la isla de Rafael Hernández une a los puertorriqueños en toda la diáspora y abrió el camino para Bad Bunny.

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Season 2: The Puerto Rican Experience in 8 Songs

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Futuro Media Group
WNYC Studios
Introducing a new season!

2da Temporada: La experiencia boricua en 8 canciones

Thursday, January 19, 2023

Futuro Media Group
WNYC Studios
¡Presentando una nueva temporada!

Arms of different skin tones reaching for a volleyball over the net.

Keeping Score: A Year Inside a Divided Brooklyn High School

Friday, September 09, 2022

By Alana Casanova-Burgess / Jessica Gould : Reporter, WNYC News / Jenny Lawton : Managing Editor, WNYC Studios / Emily Botein : Vice President for Original Programming, WNYC Studios

By some measures, New York City has the most segregated school system in the country. Four high schools in Brooklyn are focussing their hopes for change on an unlikely target: sports.

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Arms of different skin tones reaching for a volleyball over the net.

Keeping Score: A Year Inside a Divided Brooklyn High School

Friday, September 09, 2022

By some measures, New York City has the most segregated school system in the country. Four high schools in Brooklyn are focussing their hopes for change on an unlikely target: sports.

"Menudo: Forever Young" Cements the Legacy of the Puerto Rican Boy Band

Friday, July 15, 2022

The new HBO Max documentary “Menudo: Forever Young,” traces the rise of the group while also delving into the darker history of how its young members were treated by their managers.

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Another Death at Rikers Island

Friday, July 15, 2022

Last weekend, 31 year old Elijah Muhammad was found dead in his cell at Rikers Island jail in New York City. It's the 8th death at the facility this year. 

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People stroll down Juarez Avenue in central Mexico City, Sunday, May 31, 2020. Mexico's capital plans to reopen certain sectors of the economy and public life beginning Monday.

The Global Impact of Americans Abroad

Friday, July 15, 2022

Americans are moving abroad to places like Bali, Mexico and Vietnam in search of lower costs of living. But what is that doing to the costs of living for people already living there?

In this Aug. 11, 2019, file photo, a man uses a cell phone in New Orleans.

9-8-8 is America's New Mental Health Hotline

Thursday, July 14, 2022

The federally mandated hotline is set to go live on July 16, but is it ready? We hear about its potential, and the challenges facing it.

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The Great Salt Lake is Slowly Shrinking

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Poor water management and a growing population is drying up Utah's Great Salt Lake, which could have health impacts on the local area as toxic dust is kicked up from the dried lake bed.

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The John Jay Jaguars Girls Varsity Volleyball team

Keeping Score: Part 4

Thursday, June 30, 2022

After the Jaguars compete in the city championship, students and coaches ask: was it all worth it?

Instead of Roe: The Case that Could Have Defined Abortion Law

Friday, June 24, 2022

In 1970, Captain Susan Struck challenged an Air Force rule banning pregnant women, or women with children, from serving. Her story has important lessons for reproductive freedom today. 

Head Coach Mike Salak guides the Jaguars during a game

Keeping Score: Part 3

Thursday, June 23, 2022

What does it mean to lead a team in an anti-racist way?

Mariah Morgan is a junior at Park Slope Collegiate and plays on the girls varsity volleyball team

Keeping Score: Part 2

Thursday, June 16, 2022

How did the schools in the John Jay building become divided in the first place?

The John Jay Jaguars Girls Varsity Volleyball team

Sports and Integration in Brooklyn

Thursday, June 09, 2022

How things went when the athletic programs in one large school building in Park Slope, Brooklyn merged, and issues of equity were brought to the surface.

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