Daily Schedule

On today’s show: Rebecca Schuman, education columnist for Slate, discusses grade inflation, adjunct professors, tenure, relationships between professors and students, and other issues in higher education. Robert Altman’s widow, Kathryn Reed Altman, and actor Bob Balaban talk about the unorthodox director of M*A*S*H, Nashville, Short Cuts, Gosford Park, and other memorable movies. Stephen Carter talks about his new novel, called Back Channel, a retelling of the Cuban Missile Crisis. And New York Times columnist Roger Cohen looks at the ways WWI shaped the world—and whether a conflict on that scale could happen again.

Your morning companion from NPR and the WNYC Newsroom, with world news, local features, and weather updates.

New York Magazine’s much-loved “approval matrix” is about to hit the airwaves. The magazine’s editor Adam Moss and comedian Neal Brennan, the show’s host, discuss the new TV show. Plus: a new report describes a culture of abuse at Riker’s Island; why some people do just fine with only five hours of sleep a night; and a look at how improvements in gay rights have shifted the sexual identities of straight people. 

The Peabody Award-winning program features Terry Gross’ fearless and insightful interviews with big names in pop culture, politics and the arts.

A wrap-up of the day’s news, with features and interviews about the latest developments in New York City and around the world, from NPR and the WNYC newsroom.

A wrap-up of the day’s news, with features and interviews about the latest developments in New York City and around the world, from NPR and the WNYC newsroom.

In this episode: Idina Menzel became a household name as the voice of Queen Elsa in the Disney animated film Frozen -- singing the movie’s blockbuster song, “Let It Go.” But her roots are on Broadway, where she originated the roles of both Maureen in Rent and Elphaba in Wicked. Now, she’s back on Broadway as the lead of the show If/Then. Hear Menzel talk about motherhood, fate and her rabid “Fanzels” and watch her perform selections from If/Then in the Soundcheck studio.

Then: Michael Franti is best known as the leader of the band Spearhead, but he’s also passionate about yoga. This summer, he’s heading up a tour that combines both – inviting audiences to participate in a class before the concert begins. Franti talks about what led him to put down the bong and pick up the yoga mat, and with instructor Nicole Newman about whether music belongs in the yoga classroom and how yoga can help musicians with their aches and pains.

On this New Sounds, we remember composer, professor, instrument inventor, and multi-instrumentalist, Dean Drummond.  Drummond, who passed away on Saturday, was the founder and conductor of Newband, which played the famous Harry Partch Instrumentarium - the 43-note-to-the-octave instruments that Partch invented in the middle of the 20th century.  Dean was the curator of this unique collection for many years, and was also an instrument inventor himself and a composer. From a February 1995 New Sounds Live concert, hear his arrangement of Thelonious Monk's "Round Midnight" for Partch instruments, Partch's own "Two Studies on Ancient Greek Scales," and Drummond's major piece, "The Day the Sun Stood Still."  Drummond also explains how he came to meet and play with Harry Partch, develop his own instruments, and more.