St. Louis on the Air

St. Louis on the Air

St. Louis on the Air creates a unique space where guests and listeners can share ideas and opinions with respect and honesty. Whether exploring issues and challenges confronting our region, discussing the latest innovations in science and technology, taking a closer look at our history or talking with authors, artists and musicians, St. Louis on the Air brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region.

Episodes

February 5, 2025 25 mins
Welcoming new voices to opera is the core mission of Opera Theatre of St. Louis’ New Works Collective. The initiative provides opportunities for creators and performers like librettist Alicia Reve Like, whose 20-minute opera “Black Coffee” gets its world premiere Feb. 6-8 at COCA. Like and the theatre’s managing director Nicole Freber, discuss the role community engagement has played in bringing new perspectives to the opera stage.
Mark as Played
Urban development projects are typically marked by groundbreaking ceremonies, months of building and handshakes for a job well done. But it’s often the case that community members are left out of critical discussions of what could make new developments in their neighborhood work for them. Christopher Peoples, equity and economic impact director for Great Rivers Greenway discusses the organization’s commitment to keeping residents i...
Mark as Played
Due to a delay in federal funding for many of its services and programs, the International Institute of St. Louis announced a pause on preparations for this year’s Festival of Nations. The next day, it furloughed more than half of its staff. Despite uncertainties in federal funding, and anti-immigrant actions and rhetoric on a national level, both former and current staff at the institute believe that St. Louis remains a welcoming ...
Mark as Played
St. Louis’ best theater performances of the year are being honored again. The St. Louis Theater Circle announced its nominations for 2024. The Muny is the top contender, with 30 nominations across its seven productions. Approximately 112 productions were considered. St. Louis Theater Circle members Chuck Lavazzi and CB Adams discuss some of this year’s nominations and the state of local theater.
Mark as Played
A number of St. Louis-area restaurants closed their doors in January but a fair number opened too. Among the closures were Peacock Loop Diner in University City and Schlafly Bankside in St. Charles. New restaurants include dart-themed restaurant Flight Club in Clayton and SweetArt Too in City Foundry. STLPR digital editor Jessica Rogen and morning anchor and host of the Gateway podcast Abby Llorico discuss the latest openings and c...
Mark as Played
Late Friday afternoon, KDHX 88.1 FM announced that it was stopping live broadcasts and letting go of all of its volunteer DJs. The community radio station has experienced turmoil for several years. On this episode, STLPR arts and culture senior reporter Jeremy D. Goodwin and two former KDHX DJs, Caron House and River Reinsch, discuss this news. House hosted “Wax Lyrical” for nearly 11 years until she was let go in September 2023, a...
Mark as Played
Bobby Carter was part of a major shift for NPR Music’s Tiny Desk Concerts. The St. Louis native (and Riverview Gardens High School alum) emphasized diversity in music genre and representation of race and gender for the viral video series which has gained nearly 11 million subscribers on NPR Music’s YouTube channel alone. On this episode of St. Louis on the Air, Carter, who serves as Tiny Desk’s host, producer and judge for their an...
Mark as Played
Kre8 Place's Quintrel Brown and Dwayne Ferguson join producer Miya Norfleet and host Elaine Cha for a roundup of new music releases from St. Louis musicians. Brown and Ferguson also explain how Kre8 Place provides a space for artists to grow and gain the resources in the St. Louis area. They also share details about the Hiphop Takeover event occurring at the end of February at the Dark Room.
Mark as Played
New and experienced beekeepers aiming to hone their honey-making skills will meet Feb. 8 in St. Louis for an annual workshop from the Eastern Missouri Beekeepers Association. We get to know Tom and Melissa Sostman, founders of VIA Honeybees, who went from newbie hobbyists to maintaining 150+ hives throughout Franklin and Jefferson County. They discuss their journey and the skills they picked up along the way. We also get a preview ...
Mark as Played
Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe is pushing for a state board to oversee the St. Louis police department because he says it will make the city safer in the long run. The GOP chief executive is brushing aside criticism that the idea is another example of Republican-controlled state government micromanaging the heavily Democratic St. Louis region. In a wide-ranging interview with STLPR the day after his first State of the State address, Keho...
Mark as Played
Missouri's yearslong failure to connect criminal defendants with mental health treatment is only getting worse. More than 400 Missourians are languishing in jail as they wait to be placed into court-ordered psychiatric treatment. That's up from around 300 at this time last year. Missouri Independent reporter Clara Bates has been investigating the issue — her latest piece reveals that some defendants have been forced to wait longer ...
Mark as Played
Before Reesha L. Archibald became a Hollywood television producer and started collaborating with Cedric the Entertainer and Eric Rhone, she was in St. Louis thinking about ways to use her artistic talents. Now that she’s made it big as an executive producer on shows including Bounce TV’s “Finding Happy” and “Johnson,” she’s focused on lifting up St. Louis’ talent and providing opportunities for creatives in her hometown. In this ep...
Mark as Played
Adrienne Siddens lost her husband Randall after he was struck by a distracted driver. In conversation with STLPR’s Abby Llorico, she shares how she’s worked through grief and become an advocate for a distracted driving law in Missouri — which went into effect on Jan. 1.
Mark as Played
Vivial Lopez, a St. Louis native, shares what it means to help her community become comfortable with talking about death. She specializes in helping the Black community fill out advance directives and navigate death. An advance directive is important for an individual to ensure what their end-of-life care and values are.
Mark as Played
A panel of attorneys discuss local and regional legal issues. Discussion will include the latest attempt to change the , allegations by a chess star against the U.S. Chess Federation, why a Wendy’s restaurant in Bridgeton is paying $5 million to a former worker who was a victim of sexual assault on the job, why Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey must sit for deposition, and more.
Mark as Played
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page has officially entered politically treacherous territory. He’s leading Missouri’s largest county at a time of downward population growth, an uncertain budgetary future, and for the first time since he took office in 2019, Page is facing a county council with enough antagonists to override his veto. Politics correspondent Jason Rosenbaum sits down with Page in his office in Clayton to discuss crit...
Mark as Played
Republicans in the Missouri General Assembly want to place a board with gubernatorial appointees in charge of overseeing the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department. It’s an idea with high-level support among police unions and Missouri’s new governor, but fierce opposition from St. Louis’ top elected officials. We talk about the proposal with one of its most vocal backers, Republican state Senator Nick Schroer from St. Louis Count...
Mark as Played
St. Louis County Library is spending more than half its collections budget on digital “eMedia” through subscriptions to services like Libby and Hoopla. The library told its patrons this month the cost would become “unsustainable” without changes. We hear from the library's director, Kristen Sorth, about the changing landscape for accessing books and other digital media, and the decisions facing libraries to maintain the public’s ac...
Mark as Played
Between now and Feb. 14, Illinois residents can vote on whether to change their state flag — and if so, which resident-submitted design they'd like to see flying in the wind. We hear from two Illinois Flag Commission members who helped whittle down the selection from nearly 5,000 designs to the top ten. Flag design expert Ted Kaye also shares his suggestions for how those designs could be improved.
Mark as Played
A growing and significant body of research suggests that students benefit from having a teacher of the same race or ethnicity. Yet most teachers in the U.S. are white women. St. Louis entrepreneur Angelica Harris founded Top Tutors for Us to pair Black high school students with tutors who look like them. She shares how their services have led to improved test scores and higher college acceptance rates of their students.
Mark as Played

Popular Podcasts

    My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.

    On Purpose with Jay Shetty

    I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!

    Dateline NBC

    Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show

    The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show. Clay Travis and Buck Sexton tackle the biggest stories in news, politics and current events with intelligence and humor. From the border crisis, to the madness of cancel culture and far-left missteps, Clay and Buck guide listeners through the latest headlines and hot topics with fun and entertaining conversations and opinions.

    The Breakfast Club

    The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy And Charlamagne Tha God!

Advertise With Us
Music, radio and podcasts, all free. Listen online or download the iHeart App.

Connect

© 2025 iHeartMedia, Inc.