Audacious with Chion Wolf

For most people, mini golf is casual. A little windmill, a little ice cream, maybe some light family trash talk. 

But in this episode, you'll meet competitive players who practice for tournaments, a Guinness World Record holder who played 4,941 holes in 24 hours, and a British enthusiast who has visited more than 1,100 mini golf courses. 

Along the way: specialized balls, sore backs, and the surprising life lessons hiding...

Some people go to the mall to shop or meet up with friends at the food court or get a good walk in. Some people work there.

Michael Townsend secretly lived in a mall.

For four years, Townsend and fellow artists co-opted a hidden apartment inside Providence Place Mall, complete with furniture, dishes, a PlayStation and even a waffle maker, all while trying to stay invisible to mall security.

Then, join Chion as she gets to know the ...

Meet two men who survived suicide attempts, and built lives around helping others imagine a future beyond despair.

Kevin Hines, one of the few to survive a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge, reflects on the instant regret, the long recovery, and the tools he uses when “brain pain” returns - recorded just days before the 25th anniversary of his attempt.

Then, Connecticut therapist Steve MacHattie shares what it means to l...

Wander with the Audacious crew through 175 acres of wonder and delight to meet the people who bring The Big E to life!   

From a Lost & Found sage, to a fairy from the Florence Griswold Museum, to a hot tub ace, to Amber, the bathroom attendant/joy DJ.  

President & CEO Gene Cassidy shares the soul of the Exposition, then we follow our heads, hearts, and (especially) stomachs through cream puffs, Pe...

After Charles Wolf’s wife, Katherine, was killed in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, he found himself taking on an unlikely new role: activist. 

Wolf became a tireless advocate for victims’ families, challenging the federal compensation system and successfully pushing for reform. His efforts later became part of the movie Worth, with Stanley Tucci playing him. 

Twenty-five years later, Wolf looks ...

Welcome to the Brimfield Antique Flea Market!

Thousands of buyers and sellers descend on a small Massachusetts town three times a year, filling fields with furniture, vintage clothes, tools, art, oddities and things you didn’t know existed five minutes ago. 

We spend the day roaming the country’s largest outdoor antiques show, meeting serious collectors, first-timers, lifelong dealers and shoppers operating almost ...

In honor of Dolly Parton, we’re rebroadcasting a conversation with her niece, singer/songwriter Jada Star. 

Jada shares what it was like growing up with Aunt Dolly, watching the rest of the world fall in love with her, and learning from her example of kindness, faith, hard work, and generosity.

For a transcription of this episode, click here.

Original air date: Jan...

The Playboy Bunny is one of America’s most recognizable symbols, but it never represented a single experience. 

Candace Jordan was both a Bunny and a Playmate in the ‘70s, and remembers Playboy as a source of sisterhood, ambition, opportunity and lifelong belonging. 

Victoria Valentino was Miss September 1963, and for her, becoming a Playmate became tied to family rejection and an identity she never wanted.&nb...

For decades, journalist Scott Wallace has traveled the world documenting conflict, culture, and extraordinary lives. But nothing compared to a ten-week expedition through one of the most remote regions of the Brazilian Amazon. 

His assignment: accompany an effort to help protect one of the last uncontacted tribes on Earth, the Flecheiros, or “People of the Arrow,” while avoiding contact with them at all costs. ...

Most days fade into the next. You make the coffee, answer the emails, run the errands, fold the laundry, try to keep up. 

But every once in a while, life gives you a moment that blows your freakin' mind. 

For more than a year, at the end of Audacious interviews, we've asked guests one final question: Will you tell me about a pinch me moment in your life?

Here are their answers: stories of love, second chances, belonging, ...

When someone tells you they’ve survived sexual abuse, the conversation can feel tender for everyone involved: the person choosing what to share, and the person trying to respond with care. How can we make those moments feel safer, more honest, and less lonely? 

Beth Hamilton, executive director of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, offers guidance on how to respond with steadiness, care, and humility. 

What happens when a Brooklyn woman who identifies as queer, liberal, vegan, and an atheist donates her kidney to a conservative Christian man from Virginia?

Kerry Kennedy and Joey Shervey tell the story of what it looks like when compassion outvotes everything else. Their transplant crossed party lines and personal beliefs to create an unexpected friendship.

Then, Lindsay Vigue describes how a small flyer on the wall of a diner led...

How do you play the violin without a right hand? How do you drum after losing a leg? How do you rap and create beats when you can only move your head and shoulders? 

Adrian Anantawan was born without his right hand and most of his right forearm, and learned violin using a custom bow adaptation attached to his arm. Billy Brimblecom Jr., a drummer who lost his left leg to cancer, shares how he returned to music and now helps oth...

When you go to a comedy club, you know what you’re there for. But what happens when comedy shows up somewhere else? 

Meredith Dietz describes doing stand-up in a New York City office where employees were told not to laugh, and on a Staten Island Ferry where no one could escape the ride. 

Years after his own incarceration, Ali Siddiq returns to jail to speak with people inside. 

And Pauline Schantzer, aka Polly ...

Some people savor every bite. Others eat 30 hot dogs in 10 minutes. Welcome to the world of competitive eating!

Visit Lake Compounce for a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog Eating Contest qualifier, where everyone is trying to prove they’re top dog.

Then Crazy Legs Conti and Katina DeJarnett - aka Katina Eats Kilos - talk about what it takes to train, compete, recover, and keep chewing when your body is ...

Joe Stone grew up playing volleyball, skateboarding, and breakdancing. Then, in 2012, a car crash left him paralyzed. 

Doctors told him he would likely never move anything below his chest again. But five weeks after leaving the hospital, Joe found wheelchair rugby. This violent, fast, full-contact sport helped him rebuild strength, process anger, and feel alive in a changed body. 

In this conversation recorded at a live t...

Stephanie Salvilla so deeply loved - still loves - her baby boy, Gannon.

In July 2009, after a week of disrupted routines and sleepless nights, her brain went on autopilot. She dropped off her older child, drove to work, and unknowingly left 5-month-old Gannon in the car. He died.

In this deeply difficult and important conversation, Stephanie talks about grief, shame, public judgment, forgiveness, and why ...

When you hear “philanthropy,” you might think of millionaires, black-tie galas, or buildings named after donors. But what if you could be a philanthropist without being wealthy?

In this episode, you’ll meet people who donate small amounts to hundreds of places, hand out cash on city streets, and send money directly to people in poverty, no strings attached. 

Explore the power of small, consistent giving, and ...

James Tillman remembers the smell of steak and onions cooking at his mother’s house on the day police came for him. He thought he’d be back soon.

Instead, he spent a total of 18½ years incarcerated for a crime he did not commit.

In 2006, with the help of the Connecticut Innocence Project, DNA evidence proved his innocence, making him the first person in Connecticut exonerated through post-conviction DNA testing. Later, ...