AirTalk

Today on AirTalk, Everything you need to know about Alaska Airlines 737 Max 9 jet blowout. Also on the show, weighing the painful pros and cons of IUDs; the history of Southern California smog; author Judith Tick on her new biography of Ella Fitzgerald and more.

Today on AirTalk, Ventura County is asking you not to share homegrown fruit. Also on the show, how to talk about healthy food substitutions; Austin tries Rosca de Reyes cake from La Monarca;  Larry interviews actor Coleman Domingo about Rustin and more.

Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network TV and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we will try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. This week, listeners will get the latest scoop on what’s worth watching with Liz Shannon Miller, senior entertainment editor for Consequence, and Eric Deggans, television critic for NPR.

This week’s shows include:

Today on AirTalk, UCLA acquires former Westside Pavilion mall. Also on the show, truckers and delivery drivers are having trouble with parking; NPR producer Peter Breslow chats with Larry about his new memoir; TV-Talk: ‘The Brothers Sun,’ ‘Only Murders in the Building’, ‘Letterkenny’ and more.

Today on AirTalk, California kicks off 2024 with below normal snowpack. Also on the show, Greg Lukianoff on his new book “The Canceling of the American Mind”; Jon Batiste chats with Larry about his new documentary; listeners share how they feel about shoes on/off in the house and more.

Today on AirTalk, everything you need to know about new California laws in 2024. Also on the show, why some pilots avoid self reporting mental health problems; a politics primer ahead of the 2024 election season; listeners share the self help books that changed their lives and more.

AirTalk is off today, and back tomorrow. So, we’ll be supplying our podcast listeners with reruns of our Southern California history segments. Today’s episode is on the history of SoCal’s Jewish population. If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future SoCal history segment, email it to [email protected]. 

From Boyle Heights to Fairfax, the Jewish community has made a significant impact on almost every aspect of life in Los Angeles. Jewish immigrants began arriving in the area in the mid-1800s and continued through 1965. During each influx, new layers of Jewish life were laid upon a growing tapestry of Jews that had already established themselves in the area. Today on AirTalk, we’re diving into the history of Jewish communities in Los Angeles. Joining us today is Caroline Luce, Project Director at the UCLA labor center, previously Chief Curator of Mapping Jewish LA, and Jonathan Friedmann, director of the Jewish Museum of the American West; professor music history at Academy for Jewish Religion California.

AirTalk is off this week, so we’ll be supplying our podcast listeners with reruns of our Southern California history segments. Today’s episode is on Griffith Park. If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future SoCal history segment, email it to [email protected]. 

Griffith Park dwarfs other city parks. Its 4,300 acres make it about five times bigger than New York’s Central Park. And, unlike Central Park’s man-made rolling hills, Griffith Park is a true urban wilderness, comprised of a chunk of the Santa Monica Mountains. The park, originally Tongva-Gabrielino land, was gifted to the city by Welsh philanthropist Griffith J. Griffith in 1896, who also provided funds for the Griffith Observatory and the Greek Theatre. Griffith is a divisive figure: in 1903, he assaulted his wife with a gun and subsequently served time in prison. According to Casey Schreiner in his book Discovering Griffith Park, in its lifetime, “the park has been home to an airfield, multiple zoos, a landfill, a Civilian Conservation Corps work camp, a pre-internment camp and prisoner-of-war camp during World War II, housing for veterans, and more.” Joining us to discuss the history of the park and how Angelenos use it today are Mike Eberts, author of Griffith Park: A Centennial Historyand Casey Schreiner, founder of the site Modern Hiker and author of Discovering Griffith Park: A Local’s Guide.

AirTalk is off this week, so we’ll be supplying our podcast listeners with reruns of our Southern California history segments. Today’s episode is on the Southern California’s expansive orange farming. If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future SoCal history segment, email it to [email protected]. 

You ever wonder why Orange County is named Orange County? The answer is actually fairly simple, it’s because of that citrus fruit that was being farmed in the area and its neighboring counties; oranges, and other citrus, became a key part of Southern California’s booming economy from the late 19th Century and for most of the 20th. Although citrus orchards aren’t as plentiful nowadays, dropping in size, you’ll still find residential growers around the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, and the Inland Empire. Today on AirTalk, we offer a primer on Southern California citrus with Vince Moses,CEO of the museum/preservation consulting firm VinCate and Associates, and Benjamin Jenkins, University of La Verne associate professor of history and book author on the subject.

AirTalk is off this week, so we’ll be supplying our podcast listeners with reruns of our Southern California history segments. Today’s episode is on the SoCal’s Filipino population. If you’d like to suggest a topic for a future SoCal history segment, email it to [email protected]. 

Back in October was Filipino American History Month, and we dedicated an episode of our SoCal history segment to the tremendous contributions that Filipino communities have made here in Southern California. From when Filipino sailors landed in Morro Bay in 1587 to “Little Manila” in downtown LA in the first half of the 20th century to the rapidly gentrifying Historic Filipinotown, California has long felt the impact of the Filipino community. Today on AirTalk, we’ll dig into why migrants from the Philippines ended up in Southern California and the histories of the communities they formed. Joining us to discuss is Joy Sales, assistant professor of Asian American Studies at California State University, Los Angeles, Joseph Bernardo, adjunct professor in the Asian and Asian Pacific American Studies Department at Loyola Marymount University and board member for the Filipino Workers Center, and James Zarsadiaz, associate professor of history and director of the Yuchengco Philippine Studies Program at the University of San Francisco. Author of ​​Resisting Change in Suburbia: Asian Immigrants and Frontier Nostalgia in L.A.