Audacious with Chion Wolf

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 manager of Westfarms Mall. After that, she meanders through Buckland Hills Mall, meeting stuffed-animal builders, a carousel operator, and a candy-store owner whose shelves are stocked with exotic treats from around the world. 

 

Suggested episodes:

• What Happens When You Act Like You Belong
• I snuck my incarcerated boyfriend out of prison in a dog crate
• The art of the prank with the directors of 'Jury Duty' and 'Bad Trip' 

 

GUESTS: 

• Michael Townsend: Rhode Island-based artist and driving force behind the Secret Mall Apartment, a 750-square-foot space hidden inside Providence Place Mall. He and fellow artists used the space undetected from 2003 until mall security discovered it in 2007. Their story is told in the 2024 documentary Secret Mall Apartment

Carolyn Edwards: General manager of Westfarms Mall. She has worked in the shopping-center industry for more than 30 years, overseeing everything from retail and marketing to safety and the day-to-day life of the mall

• The Shoppes at Buckland Hills: Alex Cabrera and Aleks Wichowski of Build-A-Bear Workshop; Carousel operator, Silas Carlson; Jessica Holbrook, owner of Passport Candies

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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 live with chronic suicidal urges, after his first attempt at six years old, and how reaching for connection can change the outcome.

This episode originally aired on January 17, 2026.

Resources:

• 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline  
• Crisis Text Line: text HOME to 741741
• Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board
• In an emergency, please call or text 911

Suggested episodes:

• 911, What's Your Emergency? Tales From Dispatch
• Finding purpose in life after accidentally killing someone
• What it's like surviving a plane crash

GUESTS: 

• Kevin Hines: suicide attempt survivor, author, film producer, and mental health advocate. At 19, he survived a jump from the Golden Gate Bridge. Over the past 25 years, he has dedicated himself to suicide prevention, sharing his story to reduce stigma and help people through moments of crisis. Kevin is the author of Cracked, Not Broken, The Art of Being Broken, and The Art of Wellness, hosts the HINESIGHTS podcast, and was a leading voice in the effort to install safety nets on the Golden Gate Bridge. His latest documentary, Death Bridge, is set to be released in 2027
• Steve MacHattie: a suicide attempt survivor, clinical social worker (LCSW), and founder of the Charter Oak Family Center in Manchester, Connecticut. He first attempted suicide at six years old, and today he supports clients ages 5 to 105 and serves as co-chair of the Connecticut Suicide Advisory Board’s Lived Experience Committee. He also writes poetry used in clinical trainings to help care providers see the humanity and strength in the people they serve

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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, Pepe’s pizza, and cookie dough-on-a-stick.

This episode originally aired on October 4, 2025.

Suggested episodes:

• Scenes from the Big E: A fair filled with food, animals, music – and heart

 

GUESTS: 

• Mary Naughton and Cyndy Penner: mother and daughter duo behind Cyndy’s Bears, selling embroidered teddy bears and other personalized items
• Andrea Anderson and Sabrina Gagnon: at The Big E with their Clydesdale horses from Hobby Knoll Stable in Duxbury, MA
• Susan Rotondo and Bill Motyl: longtime fair regulars from Southwick, MA
• Tammi Flynn: Director of Communications at The Florence Griswold Museum in Old Lyme, CT
• Rita Rivera: a fairy for the day, advertising the Wee Faerie Village at The Florence Griswold Museum
• Amber Stone: bathroom attendant at The Big E and recovery coach from Springfield, MA
• Ed Ame: a Chicago native, who spends most of the year traveling and works at the Lost & Found booth at The Big E
• James Tackett: a man from Madison, IN, who runs the mini ball booth at The Big E
• Darryl Wilson: sales representative for MAAX Swim Spas and Hot Tubs
• Melissa Russell: fife player from Bristol, CT, who performs with a fife and drum corps, and spent Connecticut Day with her family at The Big E
• John Barrows: printer at Eastern States Exposition
• Eugene Cassidy: President and CEO at Eastern States Exposition
• Greg: a Faribault, MN, native, who sells blooming onions at The Big E
• Kevin Gagliard: Operations Manager at Frank Pepe Pizzeria Napoletana 
• Lynn Lischke: Newburyport, MA, resident, who sells cream puffs at The Big E
• Josh Virkler: owner of Luann’s Bakery in Ellington, Stafford, and soon Hartford, CT 
• Jackson Panek-Henderson: nine-year-old fairgoer from Newington, CT
• Joseph Haag: owner of Kora and Mila’s Cookie Dough from Plymouth, WI, serving cookie dough on a stick at The Big E
• Josh, John, and Henry Pupa: repeat fairgoers from Griswold, CT

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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 back at what grief made him do, what justice can and cannot accomplish, and the life he built without the woman he still loves. 

Suggested episode:

• Life after Parkland: A victim’s dad turns to art and activism

GUEST: 

• Charles G. Wolf: After his wife, Katherine, was killed in the North Tower of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, he became a prominent advocate for victims’ families, pushing for changes to the federal compensation system and working to preserve the legacy of those lost

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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 entirely on instinct. 

Along the way: haggling advice, the difference between an oar and a paddle, clown art, a singing bowl sound bath and one important lesson: if you love it, somebody else probably does too. So grab it (preferably using cash). 

Suggested episodes:

• The Big E: What it takes to create 17 days of magic
• Audacious at sea: Wisdom from strangers on a cruise ship
• Audacious Scotland: CT’s Highland Festival & Games, plus quarrelsome dames seek justice for witches
• The minds, hearts (and stomachs) of competitive eaters
• Welcome to the Punderdome! We're entering NYC's punniest pun competition
• It’s A Brand Nude Day!

 

GUESTS: 

• First segment: Lois Shelton, Jacey Bradshaw, Mike Vojnich, Monica Pedroso, Sarah Gray, and Emily Cahill, Ram Limbu, Bruce Baier, Sam Sutner
• Second segment: Jen Davidson, Jen Weckbacher, Deborah Baird, Mary Smith, Collin and Kari McCaffery, Robert Simas, Kate Corriveau
• Third segment: James Enders, Shiree Cole, Tonya Cameron, Mo Benzriouil, Sarah Baroud, Luke Davis, Ross and Laura Bonner, Garett Eisele

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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: January 6, 2024.

GUEST: 

• Jada Star: Singer-songwriter whose debut album is called Tell Me I'm Your Angel. She also starred in the ABC reality series Claim To Fame.

You will also hear the voice of Heather Ream, author of "Lunchladies Bought My Prom Dress," East Tennessee native, and Dolly Parton fan. She was a guest on the Audacious episodes about super smellers and nostalgic childhood scents.

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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. 

Decades later, both women look back on the same famous institution, and reveal two profoundly different truths about power, choice, survival and what lived on beyond the photographs. 

 

Suggested episodes:

• Going Flat, or Building New Breasts: Two Women’s Post-Mastectomy Stories
• Models On Beauty 
• Behind The Screens: Hollywood Hairstyling, Coordinating Intimacy, And Illustrating The Great British Bake Off

 

GUESTS: 

• Candace Jordan: Former Playboy Bunny, Chicago’s 1976 Bunny of the Year and Playmate who appeared on nine Playboy covers. She later became a prominent Chicago writer, social chronicler and nonprofit supporter through her long-running Candid Candace brand 
• Victoria Valentino: Was Playboy’s Miss September 1963. A former hospice nurse and author of Dirty Diamonds, she became a prominent Bill Cosby accuser and has spent decades advocating for sexual assault survivors and legal reform

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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. 

He talks about the eerie realization that the tribe was silently tracking his every move, the ethical tensions of documenting such a story, and why the experience forever changed how he thinks about humanity, wonder, and our responsibility to one another. 

Suggested episodes:

• What it's like at the bottom of the world with Dr. “Deepsea Dawn” Wright
• Hot Shots: Photography, music, and pizza from inside a volcano
• A conversation with Humans of New York creator Brandon Stanton

 

GUEST: 

• Scott Wallace: Award-winning journalist, photographer, and associate professor in UConn's Department of Journalism. He's the author of The Unconquered, a firsthand account of an expedition into the Brazilian Amazon to help protect one of the world's last uncontacted tribes

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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, transformation, and awe, including a few from 250 miles above Earth. 

 

Suggested episodes:

• Life advice, one Audacious guest at a time 
• Forgiveness: How we define it and how it defines us 
• I saw it coming! When premonitions come true 
• What smells remind you of childhood?
• Kitchen objects with a story. Listen at your own whisk  
• Awe yeah! Exploring the magic of mind-blowing moments 
• How regret teaches us to live 
• Stories of everyday courage, from getting a needle in the eye to tackling a purse thief 
• The surprising ways we ritual 

 

GUESTS (in order of appearance): 

• First segment: Andy Corren, Bruce Campbell, Steve Feltham, Leroy McSmith, Jeffrey Marsh, Dr. Cori Breslauer, Logan Goodspeed, Casper ter Kuile, Jody Jahn, Harriet Newman Cohen, Andrew Luber, Patrick O'Connor, Glynn Washington, and Bill Edgar
• Second segment: James Tillman, Cassandra Madison, Julia Tinetti, Rebekah Spicuglia, Danielle Meinert, Candace Jordan, Drew John Ladd, Mikaela Higgins, Ari Cobb, Meredith Dietz, Sarah Thomas, Dr. Lisa Kenton, and Karen Smith
• Third segment: Audley Stephenson, Tamia Potter, Jay Bragg, Dr. John Elefteriades, Landon Proctor, Marci Pelzer, Karen Nyberg, Nicole Stott, and Chris Hadfield  

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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. 

Then Drew John Ladd shares his story as a male survivor of childhood sexual abuse. He reflects on silence, family response, masculinity, justice, shame, survival, and joy. 

This episode is about how to integrate trauma, what disclosure asks of a survivor, and how the rest of us can learn to listen better

Resources:

• RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline
• 1in6 offers support, information, and community specifically for male survivors
  

Suggested episodes:

• Forgiveness: How we define it and how it defines us
• What two suicide attempt survivors want you to know about staying alive
  

GUESTS: 

• Beth Hamilton: Executive director of the Connecticut Alliance to End Sexual Violence, where she works on advocacy, prevention, survivor support, and public policy. She is also a survivor of childhood sexual abuse, which informs the care and clarity she brings to conversations about disclosure and healing
• Drew John Ladd: Writer, musician, and teacher. He shares his experience as a male survivor of childhood sexual abuse, and reflects on silence, family response, masculinity, justice, and what better conversations can make possible

Support the show: https://www.wnpr.org/donate

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.