Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI Radio in New York

Guthrie P. Ramsey, Jr., is an award-winning musicologist, music historian, composer, and pianist whose prescient theoretical and critical interventions have bridged Black cultural studies and musicology. Representing twenty-five years of commentary and scholarship, these essays document Ramsey’s search to understand America's Black musical past and present and to find his own voice as an African American writer in the field of musicology.

Join us when we unpack this far-reaching collection which embraces historiography, ethnography, cultural criticism, musical analysis, and autobiography, traversing the landscape of Black musical expression from sacred music to art music, and jazz to hip-hop on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

As early as 1947, Black parents in rural South Carolina began seeking equal educational opportunities for their children. After two unsuccessful lawsuits, these families directly challenged legally mandated segregation in public schools with a third lawsuit in 1950, which was eventually decided in Brown v. Board of Education.

Wanda Little Fenimore employs innovative research methods to recover the Warings’ speeches that said the unsayable about white supremacy. When the couple poked at the contradiction between segregation and “all men are created equal,” white supremacists pushed back. As a result, the couple received both damning and congratulatory letters that reveal the terms upon which segregation was defended and the reasons those who opposed white supremacy remained silent. Join us on Leonard Lopate at Large when Wanda Little Fenimore examines Brown v. Board of Education.

Chemist, artist, and industrial hygienist, Monona Rossol was born into a theatrical family and worked as a professional entertainer from age 3 to 17.

Currently, she is the president of Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety, Inc., a not-for-profit corporation dedicated to providing health and safety services to the arts.

Monona is also is the Health and Safety Director for Local 829 of the United Scenic Artists, International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) and has lectured throughout North America and Europe. In this installment of “Leonard Lopate at Large,” Monona takes your calls on the latest health concerns

When Investigative Journalist Bob Hennelly stops by the show, he unpacks a myriads of topics not mentioned in mainstream media. For example, despite decades of progress in worker safety since the creation of the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration in 1970, there's troubling evidence of deadly backsliding particularly for the nation's Black and Latino workers, according to a comprehensive analysis from the AFL-CIO, the nation's largest labor federation.

Joins us for a discussion on national and local politics, business, and labor unions. Bob Hennelly of Stuck Nation has a passion for bringing real news to his audience in a balanced and detailed way on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large

Last week NYC tenants and landlords pleaded their case to the Rent Guidelines Board in a five-hour meeting — with one side asking for a rent freeze and the other for an increase at a scale the city has not seen in years. Tenant leaders testified that high rents and utility costs are already forcing New Yorkers out of their homes, and that any rent increase will result in more evictions.

Join us when Altagracia Pierre-Outerbridge, founder and owner of New York city-based law firm Outerbridge Law P.C. who’s practice is focused on landlord-tenant litigation and transactional matters examine NY tenants, landlords, and the rent guidelines board on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.

Andrew Boyd, a United States author, humorist, and veteran of creative campaigns for social change brings together eight of today's leading climate thinkers. From activist Tim DeChristopher to collapse-psychologist Jamey Hecht, grassroots strategist Adrienne Maree brown, eco-philosopher Joana Macy, and Indigenous botanist Robin Wall Kimmerer ― asking them: "Is it really the end of the world? and if so, now what?"

In I Want a Better Catastrophe, gallows humor and a broken heart, Boyd steers readers through their climate angst as he walks his own. Boyd's journey takes him from storm-battered coastlines to pipeline blockades and "hopelessness workshops." Along the way, he maps out our existential options, and tackles some familiar dilemmas: "Should I bring kids into such a world?" "Can I lose hope when others can't afford to?" and "Why the fuck am I recycling?"

Join us when activist Andrew Boyd shares his quest to live with the "impossible news" of our climate doom, on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large

From the start, the War on Drugs targeted Black, Brown, and Indigenous Americans already disadvantaged by a system stacked against them. Even now, as white Americans who largely escaped the fire capitalize on the legalization movement and a booming cannabis industry, their less fortunate peers continue to suffer the consequences of the systemic racism in policing and failed drug policy that fueled the original crisis.

Waiting to Inhale illuminates the stories of those on the front lines of the War on Drugs—the individuals and communities disproportionately harmed, sometimes seemingly beyond repair; the official and social forces ranged against them; and the victims, legal and political activists, and cannabis entrepreneurs who are fighting back.

Join us when Tahira Rehmatullah co-author of In Waiting to Inhale, discuss a racial reckoning and provide a roadmap to redress this deep and abiding injustice.

Regular contributor Michael Patrick MacDonald grew up in the Old Colony Housing Project in South Boston, a neighborhood that held the highest concentration of white poverty in the United States. After losing four of his eleven siblings and seeing his generation decimated by poverty, crime, addiction, and incarceration, he wandered beyond the entrenched borders of his community toward solidarity and coalition-building with Boston’s Black and brown survivors and organizers.

At Northeastern University’s Honors Department, MacDonald teaches Non-Fiction Writing & Social Justice Issues. He leads an annual Northeastern University "Dialogue of Civilizations" classroom to Derry and Belfast, Northern Ireland, where students witness post-Troubles efforts happening at the intersection of justice and healing.

Join us on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large when activist, Michael shares his his efforts on multi-cultural coalition building to reduce violence and promote grassroots leadership from our most impacted communities.

(4-19-2023)Today on Leonard Lopate at Large gardening expert Pete Muroski, founder of Native Landscapes in Pawling, NY shares tips on getting ready for Spring.

Pete is a talented landscape designer with a particular affinity toward using material that is indigenous to the specific environment.

If you’re in need of tip for your kitchen garden, or outdoor oasis call in with your questions for Pete @ 212.209.2877 on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large on WBAI, 99.5FM.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to travel the universe? How would Saturn’s rings look from a spaceship sailing just above them? If you were falling into a black hole, what’s the last thing you’d see before getting spaghettified? While traveling in person to most of these amazing worlds may not be possible—yet—the would-be space traveler need not despair. Join us renowned astronomer and science communicator Philip Plait gives us the scenic route through the galaxy on this installment of Leonard Lopate at Large.