Studio Berlin

During KCRW Berlin’s last week on air, we're sharing the story behind the story. Listen to the second of a special, two-part episode reflecting on the history of the station and commemorating more than 60 episodes of Studio Berlin.

Host Sylvia Cunningham is joined by KCRW Berlin’s Program Director and Common Ground host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson, Studio Berlin co-host Sumi Somaskanda, frequent contributor Erik Kirschbaum, and executive producer Monika Müller-Kroll.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll.

During KCRW Berlin’s last week on air, we share with you the story behind the story in a special, two-part episode with Common Ground.

Host Sylvia Cunningham is joined by KCRW Berlin’s Program Director and Common Ground host Soraya Sarhaddi Nelson; Studio Berlin co-host Sumi Somaskanda and frequent contributor Erik Kirschbaum; Studio Berlin executive producer Monika Müller-Kroll and Common Ground senior producer Dina Elsayed.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll.

As the year soon comes to an end, we're highlighting some of the big news stories from 2020. This episode on President Donald Trump's plan to withdraw 9,500 U.S. troops from Germany originally aired on July 8, 2020.

Host Sumi Somaskanda talks with retired Lt. Gen. Ben Hodges, the former commander of the U.S. Army in Europe; German Coordinator for Transatlantic Affairs Peter Beyer; Deutsche Welle and NPR contributor Teri Schultz in Brussels and Berlin-based journalist Erik Kirschbaum.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sumi Somaskanda.

This November, we're highlighting some of the big news stories from 2020. In this Studio Berlin episode, we look back at our discussion on Germany's abortion law. 

Host Sylvia Cunningham talks with Kate Cahoon from the pro abortion rights group, Bündnis für sexuelle Selbstbestimmung; Dr. Alicia Baier from Doctors for Choice Germany, and Dr. Paul Cullen, chairman of Ärzte für das Leben (Doctors for Life). 

This episode originally aired Feb. 1, 2020.
 

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham.

This November, we're highlighting some of the big news stories from 2020. In this Studio Berlin episode we revisit our discussion on the Black Lives Matter movement.

Host Sumi Somaskanda delves into modern-day discrimination in Germany and its history of racial injustice with Malcolm Ohanwe, journalist for German public broadcaster BR; Larry Olomofe, executive director of PADLINK; Joshua Kwesi Aikins, a political scientist with Afrozensus, and Peggy Piesche, a literary and cultural studies scholar.

This episode originally aired June 10, 2020.

Produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sumi Somaskanda. Sylvia Cunningham contributed. 

Angela Merkel is the second-longest serving chancellor in modern German history. Recent polls show that German confidence in her is high, but the chancellor has made it clear she will not seek a fifth term in next year's election. What were Merkel's accomplishments and missteps over the past 15 years? And who is her possible successor?

Host Sylvia Cunningham discusses the chancellor's legacy with one of Merkel's biographers, Stefan Kornelius; Constanze Stelzenmüller from the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C.; Hans Kundnani from Chatham House in London, and Berlin-based ARD journalist Franka Welz. 

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham. 

Nov. 9 marks 31 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.  East and West Germany were officially reunited the following October, which the late Chancellor Helmut Kohl called a “dream come true." For East Germans in particular, the end of four decades of division meant access to new opportunity and freedoms, but the process of growing together brought trials and tribulations that sowed animosity between East and West Germans. Thirty years later, what does German unity look like?

Host Sumi Somaskanda discusses the ups and downs of Germany’s transformation with Anke Domscheit-Berg, parliamentarian for Die Linke (The Left Party), and historian Ned Richardson-Little from the University of Erfurt. We also hear from Ekkard Bäuerle, who moved from West to East Germany in the late 90s, and Valerie Schönian who was born after the fall of the Berlin Wall and is the author of the book, “Ostbewusstsein.”

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sumi Somaskanda. Voiceovers by Sylvia Cunningham and Caleb Larson.

Mismanagement, corruption charges, dubious design plans and a series of technical mishaps led to delay after delay since the first scheduled opening of the Berlin Brandenburg Airport (BER) in 2011. So ahead of the much-beleaguered airport's official "takeoff" on Oct. 31, we’re hearing from people who have been following and a part of this story since the beginning. 

Host Sylvia Cunningham discusses the near-decade-long BER saga with freelance journalist Grace Dobush; Torsten Riecke from the German daily, Handelsblatt; artist Pae White, whose art installation, "The Magic Carpet," is suspended overhead in Terminal 1, and Daniel Tolksdorf, a spokesman for the new airport.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham. 

As novel coronavirus cases skyrocket across Germany and Europe, we talk about what we've learned since the start of the pandemic. How can we best stop its spread, what are the new treatments and is a lockdown imminent or even wise?

Host Sylvia Cunningham talks with Christian Karagiannidis, president of the German Society of Medical Intensive Care and Emergency Medicine; Korinna Hennig, science editor and co-host of public broadcaster NDR's weekly show "The Coronavirus Update"; Thomas Isenberg, health policy spokesman for the Social Democrats' parliamentary group in Berlin's House of Representatives; Tom Nuttall, Berlin bureau chief for The Economist; Erik Kirschbaum, special correspondent for the L.A. Times and freelance journalist in Berlin and Dr. Margaret Harris, spokeswoman for the World Health Organization.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll and Sylvia Cunningham. 

This week we measure the political climate in the U.S. in the lead up to the presidential election. With less than three weeks to go, what’s going on in the nation's capital? And what special role does the southern state of Georgia? We also explore how the next American president will shape politics on both sides of the Atlantic.

Monika Müller-Kroll talks with Studio Berlin co-host Sumi Somaskanda, who is on assignment in Washington D.C., and Katja Ridderbusch, an Atlanta-based freelance journalist for German and American media outlets. We also hear from Andrew Adair, a lawyer and public-policy advisor based in Berlin.

This show was produced by Monika Müller-Kroll.