On this episode of West Texas Talk, we celebrate one of our community members who passed away, Alan Vana. Alan was a professional bodybuilder, physical trainer, and the owner of Ironheart Bodybuilding and Fitness Gym in Marfa, which opened in 2009 in a building on the southeastern part of town, and later relocated to the old Masonic Lodge on the downtown corner of Highland and Texas streets.

For the first portion of this talk, We hear his obituary, written and read by Nick Terry and Carolyn Pfeiffer. Then, we hear a West Texas Talk with Alan originally broadcast in 2011, where he talks bodybuilding, West Texas, and family.

Inside the gym and out, Alan was well known in Marfa for his ex... Hosted by Zoe Kurland for KRTS

On this edition of West Texas Talk, Natalie Melendez sits down with Lannan Poet in-residence Cedar Sigo.

Sigo studied writing and poetics on scholarship at The Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and has spent time learning from poetic greats such as Allen Ginsberg, Anne Waldman, and Joanne Kyger, among other poets.

In this conversation Sigo speaks about his past works, upcoming works, influences, and the future of his poetry. Hosted by Natalie Melendez for KRTS

On this episode of West Texas Talk, we hear from Trey Gerfers, the president of the Big Bend Conservation Alliance. They’re hosting a Water Symposium Saturday, April 22nd at the Granada Theatre in Alpine.  The symposium centers on water issues in the state and you will be able to learn about where where water comes from, and the laws and policies that govern its use. Hosted by Carlos Morales for KRTS

On this episode of West Texas Talk, Elise Pepple speaks to Katherine Hayhoe, known as the climate evangelist. Hayhoe is a renowned Physicist and Atmospheric Scientist who is also Director of the Climate Science Center at Texas Tech University. She has been named one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People, FOREIGN POLICY’s 100 Global Leader Thinkers, and one of POLITICO’s 50 thinkers, doers, visionaries. She talks with Elise Pepple about faith and climate change, and how belief in one does not negate belief in the other. 

She will be giving a lecture at the Crowley Theater on Thursday, April 20th. Hosted by Elise Pepple for KRTS

Marfa Live Arts’ 2017 playwright-in-residence Georgina Escobar will present her new play BEACONS on Wednesday, April 19, 2017, at the Crowley Theater. The show will be performed by Mindy Leanse with support by actors from the community.

BEACONS is a satirical work envisioning a fictitious dystopian society with “Divisible and Justice for Some.” After an ignorant, thick-lipped, evil clan of males take over the country, America has lost a Civil War. Puritanical Fascism rules the land. The divide affects women, too. In New York City, they have broken up into many clans—and they have been fighting everyone, including one another, for years… until now.

During her time in Marfa Escobar... Hosted by Diana Nguyen for KRTS

Daniel Lombardi is a photographer who works on long-term documentary photography projects. He spent six weeks traveling along the border from West Texas to California, photographing politically contentious landscapes.

He wanted to see if the landscape and the geography would reflect the political divisions that have been thrust upon them. From border villages to border cities he photographed the walls and fences built years ago and he hiked up rugged mountains to photograph the landscapes that could still be divided by a wall. Hosted by Diana Nguyen for KRTS

On this edition of West Teas Talk, Lauren Hunt and Mathew Largent of Austin-based Americana Duo The Hard Truth joined Jackson Wisdorf in Marfa Public Radio's Studio A for an interview and  in-studio performance - including songs from their debut album Gentle Lies and a sneak peak of their upcoming album.

Hosted by Jackson Wisdorf for KRTS

The National Weather Service (NWS) has radar scattered throughout the country to help identify weather patters, create weather alerts, and forecast future conditions.

But it turns out there's a limit to radar technology. The farther you are from a radar's center, for example, the less is known about the lowest layer of clouds. So the NWS relies on human volunteers -- weather spotters -- to call in updates and conditions and help complete the meteorological picture.

In order to get a jump on the spring and summer storms, the NWS will be hosting weather spotting classes throughout West Texas over the next few weeks.

They're called SKYWARN classes, and they're led by Mark Strobin. ... Hosted by Travis Lux for KRTS

On tonight's West Texas Talk, Lorne Matalon discusses the U.S.-China relationship and China's energy policy with Dr Fred Beach, a senior researcher focused on energy policy at the University of Texas at Austin's Energy Institute.

The discussion focuses on China's energy policy and its relationship with the U.S. The interview was recorded as U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping were meeting in Florida and a day after the U.S. launched missile strikes against Syria in response to the use of chemical weapons against Syrian citizens that killed 80 people with children and babies among the victims, strikes that China and Russia have criticized. Hosted by Lorne Matalon for KRTS

On this episode of West Texas Talk, Laura Copelin sits down with Joan Naviyuk Kane, the current Lannan Fellow.

Kane is a poet from Anchorage Alaska and is the author of the poetry collections Hyperboreal (2013), which Arthur Sze chose for the Donald Hall Prize in Poetry, and The Cormorant Hunter’s Wife (2009). Her honors include a Whiting Writers’ Award and a Creative Vision Award from United States Artists as well as fellowships and residencies from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation, the Rasmuson Foundation, the Alaska State Council on the Arts, and the School for Advanced Research. She lives in Anchorage. Hosted by Laura Copelin for KRTS