During last week’s Black Friday craze, Madison area Starbucks employees joined a picket line on State Street in support of the nationwide strike.

Image Courtesy: Greg Geboski / WORT News

Last month the United Nations climate conference released a statement that failed to call for the elimination of fossil fuels or even mention “fossil fuels.” More than 1,600 lobbyists from the fossil fuel industry attended COP 30, outnumbering almost all delegations. To talk about COP 30 and the decades-long campaign by the fossil fuel industry to spread climate disinformation, host Douglas Haynes is joined by two experts, Kathy Mulvey of Union of Concerned Scientists and Geoff Dembicki of DeSmog.

Featured image from COP 30 by Jonas Pereira/Agência Senado via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Forecast from Monday, 12-1-25 by WORT 89.9FM Madison

WORT’s journey into a half a century on the radio hasn’t been without some bumps along the road. The station continues to face new challenges as it prepares for its next 50 years. WORT Board of Directors President Grant Foster joins us for an explanation of where WORT is headed in its immediate future.

After a small break in meetings for the Thanksgiving holiday, Dane County and the city of Madison are back to business this week.

Brenda Konkel walks us through their packed schedules in this edition of “Forward Lookout.”

WORT’s radio bubble at 89 megahertz has now traveled 50 light years from earth. That means that denizens of "the Eyeball Planet" are just now hearing WORT’s inaugural broadcast from December 1 1975. Astronomer Charles Cadieux tells us how Exoplanet 1140b got its nickname, and what kind of critters our newest extraterrestrial listeners might be.

50 years ago, WORT hit the airwaves for the first time. Engineer and editor John Wilson takes us on a tour of some of the wild and woolly highlights of our first half-century.

Almost exactly one year ago, on December 1, 2024, we interviewed Jason Mack, Open Doors for Refugees’ new Director.

Here’s what we posted with his interview then,

“Jason Mack, Open Doors for Refugees’ new Executive Director says it’s “all hands on deck” to support refugee settlement by January 20, 2025.

No one knows what changes might come with the change in the U.S. administration but Madison organizations are preparing for a surge in settlement and need for assistance in the near future.”

Listen here: http://www.wortfm.org/open-doors-for-refugees-needed-now-more-than-ever/

Jason has been in his position for about a year now, during which there have been profound changes to how our country deals with refugees. Gil Halsted talked to him about his first year with Open Doors, changes in refugee policy and his own, his organization’s and our community’s responses to changes in everything we thought we knew about welcoming new neighbors.

But Jason’s obvious joy and willingness to step up to the challenges of his work are an example to us all.

Have a look at Open Doors’ website: http://opendoorsforrefugees.org/

This week on Mel & Floyd: What SmartyPants is thankful for; Cryptocurrency as money laundering tool; The positive side of Hitler?; The Batman effect; Camps in Gaza where you might “concentrate” people; WORT 50th birthday bash December 7 at Atwood Music Hall; And other random topics; Notice something missing? For the complete Mel and Floyd Experience, buy the CD “The Very Best of James Brown” and play it on your Hi-Fi while listening to this podcast! Or listen live at 89.9 FM or wortfm.org/listen-live/ every Friday from 1 to 2 PM Central Time.

Photo courtesy Jess Bailey on Unsplash

David Koehler explains Giving Tuesday trends and smart giving strategies through the Madison Community Foundation.