Joe Donahue

We speak with Robert Sullivan about his new book, My American Revolution.

WAMC’s folk music program, “The Hudson River Sampler,” has been hosted by Wanda Fischer on the WAMC airwaves since September 18, 1982 and is one of the longest, continuously-running radio programs in the Northeast, hitting the 30-year mark with an on-air celebration planned for Saturday, September 15 from 8-10 pm. We welcome Wanda to the show to talk about her show's big 3-0!

For over 3-decades, Doc Severinsen was the band leader for The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. The show ruled the night air for 30 years, until it came to an end in May 1992. Since then, Severinsen has been on the road, selling out tour dates and making great music.

The College of Saint Rose presents Doc Severinsen and the San Miguel 5 in concert tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Massry Center for the Arts in Albany on the St. Rose campus.

We speak with Amanda Coplin about her debut novel, The Orchardist: A Novel. She will read from and sign the book at Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA on Monday, September 17th. 

Other books tell us how to live the good life—Making Home is about improving life with the real people around us and the resources we already have. While encouraging us to be more resilient in the face of hard times, author Sharon Astyk also points out the beauty, grace, and elegance that result, because getting the most out of everything we use is a way of transforming our lives into something much more fulfilling.

On Feb. 17, 1970, physician Jeffrey MacDonald called the police to his Fort Bragg, N.C., home. He told the responding officers that he had been assaulted by a group of "hippie" intruders, who had also bludgeoned and stabbed his wife and two young daughters — ages 2 and 5 — to death. MacDonald suffered a concussion and collapsed lung but survived.

This Saturday, September 15th at 8pm, the EMPAC Concert Hall in Troy, NY will host the world premiere of Rushes by composer Michael Gordon.

New York City-based Michael Gordon, composer and founder of the iconic new music organization Bang on a Can, wraps up a recording residency with the performance of this brand new work for seven bassoons.

We welcome Peter G. Pollak back to the show and speak with him about his new book, Making the Grade.

From the early months of the 2008 campaign and through the first two and a half years of the Obama administration, Arun Chaudhary had a unique perspective on the president of the United States. He was the first official White House videographer.

The new book, After Mandela: The Struggle for Freedom in Post-Apartheid South Africa, provides a sobering portrait of a country caught between a democratic future and a political meltdown. Douglas Foster, a leading South Africa authority with early, unprecedented access to President Zuma and to the next generation in the Mandela family, traces the nation’s entire post-apartheid arc.