WBEZ

Just in time for National Poetry Month, Chicago Public Media (WBEZ-Chicago) presents the latest series of studio recordings featuring finalists from the 2012 Louder Than a Bomb Teen Poetry Festival and Competition.

From WBEZ Chicago, Making Obama tells the story of Barack Obama’s climb from the South Side of Chicago to the national stage. Host Jennifer White talks with Obama’s key advisors, mentors, rivals, and the former President himself.

A new series investigating mental illness in youth.

Studio 312 is an offbeat celebrity interview segment hosted by Chicago comedian and radio personality, Jimmy Carrane. Carrane's quirky interview style is humorous and informative. His comedic approach delivers a satircal take on the serious or hard-ball interview. Think: Stephen Colbert-meets-Jiminy Glick. Carrane asks the questions that everyone else is too polite to ask, often with hilarious consequences. His quirky style, and half-insider half-clueless persona, allows his guests to reveal a side of themselves you wouldn’t normally hear. Previous interviews include Conan O’Brien, Frangela, Cindy Crawford, Tommy Chong, Harold Ramis and Dr. Laura Berman, to name a few. Studio 312 is a co-creation between Jimmy Carrane and WBEZ, Chicago Public Radio. The segment airs regularly on WBEZ's award-winning morning magazine program, Eight Forty-Eight.

EMBARGOED FOR AIR UNTIL JANUARY 16, 2017 AUDIO AVAILABLE FOR STATIONS TO AUDITION "The View from Room 205" is a one-hour documentary that takes an unflinching look at the intersection of poverty and education in this country. It tells the story of a fourth grade classroom at William Penn Elementary, a public school in one of the nation’s poorest neighborhoods, North Lawndale on Chicago’s West Side. The documentary weaves together human stories in the school, from the children to their teacher to the principal, and pulls back to explain the big picture. It looks at poverty’s hold on school achievement and explores the unintended consequences of a core belief driving school reform today – that poverty is no excuse for low achievement.