Marfa Public Radio

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The mission of Marfa Public Radio is to unite the community of Far West Texas with a focus on art, education, quality-of-life and the local economy. The KRTS studios - the tallest in Texas - are located in rural highlands of the Chihuahuan Desert. We serve the residents in the ranchlands of the Big Bend and Davis Mountains. We can be heard beyond the Transpecos at www.marfapublicradio.org.

Series

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39 Pieces

Nature Notes explores the natural world of the Chihuahuan Desert.

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1 Piece

The West Texas landscape is vast and remote, and with that comes this sense of freedom, like there’s endless possibilities, adventure down every road. But what you might not realize, looking out on these sweeping vistas or up at the big sky is that this place also comes with some real limitations. In the Big Bend, the idea of reproductive choice was complicated long before Roe v. Wade was overturned. Out here, you can’t legally get an abortion, but as recently as last year, you also might not be able to have a baby in a delivery room. So Far From Care is a podcast about how people decide when, or if to become parents in rural West Texas, where, in spite of the limitations, people find ways of making it work.

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5 Pieces

Marfa Public Radio presents a radio documentary show about the strange things that happen in everyday life.


Latest Pieces

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In many of the supermarkets and drugstores of the southwest, many medicinal plants are sold in plastic bags with Spanish-name labels. Some of these...

  • Added: Oct 19, 2012
  • Length: 04:24
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Heat and dryness are facts of existence in West Texas. Every living thing must either evade these conditions or adapt to them. Humans, through tech...

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Oct 19, 2012
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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If you’re in Trans Pecos Texas or the southern Llano Estacado you’re bound to see a javelina, more likely a whole family of javelinas. What do you ...

  • Added: Oct 18, 2012
  • Length: 04:30
Caption: A swallowtail butterfly on a pipevine plant., Credit: Photo from ljworld.com. Photo by Mike Yoder.
The Pipevine Plant and its importance in the West Texas ecosystem.

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Oct 18, 2012
  • Length: 04:31
  • Purchases: 1
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Everyone is familiar with Turkey Vultures, those huge black birds that circle high in the sky, searching for road kill. The rare Zone-tailed Hawk o...

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Oct 18, 2012
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
Caption: Cenizo puts on a show during the rainy season. , Credit: Cathryn Hoyt
In the Chihuahuan Desert region, we spend fall, winter, spring and summer dreaming of and talking about our fifth season—the rainy season. Local wa...

  • Added: Oct 18, 2012
  • Length: 04:30
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Not all owls hunt at night and nest in trees. Burrowing owls greet the sun from abandoned prairie dog dens. What else makes these tiny birds unique?

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Big Bend National Park is home to many rare and endangered species, but the Big Bend gambusia lives particularly close to the edge of extinction. H...

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Some birds sing. Others twitter, tweet or trill. But the common nighthawk goes boom in the night. This noise isn’t all that sets nighthawks apart i...

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1
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Learning to vocalize is a surprisingly unusual ability in the animal world. How do young songbirds master their musical talents?

Bought by KENW


  • Added: Apr 19, 2011
  • Length: 04:30
  • Purchases: 1