The Signal

  • Friday 7-8pm
  • Saturday 1-2pm

The Signal, a weekly radio magazine produced by WYPR, is devoted to exploring Maryland's thriving artistic and cultural scene.

The Signal, hosted by veteran WYPR personality Andy Bienstock, promises to transport listeners to the region's cultural back roads: the studios, recital halls and basement workshops where art is conceived and brought to life.

The minds behind The Signal senior producers Aaron Henkin and Lisa Morgan, as well as Bienstock -- share an abiding love for the tradition of radio storytelling. Every program is crafted like a book of short stories, a radio quilt sewn together with thoughtful narrative transitions and embroidered with contemplative musical interludes.

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The Signal, 2.17.12 & 2.18.12, The Greektown Reading Series, Fiction from Jen Grow, Derek Musgrove’s ‘Rumor, Repression, & Racial Politics’; and presidential advice from Lionel Foster

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February 17th & 18th, 2012, on The Signal…

We hear about The Greektown Reading Series – a showcase of literary arts, music and food, all with a decidedly Greek flavor

Jen Grow joins us for a reading of her short story, ‘Small Deaths’

We head to the University of DC for visit with historian George Derek Musgrove, author of Rumor, ‘Repression, and Racial Politics:  How the Harassment of Black Elected Officials Shaped Post Civil-Rights America’

Plus:  City Paper columnist Lionel Foster shares some unconventional campaign advice for President Obama

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The Signal, 2.10.12 & 2.11.12, Nina Simone Tribute, “She’Baltimore,” and a tale of sloth from The Stoop

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February 10th & 11th, 2012, on The Signal…

The late Nina Simone was dubbed “The High Priestess of Soul,” and she’s about to be honored in a tribute performance at The Creative Alliance.  Baltimore playwright Rosalind Cauthen is organizing the event, and we talk with her about Simone’s lasting impact

A conversation with Ira Kip and Nicol Moeller about “She’Baltimore,” a play about the sometimes overlooked (and under-reported) issue of domestic violence in the LGBT community

Erik Hanson tells a tale of unrepentant sloth, from The Stoop Storytelling Series’ night of Seven Deadly Sins

 

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The Signal, 2.3.12 & 2.4.12, August Wilson’s “Jitney,” The Soul Shakedown Party, and violinist Chelsey Green

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February 3rd & 4th, 2012, on The Signal…

August Wilson’s play, “Jitney,” stars a gruff, disenchanted cab dispatcher named Becker.  Actor Roscoe Orman plays the part expertly, and that’s a testament to his theatrical range:  He’s best known to the world as ‘Gordon’ from Sesame Street.  We drop in at a rehearsal with Mr. Orman and the rest of the cast as they prepare to stage Morgan State University’s production of “Jitney”

We get a preview of this weekend’s Soul Shakedown Party at the Creative Alliance, an evening of music, film, food and dancing with a decidedly Caribbean flavor in honor of the legendary reggae artist Bob Marley

Plus:  R & B meets classical strings when musician Chelsey Green trades the symphony circuit for the club scene

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The Signal, 1.27.12 & 1.28.12, Over the Rhine, “Signal to Noise,” and “Innocent: Confessions of a Welfare Mother”

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January 27th & 28th, 2012, on The Signal…

Humorous and heartbreaking, gentle and piercing, sweepingly epic, and intimately personal:  The band Over the Rhine embraces life’s paradoxes, and we talk with band-member Linford Detweiler about “The Long Surrender,” an album that celebrates the tenderness of human imperfection.

Sound artist and MICA Professor Jason Sloan gives us a preview of “Signal to Noise,” a new audio installation that explores how the interplay between intentional sound and the inherent noise associated with electronics affects our sonic media experiences.

Plus:  We consider the stereotypes leveled at people who rely on public assistance when we meet Barbara Morrison.  Her memoir is titled, “Innocent:  Confessions of a Welfare Mother”

 

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The Signal, 1.20.12 & 1.21.12, honky tonk musician Arty Hill, reflecting on the ’68 Riots, and spoken-word artist David ‘Native Son’ Ross

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January 20th & 21st, 2012, on The Signal…

 

We drop in at a local country music bar to hear the twang of honky tonk musician Arty Hill, whose new album, “Another Lost Highway,” brings a little Nashville flavor to Charm City.

 

We talk to the editors of “68: Riots and Rebirth in an American City,” a new collection of essays, archival photographs, and deeply personal oral histories about the riots that took place in Baltimore following the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Plus:  David “Native Son” Ross of the of the Baltimore spoken-word crew The 5th L has just finished his first solo album, “In Late Bloom,” and he joins us to reflect on the honesty and vulnerability he’s poured into his lyrics.

 

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The Signal, 1.13.12 & 1.14.12, B-Grant award winners, the Charm City LGBT Film Festival, and fiction from Eric D Goodman

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Marcia Woolfson Ray builds sculpture from Dog Fennel and cornstalks; Ellen Durkan forges tempered steel into sci-fi meta-fashion; and Ed Hough strums the guitar in the band Smooth Kentucky.  These three artists are as different as can be, but they’ve got one thing in common:  This week, they each earned a thousand-dollar B Grant from the Baker Artist Award website, and we pay them a congratulatory visit.

A preview of the upcoming Charm City LGBT Film Festival, a showcase of the best and newest queer films from Baltimore and around the world

Plus:  Novelist Eric D Goodman brings us the story of a computer-geek-turned-criminal who finds himself on the run from the mafia.

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The Signal, 01.06.12 & 01.07.12, The National Pinball Museum, Arthur Magida’s “The Nazi Séance,” and Clarence Browns’ “Needs”

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David Silverman’s got a collection of almost 900 pinball machines, and he’s about to open the National Pinball Museum right here in downtown Charm City.  We drop in at the museum for a crash course in pinball history.

Arthur Magida talks about his book, “The Nazi Séance:  The Strange Story of the Jewish Psychic in Hitler’s Circle.”  The book tells the tale of Erik Jan Hanussen, a celebrated clairvoyant who let his own ambition blind him to the terrible realities of life in Berlin during the 1930’s.

Plus:  We visit with writer (and recovering heroin addict) Clarence Brown, whose new crime novel, “Needs,” pits a drug-addicted Baltimore detective against an elusive killer.

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The Signal, 12.30.11 & 12.31.11, doo-wop pioneers "The Legendary Orioles"

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“You’d stand on a corner, and a guy would come up and say hey, there’s a guy on the East Side who could blow you guys off this corner, he can sing so good.  We’d say go get him!  Bring him down here!  We stopped fighting each other and started singing.”

-Orioles singer Diz Russell

They went from singing on street corners to getting immortalized in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and this week on The Signal they share their stories and their songs.  The legendary vocal group, The Orioles, took the music world by storm back in the 1950s, wowing listeners with a harmonizing style that would later come to be known as doo wop.  Now, 60 years later, they’re still with us – and still singing.  In this special edition of The Signal, we pay a visit to the surviving members of The Orioles – Diz Russell, Raymond Allen Jr, David Warren, and Clark Walker – and we learn about the magic behind lyrics like:  “Hey-dah-nee-ding-dong-a-lang-a-lang-a-whoa-whoa-whoa-zip-sha-boom!”

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December 23rd & 24th, 2011, on The Signal: O Little Town of Baltimore (Part II)

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Part II of the live radio series, “O Little Town of Baltimore,” presented by Center Stage and produced by The Stoop & The Signal.  We hear music from Caleb Stine and Arty Hill, plus Persian classical musicians Ahmad Borhani and friends.  Our radio actors bring us a battle of wits between Santa and a precocious child, a dysfunctional gift exchange with the in-laws, and an epic survey of bossy grandmas at holidays through the ages.  All that, plus stories from Larry Doyle, Liz Smith, and Tara Doaty about Christmas gifts that leave kids high and dry, a long-distance Solstice celebration, and one woman’s life-long misunderstanding of the song “Back Door Santa.”  

 

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December 16th & 17th, 2011, on The Signal: O Little Town of Baltimore (Part I)

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Part I of the live radio series, “O Little Town of Baltimore,” presented by Center Stage and produced by The Stoop & The Signal.  Stories, songs, and old-time radio theatre - we hear music from ellen cherry, Dundalk barbershop quartet BSQ, and Nepalese singer Prem Raja Mahat.  Our radio actors take on holiday travel, treacherous sledding hills, and absurdly lavish gifts.  And from Dana Kollmann, Adam Ruben, and Lionel Foster, we hear stories about a hamster named after Baby Jesus, a Jewish boyfriend’s moment of mortification at his girlfriend’s house on Christmas morning, and a grandson’s tribute to his grandma’s cooking.

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