Documentaries

“Washington Goes To The Moon”

Broadcast nationally in July 1999

This two-hour program commemorated Apollo 11 landing on the moon. Part 1 looks at the monumental battle throughout the 60’s as President Kennedy’s deadline for landing a man on the moon came up against the Vietnam War, The War On Poverty, The Great Society, and a growing anti-technology movement. Part 2 chronicles the aftermath of the fire on Apollo One, which killed three astronauts and called into question the most fundamental aspects of NASA’s management structure.

Listen to Part 1 Here

Listen to Part 2 Here

“Software Is Elementary”

Broadcast nationally in June 2004
Listen with RealAudio
It’s the oddest thing. From pre-school up to about 8th grade you will find dozens, if not hundreds of software programs written especially for the classroom. Then in grade 9 and up, virtually nothing. This show, in exploring the reasons why, finds they involve routine and a little bit of inertia, perception and misconception, and of course standardized tests. They are a little bit the fault of the schools and a little bit the fault of the people who write educational software. In all, they represent a huge opportunity being missed.

“People & Software”

Broadcast nationally in May 2004
Estimates are that there are as many as 20,000 educational computer programs for children on the market. But only a tiny handful ever make it onto the desks and in front of the eyes of actual school-kids. This program attempts to explain why by looking at the human roadblocks that keep educational software out of the classroom.

“Guns and Butter”

Broadcast nationally in November 2002
In times of economic uncertainty — say, when war looms — we naturally want to know where things are headed. Economic forecasters say they have a good idea — that they can tell you with considerable accuracy which way the economy is headed. Is it more than guesswork — more than something you or I could do on our own? What tools do they use? Why do they have such confidence, and with war drums beating in the Middle East, what can they tell us about what to expect?

Engineering Pharmaceuticals

Broadcast nationally in 2010

Listen here:

Part of the “Grand Challenges” series from the Purdue University School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences and the Purdue College of Engineering.  A fact that stands out over all the noise of the health-care debate is that it costs one-billion-dollars to put a new medicine in your doctor’s hand.  And while a number that big is going to pose some questions, drug companies today are turning out some real game changers.

“Our School”

Broadcast nationally in February 2004
A day in the life of the far-suburbs, out near the airport, far from the city, as lived in one high school there. Three producers spend the day with the principal, a teacher and a student in a attempt (as Thornton Wilder said of “Our Town”) “to find a value above all price for the smallest events in our daily life.”