In the Loop

In the Loop Program Archive

Past episodes of Friday night's "In The Loop" (For Story Slams and other shows, click here)

"In The Loop" for January 30, 2009

  • What's a "Smart Grid?" What's so smart about it? (with the U of M's Massoud Amin)
  • Can social networking sites help in the job hunt?
  • We check in with Roman Zagros (of Metro magazine) in Erbil, Iraq about this weekend's elections
  • Blagojevich: The final interview
  • Tune-age: Thank You For The Stimulation (Download MP3)

"In The Loop" for January 23, 2009

  • U of Chicago economist Luigi Zingales is back to talk about the failure of the bailout, and how get things right
  • The implications of a "urban" president (with the U of M's Ed Goetz)
  • Listener-written movie trailers for the next four years
  • Our BFF Anna Weggel chats about Oscar noms, depressing movies, and sea bass
  • Obama and Lincoln? The musical meeting of two presidents.

"In The Loop" for January 16, 2009

  • Can fortune tellers succeed where economists fail? Sanden probes the future.
  • Can't wait for Tuesday? Have we got a song for you.
  • The environmental impact of fighting in Gaza (with UNH prof. Jeannie Sowers)
  • The week in crazy science news (with Grant Balfour)
  • Bush packs up for the move out of the White House

"In The Loop" for January 9, 2009

  • Tom Forester, manager of the only mutual fund in the country to make money last year (aside from so-called "bear" funds -- those Negative Nancies don't really count)
  • Is NPR's Gaza coverage biased? Two critics on opposite sides of the issue give their (very different) reasons
  • How does working under the layoff-cloud affect our work habits?
  • A fan-boy's musical prayer for Steve Jobs' health

"In The Loop" for December 26, 2008

  • Sanden combats his Seasonal Affective Disorder
  • Alcoholic at the holidays
  • What if you couldn't see the lights?
  • Two festive tunes from Jeff & The Smarts
  • The public radio world wishes you a Silent Night

"In The Loop" for December 19, 2008

  • Talkin' TOYS with toy guru Richard Gottlieb of Out of the Toy Box
  • Bernie Madoff, meet Reindeer Rudolph.
  • Listener Ruth Knapp joins us with some headlines from the world of architecture
  • Are college students dreading graduation? You know it. We talk with Steve Rothberg of CollegeRecruiter.com
  • Storyteller Dave Mondy reflects on Jesus's sketchy career as a carpenter

"In The Loop" for December 12, 2008

  • It's our "Cheer You Up" show!
  • The plump, red, juicy alternative to heroin (with Loren Stoddard of USAID in Afghanistan)
  • A musical tribute to the Shiba Inu PuppyCam
  • Apparently, socializing at work is good for productivity (or so says Prof. Sandy Pentland of MIT)
  • Political Schadenfreude -- don't it feel good?
  • Listeners tell us how they keep their spirits up amid all the bad news

"In The Loop" for December 5, 2008

  • Obama picks his (basketball) team
  • What does Mumbai tell us about the future of terrorism? (We interview Sajjan Gohel of the Asia Pacific Foundation)
  • Can Facebook (and MySpace) make enough $$ to survive? A conversation with Caroline McCarthy of CNet's The Social
  • We ride back to Detroit with the auto execs
  • What the economy does to your brain: An educational film

(As of December 5, 2008 "The Week from In The Loop" became simply "In The Loop")

"The Week" for November 28, 2008

  • An update on the "humanitarian disaster" of low wage workers stranded in Postville, Iowa (with station manager Jeff Abbas of community radio station KPVL)
  • The Smarts urge you to "Give a Damn"
  • Murray Schweitzer of Consumer Watch on Black Friday, "circular shopping," and swallowing your pride to save money
  • Producer Julie Siple tracks down a donated cow

"The Week" for November 21, 2008

  • RECOUNT FEE-VAH! (Have you got it? We got it!)
  • Kambale Musavuli of Friends of the Congo helps explain the roots of the crisis there
  • Maria Surma Manka of MariaEnergia.com reports on Bush environmental regulations that might not survive a president Obama
  • Sgt. First Class Troy Smith and Sgt. TJ Smith give us the soldier's view of following a new commander-in-chief, the Iraqi Status of Forces agreement, and how to talk to a civilian
  • Listen from Mission Control as an astronaut loses a very expensive bag of equipment

"The Week" for November 14, 2008

  • China in the hot seat: China expert Daniel Rosen (of the Rhodium Group) on the hopes and expectations that China help resolve the global financial crisis
  • Listener (Mandy) Bai Xue returns to share the sentiment from her home country
  • Alex Stenback of Behind The Mortgage on whether getting a mortgage is really as tough as we might think
  • Obama calls for "sacrifice" -- how did our listeners react?
  • Auto industry asks: "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?"

"The Week" for November 7, 2008

  • A new tune to wish the president-elect well (sort of...)
  • Editorial cartooning in the Obama era (with Nick Anderson of the Houston Chronicle)
  • An update on the brave little economy of Vanuatu (trust us, it's interesting...)
  • Law prof Richard Hasen of the Election Law Blog runs down possible campaign legal changes for 2012
  • The emerging conversation among African Americans over Obama's win
  • Sanden appears out of thin air

"The Week" for October 31, 2008

  • Nancy Robinson of Iconoculture on what a recession can do to our pop culture.
  • A barbershop-quartet-style duel between an undecided voter...and the rest of us.
  • Producer Sanden Totten visits two investment clubs with very different attitudes during the downturn.
  • What the heck is "Bretton Woods?" Sebastian Mallaby of the Council on Foreign Relations brings us up-to-speed.
  • An awesome Halloween election poem by listener Craig Kenworthy (and read by A Prairie Home Companion's Tom Keith).

"The Week" for October 17, 2008

  • Could Hungary be the next country to fall? Erik D'Amato talks with us from Budapest
  • Recession-proof: Funerals? Video Games? Porn? Haircuts? Public Radio?
  • President Bush: A very personal press conference
  • Maria Surma Manka drops by for The Week in Energy
  • Civics teacher Susan Marsh joins us to talk about how much her students, er, enjoyed the debates
  • "Ira Glass" takes extreme measures for the love of public radio

"The Week" for October 10, 2008

  • Political rhetoric expert Adrienne Christiansen joins us to talk about why the debates are so crappy
  • Tanking economies? Huge government intervention? Sanden Totten explores why conspiracy theories are raging
  • The Army spells out a new doctrine: nation building's the new reality. We talk with Lt. Col. John Nagl, an authority on the new direction
  • Pastor Gus Booth of Warroad Community Church explains why he's taking on the IRS to endorse John McCain.
  • We give this week's confusing financial terminology the Schoolhouse Rock treatment

"The Week" for October 3, 2008

  • So we've got our bailout. Hooray, right? We talk with economist Christopher Carroll.
  • Pirates. Real pirates, and they're bad news (or are they do-gooders?). Rob Crilly gives us analysis from his post in east Africa.
  • Jeff's bank is keeping his money safe. Right?
  • Aaron Belz and Craig Kenworthy weigh in with instant poetry on the VP debate
  • Patricia Phillips, who "bleeds NASA-blue" gives us the "Week in Space"
  • Wall Street and Main Street join hands in song

"The Week" for September 26, 2008

  • Two economists -- Berkeley's Barry Eichengreen and U of Chicago's Luigi Zingales -- offer different perspectives on the need for -- and urgency of -- a bailout
  • You know who might get screwed by this? Farmers.
  • Secret microphones in the candidates' pre-debate dressing rooms. Really. (Maybe.)
  • Khalid Omar, on the ground in Pakistan, offers a cheery (not so much) roundup of the gloomy state of things there.
  • Monty Python weighs in on the financial crisis. Sort of.

"The Week" for September 19, 2008

  • What goes through your brain in a market plunge?
  • Our man Terence on the deal in Zimbabwe
  • The Chevy Volt - really?
  • Ike Aftermath, with Galveston resident Angelina Harrison and Ben Smilowitz of the Disaster Accountability Project
  • The Banker's Dilemma: a commentary from listener Dan Nynas

"The Week" for September 12, 2008

  • Congress back in session: Will they actually get anything done? We talk with Kathryn Pearson of the University of Minnesota.
  • Trouble naming your baby? Sarah Palin's here to help.
  • Brian Ussery of Blogoscoped.com joins us for The Week in Google (it was a big week)
  • The Wall Street Journal's Vanessa O'Connell on new employee management software
  • "Too Big to Fail"...sounds like a John Prine song to me

"The Week" for September 5, 2008

  • Spore is coming. The Executive Editor of The Escapist (gaming mag) explains why that's a big deal.
  • Why can't they keep a prime minister in Japan? Harvard's Margarita Estevez-Abe has the answer.
  • Listener (and neuroscientist) Bonnie Marsick stops by with The Week in Science
  • Special ITL satirical karaoke: Republicans cool their heels waiting for Gustav to blow over

"The Week" for August 29, 2008

  • Protest organizer Erika Zurawski and conservative blogger/radio host Mitch Berg spar over disrupting the Republican National Convention
  • Celebrities go green. Kind of.
  • An Iowa town prepares for an immigration raid...just in case (an interview with Edward Diaz)
  • Crows, comics, and robot planes: "The Week in Geek" with our producer Sanden Totten
  • "Vote for Me"

"The Week" for August 22, 2008

  • Money and the modern Olympics, with gold medal swimmer John Nabor
  • Obama and McCain get the word out on their Veep picks
  • Morgan Freeman makes us feel inadequate
  • A conversation with Tariq Bashir about uncertainty in Pakistan after Musharraf
  • New economic news: Remember the '70s?
  • Former diplomat Tom Hanson stops by to consider Week 2 in the Georgia-Russia conflict

"The Week" for August 15, 2008

  • Georgian Andro Dadiani, from Tblisi, on conditions there and the emotional impact of an invastion
  • Listener Aaron Lacey gives us the low-down on the Higher Education Opportunity Act, signed this week by President Bush
  • Wall Street Journal reporter Dana Mattioli, on how companies are tweaking job descriptions to save money
  • Lots of Olympics fun, including a poem from listener Craig Kenworthy
  • Think the Russian invasion of Georgia couldn't be put into a song? Think again.

"The Week" for August 8, 2008

  • Why Barack Obama is the new Che Guevara -- has he cracked the "cool" code?
  • Phil Lampert of SuperMarketGuru.com talks us through how changing economic times can change our tastes
  • An inside look at the opening ceremonies with Amy Hyatt-Blat
  • Why does a beef over...beef make South Koreans so mad at us?
  • Plus lots of other goodies hidden away for your listening pleasure.

"The Week" for August 1, 2008

  • How do we memorialize the 35W bridge collapse, one year ago today? We ask cultural geographer Kenneth Foote.
  • How do they handle memorialization in a country like Israel, which faces it far more than we do?
  • Storyteller Vicki Joan Keck takes aboard her bus, a preview of our latest Story Slam
  • Political reporter Curtis Gilbert reflects on Rush Limbaugh's 20th Anniversary on the air

"The Week" for July 25, 2008

  • Presidential historial Joseph Ellis gives us some historical perspective on the flurry of "lame duck diplomacy" we're seeing at the moment
  • We debut some new campaign ads (really?) based on Obama's overseas trip
  • Should athletes wear masks at the Beijing Olympic opening ceremonies?
  • Listener Elizabeth Wickoren joins us with The Week in Parenting News
  • We wrap up some of the best Obama jokes sent in by listeners

"The Week" for July 18, 2008

  • A long-distance check in with Terence, from his home of Buluwayo, Zimbabwe, about conditions there
  • Sanden Totten tries his hand at writing Barack Obama jokes
  • Ever heard of a "walk" on the bank? Wharton Professor Itay Goldstein helps explain how it works (and whether to worry much)
  • Airline consultant Jay Sorensen explains why the future looks like RyanAir

"The Week" for July 11, 2008

  • A chat with economist Ed Lotterman, who has lived through a recession or two, about what to expect
  • Sanden Totten talks with a few folks who find a silver lining in rising gas prices
  • Ford and Toby Keith really want to sell you an F-150.
  • Twittering Texas Congressman John Culberson talks about using technology to bring voters insider the process (and a possible effort to clamp down)

"The Week" for May 30, 2008

"The Week" for May 23, 2008

  • Bai Xue joins us to talk about newly stoked Chinese patriotism
  • We dip into the dumpster with Jonathan Bloom of WastedFood.com
  • What if your gas pump could talk? Surprise: It can
  • We join the rest of the media in singing Hillary Clinton off the stage

"The Week" for April 25, 2008 (pilot)

  • Zimbabwe opposition party member Munya Munochiveyi
  • Sanden Totten helps us get to know the leaders of Mexico and Canada: What's-His-Name and Who's-His-Face
  • Behind the Texas polygamy case with Brooke Adams, polygamy beat reporter for the Salt Lake Tribune

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**In The Loop...
is no more.**

Sad but true. For a longer explanation, see this note from Jeff on our Facebook page.

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About In The Loop

Your world, your news — remixed.

Jeff Horwich

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