Prime Time Radio - AARP

Part A:It's a story spanning more than two decades to provide a groundbreaking closeup of the upstart pharmaceutical company Vertex and the ferocious but indispensable world of Big Pharma that it inhabits. In 1989, the charismatic Joshua Boger left Merck, then America’s most admired business, to found a drug company that would challenge industry giants and transform health care.Part B:The dramatic story of how Network made it to the screen. Such a movie rarely gets made any more—one man’s vision of the world, independent of studio testing or market research. And that man was Paddy Chayefsky, the tough, driven, Oscar-winning screenwriter whose vision—outlandish for its time—is all too real today. “I’m mad as hell, and I'm not going to take this anymore!” The words, spoken by an unhinged anchorman named Howard Beale, “the mad prophet of the airwaves,” took America by storm in 1976, when Network became a sensation. 

Part A:As more of the world’s population approaches their fifties and sixties, it may seem that our fast-changing social and cultural standards may out pacing seniors and leaving them behind, especially in the area of technology. Bill Novelli, argues that this is not the case at all, that with a little help, older Americans can adapt as fast as social change occurs. Novelli argues that older age groups are actually embracing new technologies instead of resisting these new trends. He further explains that we are entering a new era of aging, one in which being in older age groups is a new norm.Part B:The idea of age can and should be rethought and reinvented. New ways of living, working and interacting in later life are waiting to be discovered. Dr. Bill Thomas argues that many older Americans feel out of place and recommends a path toward a life rich with developmental opportunities if they would embrace aging. Thomas also discusses the behaviors and attitudes that will provide new and more nourishing fuel for the rest of life’s journey and spring a new hope while renewing sense of all that is possible. 

Part A:Not long after she had moved to Georgia and married Ted Turner, legendary actress Jane Fonda began working with teens in troubled situations. She subsequently founded the Jane Fonda Center to help teens foster healthy relationships and make good life choices. Fonda realized that with the enormous impact the media, including social media, and friends have on teens in their formative years, there should be an updated resource for them, their parents and grandparents. Fonda discusses her new book, Being a Teen, and how it can be a resource for teenagers, and the importance of the grandparent’s relationship with a teenager.Part B:Healthy lifestyle is important to overall well-being, but they also protect our most important organ, the heart. Women especially are susceptible to heart disease and are outnumbering men by far in diagnosis of various heart conditions and disease. In fact, it is the number one killer of women and is more deadly as a disease than all forms of cancer. Dr. Jennifer Mieres is one of the leading experts in cardiovascular disease in women and discusses many of the signs, symptoms and preventative measures that can be taken. Heart disease survivor, Sharon Bond, discusses her experience with heart problems and what led her to seek treatment. 

Part A:In a society that perceives quitting as a last resort and urges us to hang in, Mastering the Art of Quitting teaches how to not overanalyze, hold on, and put a positive spin on goals that have outlived their usefulness. Peg Streep explains that how you exit a situation is just as important to the next beginning as how you start the next situation.Part B:Resetting thought processes to fight against the negativity, stress, and depression that naturally follows a layoff from a job is an important first step to finding a new job. Journalist Dwain Schenck recounts his experience getting laid off and explains the emotional stages of unemployment and how they undermined his morale and confidence while looking for a new job. He also looks at mastering the art of reinvention, social life while unemployed, and effective networking.

Part A:This special hour-long documentary traces how the Louisiana Creole music known as zydeco found a new home 2,000 miles from its birthplace. Independent producers Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman interviewed the people who migrated from Louisiana to California starting in World War II to escape the racial discrimination prevalent in the South and find jobs in the shipping and defense industries. Once in California, they worked hard to keep their culture alive, especially their musical traditions.Part B:This special hour-long documentary traces how the Louisiana Creole music known as zydeco found a new home 2,000 miles from its birthplace. Independent producers Richard Ziglar and Barry Yeoman interviewed the musicians and dancers who underwent this migration tell their stories of rebuilding their lives and their community. And they talk about how younger musicians are transmitting zydeco to the next generation-in the hopes that Creole traditions will continue to thrive in California.

Part A:Slain activist Medgar Evers was heavily involved in civil rights after returning from World War II and graduating from Alcorn College in 1951. He was also instrumental in the efforts to end segregation at the University of Mississippi. His widow, Myrlie Evers-Williams talks of his legacy and impact on the civil rights movement nearly 50 years after his assassination. She also discusses her continuing work for civil rights and reflects on her opportunity to give the invocation at the second inaugural ceremony of President Barack Obama.Part B:This year in 2013, our nation celebrates many historic anniversaries in the struggle for civil rights and racial harmony including the Emancipation Proclamation in 1863 and the 1963 March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s famous I have a Dream Speech. Lonnie Bunch III, director of the new National Museum of African American History and Culture talks about the museum’s efforts to collect artifacts and chronicle the stories of many well-known and forgotten heroes who sacrificed to keep the dream of equality alive.

Part A:The story of the Beatles’ harrowing rise to fame that focuses on that seven-year stretch from the time the boys met as teenagers to early 1964, when the Beatles made their momentous first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. From the boys’ humble beginnings in Liverpool, and the cellars of Hamburg, When They Were Boys includes stories never before told, from journalist Larry Kane’s time travelling with the most famous band of all time, before they were famous.Part B:Written with fitness guru Tony Horton’s trademark humor and honesty, The Big Picture, shows you how your physical health is intricately linked to your mental, financial, and family health, and overall happiness and contentment. Horton shares how the same skills and principles that work in the gym work in every area of life.

Part A:Theodore Roosevelt once spoke of the possibility of failing while daring greatly in a speech given in Paris. When we face any new situation in life, we are vulnerable to uncertainty, failure, and pain. Dr. Brené Brown argues the idea that vulnerability is weakness, explaining that it is the basis of both courage and fulfillment in life. In her book, “Daring Greatly,” Brown challenges everyone to risk being vulnerable and change the way we live, love, lead, and parent.Part B:It seems that even making simple habits stick can sometimes be a Herculean task even after 30 days of trying and trying again. People spend endless hours and much effort trying to change their behavior patterns. Psychologist Jeremy Dean, founder of Psyblog, argues that most human behavior happens unconsciously and merely changing a small activity can have a profound effect on a stubborn habit. Dean explains many other ways it is possible to forge new habits, improving health, productivity, and creativity.

Part A:Nearly 65.7 million people take on the role of family caregivers in America today. Most often, people are overwhelmed at the prospect of providing care for an elderly parent. Jody Gastfriend has many tips for the boomer generation who are now caring for elderly parents while raising a family and working, all at the same time.Part B:As your body and perception changes with age, driving gets trickier. Older drivers can be safe drivers, but they can also benefit from strategies that help them deal with age related changes. Julie Lee explains how to compensate and gives information on AARP’s driver safety course for seniors.

Part A:AARP’s Love and Relationships expert, Pepper Schwartz, gives the details of a survey that studied many couple’s communication styles, which give insight into many aspects of the relationship. The study, titled “The Normal Bar,” reveals much more than what happens to passion, as we grow older and our relationships change. Schwartz also discusses what each gender wants when it comes to sex, the factors that can ignite relational conflict, and what people really admire in their partner.Part B:In “The Happiness Choice,” Marilyn Tam teaches the five basic principles and values that can lead to a happier, healthier, and more fulfilled life. Tam takes many of the lessons she learned while growing up a poor, neglected, and unloved child in Hong Kong and uses them to illustrate how anyone can achieve success and the life they have always dreamed of living.

Part A:Choosing a healthcare plan is about cost and more importantly knowing which physicians are covered at the best hospitals. Dr. Archelle Georgiou and Dr. Paul Fronstin give advice for selecting the best personalized affordable care act plan and finding great doctors at the best hospitals. They simply explain what people need to know when selecting a plan and how free resources like Healthgrades can get them started on getting the best plan.Part B:Millions of Americans brave the challenges and enormous pressure of caring for a loved one while continuing to work fulltime. AARP Expert, Amy Goyer, provides practical resources and tips, whether you're caregiving day to day or planning for future needs. Her book, Juggling Work and Caregiving, provides insight, and personal inspiration from her own experience as a caregiver to her parents.

Part A:The fast and easy way to get up to speed on Medicare Since the creation of Medicare in 1965, significant changes have affected the legislation. With 77 million baby boomers entering the program, questions about what Medicare is and how it affects seniors are certain to arise. Medicare For Dummies addresses this uncertain topic and helps those eligible for Medicare benefits maneuver the complicated process.Part B:The Other Talk helps you take control of your life so when the time comes, your kids can make decisions based on what you want. This groundbreaking guide provides the practical advice and inspiration you need to have open, honest discussions about subjects that can be difficult to talk about. Unlike other books that help adult children who are suddenly thrust into a decision-making role, The Other Talk gives you the tools to develop a strong partnership with your kids to plan for the rest of your life.

Part A:In The Trip to Echo Spring, Olivia Laing examines the link between creativity and excessive drinking through the work and lives of six writers whose literature is some of the most famous in the world. All six of these writers were well-known alcoholics, and the subject of drinking is often tackled in some of their finest work.Part B:New York City's Harlem was an cultural center in the 1920's that represented time of social freedom. White men could go uptown to see jazz and modern dance, but women who embraced black culture too enthusiastically could be ostracized. Carla Kaplan's, Miss Ann of Harlem explores the lives of six women who crossed race lines and defied social conventions to become a part of the culture and heartbeat of Harlem.

New Orleans and Jazz are as synonymous as the winter holidays and music. When the Preservation Hall Jazz Band joins Prime Time Radio for an hour long special and combines all four of those elements for a truly special performance. Guest hosted by Marcellus The Bassman Shepard, who has been an on-air radio personality and is well known for his distinctive deep voice, which he uses for his afternoon drive shift, In the Groove, on WEAA in Baltimore, MD and as co-host of the nationally syndicated Cool Jazz Countdown. Preservation Hall Jazz Band, this week on Prime Time Radio.

Join us for a rebroadcast of Prime Time Radio's popular holiday program—an hour-long special featuring the bells of Washington National Cathedral’s carillon. Host Mike Cuthbert ascended the bell tower and sat in the “wheelhouse” with distinguished carillonneur Edward Nassor who played the beautiful bells expressly for Prime Time Radio. He and Mike also had a fascinating conversation about the history and workings of the bells.