Americans have intimate relationships with their cellphones. A recent report found 89% of Americans say they check their phones within the first 10 minutes of waking up, and 60% sleep with their phone at night. And during the day, nearly one-third of American adults reported being online " almost constantly " in 2021, up from 21% in 2015. "I remember being attached to [my phone] and when I was texting my girlfriend, I remember the screen just kind of came alive," said Jose Briones, an advocate o...
Aug 27, 2023•36 min
From hip-hop to folk to jazz, Boston’s musical legacy is alive on a new platform showcasing the talents of local musicians. Mayor Michelle Wu and the city's Tourism, Sports and Entertainment Office debuted " Dear Summer Vol. 1 " this July: it's the city's first official mixtape. "I think we did a good job in representing the sound of the city, the cultural diversity of the city, and just really highlighting and boosting up our artists and also our DJs so we can show that there's talent here righ...
Aug 27, 2023•22 min
Sixty years ago, the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom inspired more than 250,000 people to gather for a public demonstration — at the time, one of the biggest marches in the country's history. The Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his now famous speech, “I Have a Dream” at the Lincoln Memorial, just weeks after President John K. Kennedy called civil rights a “moral issue.” "I thought it was a wonderful opportunity to put my feet where my heart was, to speak in support of civil ri...
Aug 20, 2023•23 min
The National Museum of the American Latino may be years away from officially opening, but it's already caught in America's culture wars. The attack has been led in part by Latino Republican Rep. Mario Díaz-Balart, having proposed legislation to pull funding for the museum. " I'm okay with you criticizing how you view history. But do you have to vote to defund it?" said, Julio Ricardo Varela, president of Futuro Media Group. "Seriously, like, you can't even stand up for our community? You have to...
Aug 20, 2023•35 min
50 years after its birth, hip-hop has become an integral part of mainstream American culture. With its roots in the voices of marginalized communities, hip-hop is reflected in everything from a rapping Pillsbury Dough Boy to dialogue in movies to speeches on the floor of Congress . "Hip-hop is a culture. It's a far-reaching culture. It's the most dominant youth culture on the planet," said Dart Adams, Boston-based writer and hip-hop expert. "It incorporates DJing, b-boying — or 'breaking,' as it...
Aug 18, 2023•58 min
If there ever was a time we all could use a good laugh, it’s now — as, all around us, the world seems to be on fire literally , and figuratively. For this special edition of “Bookmarked: Under the Radar Book Club," we’re delving into the world of humor on the written page — through the musings of contemporary humor essayists — those sharp and witty observers of everyday life who find the funny in the mundane. "I get embarrassed for being a person with basic tastes who does not interrogate things...
Aug 06, 2023•58 min
Editor's note: This episode originally aired on Feb. 4, 2022. CBD — those three small letters have led to a billion-dollar industry. CBD, short for cannabidiol, is a compound from the cannabis plant that does not produce a high. People can consume it, vape it or apply it to their skin. Manufacturers are putting CBD in everything from lattes to lotions. Proponents say that CBD helps manage many health conditions, especially pain and anxiety. "One of the things that we've found that CBD is wonderf...
Jul 30, 2023•27 min
Editor's note: This episode originally aired on Feb. 3, 2023. From heart disease to diabetes, chronic illness is the leading cause of death in the United States, and chronic disease is a major reason why the nation spends more than $4 trillion on health care every year. But a growing number of researchers believe reexamining our relationship with food is key to both improving our health and saving money. "When you provide medically tailored meals to people who are experiencing food insecurity an...
Jul 30, 2023•30 min
Local Black high schoolers will face off in a special competition at the 114th annual NAACP National Convention in Boston. Young scientists, musicians, dancers, and more will compete in one of 32 categories of ACT-SO, or Afro-Academic, Cultural, Technological and Scientific Olympics. ACT-SO's categories are wide ranging, from visual and culinary arts to STEM, and business. "If I see all of these, like, white classical musicians, composers, just writing a bunch of music and we're just always play...
Jul 23, 2023•24 min
Hollywood’s writers and actors are on strike, together. For the first time since 1960, the Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA), is striking alongside the Writers Guild of America (WGA). Without their labor, Hollywood productions have ground to a halt. "This is a moment of reckoning for the industry," said Michael Jeffries, professor of American studies at Wellesley College. "This is a moment where the old system of figuring out what shows were doin...
Jul 23, 2023•34 min
The nearly years of anticipations for the new "Barbie" movie has sparked widespread enthusiasm for the 64-year-old doll. From Barbie-themed parties to Barbie-styled clothing, to visits to Barbie’s life-sized Malibu DreamHouse, Barbie is everywhere. Barbicore — and the "Barbie" movie itself — has put related items in short supply, like Barbie’s signature hot pink paint color . "We hosted a Barbie boat cruise out of the Boston Harbor on June 30, and we had over 600 Barbie fans come to celebrate th...
Jul 16, 2023•32 min
Cities across the country are dotted with vacant lots — often overgrown with weeds, full of trash or surrounded by dilapidated buildings. The unused spaces are at best an eyesore. But some community groups see those empty spaces as an opportunity for food forests: vibrant, public spaces that can also feed their community. "They're open to all visitors. Humans and non-humans alike are welcome to the produce," Orion Kriegman, founding executive director of the Boston Food Forest Coalition, told Un...
Jul 16, 2023•26 min
Many hold strong opinions about what barbecue flavor they prefer. Yes barbecue, not grilling. American barbecue hails from four different regions — Memphis, Texas, Carolina and Kansas City — each with their own distinctive style. Callie Crossley, host of Under the Radar , hails from Memphis where, as far as she is concerned, Memphis is the distinctive style. "For me, it's the layering of flavors. You might start with a rub, which could be as simple as salt and pepper as is done in Texas, or a li...
Jul 09, 2023•25 min
Earlier this year, the Democratic National Committee broke with decades of tradition when they proposed South Carolina, rather than New Hampshire, as the first state to vote in the 2024 presidential primary. But, making those changes official typically requires approval from state legislatures and governors . Considering the New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman just declared the Granite state will still vote first , what happens next? "It's beyond messy," Arnie Arnesen, radio host for WNHN in...
Jul 09, 2023•33 min
Brendan Slocumb 's latest novel, “Symphony of Secrets,” centers the stories of Black characters who are deeply immersed in the world of classical music. The story takes place in two time periods. Dr. Bern Hendrix, an African American man, who uncovers that a famous opera may have been stolen from a young Black, autistic woman named Josephine Reed. "Symphony of Secrets" readers learn what happened then and now as they explore the themes of privilege and appropriation. Through his writing, Slocumb...
Jul 02, 2023•22 min
For the first time, the USDA has approved lab-grown chicken meat. This could make a significant impact if it leads to shifts in the American diet, as the average consumer is expected to eat 100 pounds of chicken in 2023, about twice the expected amount of beef and pork. Dr. Gaurab Basu, director at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told Under the Radar that lab-cultivated meat's big promise is that it's better for the environment. He said reigning in agricultural emissions, which cu...
Jul 02, 2023•36 min
The Roxbury International Film Festival is back for its 25th year. Rox Fest, as it's commonly known, is the largest New England Film Festival that highlights films by, for, and about people of color. This year's program includes 84 films -- features and documentaries -- with topics ranging from unsung heroes to Boston’s Black Queer representation. Bianca Isaac, director of one of the festival's opening films, The Honeymoon, says she wanted to portray three women of color as main characters that ...
Jun 25, 2023•23 min
For 12 years, sex education advocates in Massachusetts have been pushing for a comprehensive bill to become law. But for 12 years, that proposal has floundered. The Healthy Youth Act would standardize sex education in schools that choose to participate. Right now, sex education is “completely unregulated” in Massachusetts, said Jaclyn Friedman, chair of the Healthy Youth Act Coalition. “In some school districts, they have policy on the books. Worcester and Boston provide, for example, great sex ...
Jun 25, 2023•35 min
Indifferent. Working. Absent. Stereotypes of fathers as disengaged and unloving are common, and generally underscored with longstanding cultural images of dads as incompetent in the role as parent. But a cultural shift in how modern-day fathers interact with their kids is changing the image and role of fatherhood. "What we're seeing today is that these dads are saying, ya know, I'm not perfect but I'm giving myself another shot to be great and I'm going to continue do my job as a father," Dr. Ch...
Jun 18, 2023•24 min
June 19th, 1865, marked the first Juneteenth celebrations. Formerly enslaved Americans living in Texas got the official word that they were free men and women that day -- more than two years after the Emancipation Proclamation. Parades, and festivals will mark this year's federal holiday with community observances nationwide sharing the story of Juneteenth. But until relatively recently for many Americans, the holiday was unheard of, including for Kim Taylor author of A Flag for Juneteenth, "In ...
Jun 18, 2023•34 min
Is it acidic and astringent? Or bright and brilliant? For many Americans, the world of fine wine can feel exclusionary because of the way we talk about wine. That's why some in the wine business are moving away from describing "earthiness" and whether a wine "has seen wood." "This kind of [language] is not just to alienate normal people. This kind of conversation is really very technical, like the way car lovers would talk about the technical elements of a car," said Jonathon Alsop, founder and ...
Jun 11, 2023•24 min
From parades and parties to activism and protests, LGBTQ+ folks in Massachusetts and across the country are in the midst of celebrating Pride month. But Boston’s relationship with Pride has a complicated recent history. The COVID-19 pandemic forced the cancellation of the signature Pride parade and other events in 2020 and 2021. And in July 2021, Boston Pride, the group that organized the city’s parade for decades, was accused of racism and mismanagement. Boston Pride then dismantled . "I think ...
Jun 11, 2023•33 min
Summer 2023 is upon us, and we're ready to bury our faces in a book we can’t wait to read. As bestselling author Stephen King notes, “books are a uniquely portable magic,” and they're often on the move during the summer months: jammed into jean pockets, lining beach towels, and stacked up on vacation bedside tables. For our annual summer reading special, three local librarians return with their curated lists from 2023’s best offerings — from thrillers to young adult novels, to romance and scienc...
Jun 04, 2023•58 min
For over a decade, hundreds of volunteers have convened on the Boston Common to plant tens of thousands of flags in the leadup to Memorial Day. This year, 37,369 have been placed in the park, each one representing a service member from Massachusetts who gave their life since the Revolutionary War. The Massachusetts Military Heroes Fund created the event in 2010. The group "got together to say, what can we do to have this living memorial where we can demonstrate a very outward facing response to ...
May 28, 2023•24 min
Why bother saving for retirement when the world is ending? The climate change crisis, sky-high inflation and political turmoil are driving some young people to spend for today instead of saving up for an uncertain future. A recent survey found that nearly 75% of Gen Zers prefer higher quality of life than extra money in savings. Another revealed that 55% of people ages 18-35 have put saving for retirement on the back burner. Gen Z is also amassing credit card debt faster than any other age group...
May 28, 2023•34 min
“Join or Die.” It’s the urgent title of a new documentary about “America’s civic unraveling,” as the filmmakers describe it, arguing that the country’s long decline in community connections is undermining America's democracy. The film centers around the research of Robert Putnam, the retired Harvard social scientist, whose book “ Bowling Alone: the Collapse and Revival of American Communities ,” arguably changed America's understanding of the importance of community. "There are two different kin...
May 21, 2023•23 min
The long controversial push for a proposed machine gun range on Cape Cod might be struck down by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The range would reduce the amount of time it takes soldiers at Joint Base Cape Cod to complete their training, says the Massachusetts Army National Guard — they currently have to travel hours to perform required small arms training . But the EPA's latest report suggests local resident's drinking water could be jeopardized if the eight-lane, $11.5 million rang...
May 21, 2023•35 min
Herbs, supplements, yoga, and massage therapy are some of the ways people use home remedies to improve their health instead of the typical doctor’s prescription. But these holistic health practices have become a popular alternative medicine industry with professionals that promote preventative medicine. These practices are not new and have been around, in some form, for hundreds of years. "I think that there are more and more people embracing the need for both sides because the medical system ca...
May 14, 2023•23 min
A new report finds Massachusetts storms have grown in frequency and severity since the early 1900s. The number of intense, two-day storms has increased by 74% — and that means many homes are becoming more vulnerable to flooding. "The first thing that comes to my mind is the health implication of this," said Dr. Gaurab Basu, co-director of the Center for Health Equity Education and Advocacy at Cambridge Health Alliance. "Concern about water damage in homes that could cause mold, which of course w...
May 14, 2023•34 min
1994 was a notable year in American sports. The New York Rangers took home the Stanley Cup, Olympic skater Nancy Kerrigan was violently attacked on the ice (the culprit later identified as an associate of competing skater Tonya Harding), and Major League Baseball’s World Series was canceled. But over with the minor league team, the Asheville Tourists in North Carolina, a young Ryan McGee was living his best life. “My dream then was to be a radio play-by-play guy," McGee said. "In the Carolinas, ...
May 07, 2023•25 min
