Best Belfer Podcasts (2024)

1
Cultural Threads 20:00

2d ago20:00

20:00

From his studio in Boston, Yo-Yo Ma tells us how music eases tensions between American and Chinese people, even as Washington and Beijing are at each other’s throats. Guests: Yo Yo Ma; Hai Ye Ni, principal cellist, Philadelphia Symphony Orchestra Sound design, original score, mixing and mastering by Rowhome Productions. Learn more about your ad cho…

1
Doomsday 27:39

7d ago27:39

27:39

China is rapidly expanding its nuclear arsenal even as arms control treaties are shredded. Can China and the U.S. come to the table and agree to nuclear arms control accords? Should Artificial Intelligence control nuclear weapons? Guest: Tong Zhao; Chinese born nuclear expert now at Carnegie China in DC Sound design, original score, mixing and mast…

1
Cold, Cold Heart

14d ago

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By Sound Beat

1
Apple in China 31:52

15d ago31:52

31:52

Apple, one of the world’s most valuable companies, depends on China, America’s biggest adversary, to manufacture its iPhones. Apple employs millions of contract workers in China. Is this marriage heading for the rocks? What will Apple and China do to keep their marriage intact? Guests: Prof. Willy Shih, Harvard Business School; Wayne Ma, tech repor…

1
Spies in the Sky 32:32

15d ago32:32

32:32

An American surveillance plane and a Chinese fighter jet collide near the Chinese coast in 2001. Smart diplomacy by a former American Navy Admiral results in the release of two dozen American airmen and women from detention in China. Today, tensions between the countries are much higher, their planes are flying within feet of each other. There are …

1
Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown

21d ago

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By Sound Beat

1
Everything Melba

20d ago

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You’re listening to Dame Nellie Melba’s Farewell speech, recorded at Covent Garden in 1926. And, You’re on the Sound Beat Andre Escoffier would’ve cleaned up on the late 1800’s version of Top Chef. The French chef extraordinaire was known for his creative haute cuisine, and for naming his dishes after stars that frequented his restaurants. There wa…

1
Introducing: Face Off 2:51

1M ago2:51

2:51

Our trailer features jaw-dropping audio from the cockpit of an American spy plane flying over the South China Sea. It’s early 2001. A Chinese fighter jet is getting perilously close to the slow moving American plane. Some weeks later, a collision occurred. What happened next? Listen to episode 1 of Face Off. Our trailer also dazzles with interview …

1
1 - A ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ for Ukraine? 21:27

1M ago21:27

21:27

Guest: Matthew Evangelista is President White Professor of History and Political Science at Cornell University. International Security Article: This podcast is based on Matthew Evangelista, “A ‘Nuclear Umbrella’ for Ukraine? Precedents and Possibilities for Postwar European Security,” International Security, Vol. 48, No. 3 (Winter 2023/24), pp. 7–5…

1
Honey in the Rock 1:30

1M ago1:30

1:30

You’re listening to the Carter Family’s rendition of “Honey in the Rock”, a Coral Record from 1949, and you’re on the Sound Beat. Frederick A. Graves originally wrote the song in 1895, but his version was a bit, well, heavy…A.P. Carter then rewrote it in 1937 to better fit the Carter Family’s repertoire. In short, he focused more on the “honey and …

1
In the Still of the Night

2M ago

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You’re listening to the Five Satins with In the Still of the Night, an Embassy 78 from 1956 and…. You’re on the Sound Beat Nighttime is often the right time for thoughtful reflection. Especially when one is on guard duty in the Army. Such is the case with this song, written by Fred Parris while on active duty. He and the Satins recorded it in the b…

1
Whoopin’ the Blues 1:30

2M ago1:30

1:30

You’re listening to one of the most distinctive signature sounds in all of recorded music, and… You’re on the Sound Beat. That telltale whoop belongs to Sonny Terry, one of the most influential harmonica players of all time. Blind, but not from birth, Terry lost his sight one eye at a time, first in early childhood, and the second in his late teens…

1
Put It There Pal!

2M ago

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Between them, Bing Crosby and Bob Hope dominated tv, records, radio and the driving range. But their film careers were made during the “Road” features. The 7 total films were released between 1940 and 1962, and also starred Dorothy Lamour. They were, more than anything else, conduits for ad-libbed lines and playful barbs Bing and Bob would sling at…

1
Ambassador of Love

2M ago

—

You’re listening to Pearl Bailey from 1946 and you’re on the Sound Beat. Pearl made her Broadway debut that year, performing “It’s a Woman’s Prerogative” in St. Louis Woman. Though audiences weren’t enamored of the play, her performance marked the beginning of a decades-long love affair between Bailey and the American public. That “special time tog…

1
Big Stuff 1:30

3M ago1:30

1:30

Holiday was born Eleanora Fagan, and nicknamed Lady Day. This 1946 recording of “Big Stuff” represents something of an anomaly in her career. It emerged only multiple, vigorous recording sessions. Her difficulties in the studio seemed to mirror those in her personal life, as Holiday was struggling with drug and alcohol abuse. The song itself was co…

1
Insurance Policy Blues

3M ago

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Alright, hope we didn’t over bill it. But I mean, it’s insurance, we had to liven it up somehow. The very first auto insurance policy was sold by Travelers Insurance to Dr. Truman Martin of Buffalo NY in February of 1898. It was very likely to protect his car from accidents involving horses. It’s perhaps impossible to relate the role horses played …

1
Camp Meeting Jubilee

3M ago

—

Rock historians attribute the term “Rock and Roll” to radio dj Allen Freed in 1951. And while he set a name to that combo of rhythm, blues, country, jazz that got Elvis wagging his hips around, he wasn’t the first to put the words together. The origins of the term are nautical…17th-century sailors would describe ship’s movements as rocking and roll…

1
The Walking Blues

3M ago

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Censorship has been a big issue in the U.S. since, well, before there was a U.S. You’re on the Sound Beat. The first song officially banned on our soil was “A Song Made Upon the Election of New Magistrates To the City”, written by John Peter Zenger, owner of the first printing press in the colonies. Seems King George didn’t appreciate the mocking o…

1
The Awakening of Scrooge 1:30

4M ago1:30

1:30

For those who celebrate it, the big day is here. Many parents are bleary-eyed and sipping coffee while the kids riot in merry madness. But short as it was, your night was probably more restful than old Ebenezer Scrooge’s. Our gift to you: Scrooge’s Awakening, an Edison Blue Amberol cylinder released in 1914. And for your stocking: listen to the who…

1
Begin The Beguine 1:30

4M ago1:30

1:30

The story goes like this: Fats Waller, the great stride pianist, is playing in a club when he spots Art Tatum walk through the door. Waller stops, turns to the audience and announces: “I just play the piano, but God is in the house tonight.” Perhaps no pianist before or since has equaled Tatum’s technical and rhythmic mastery, harmonic imagination,…

1
The Blue Tail Fly

5M ago

—

Carl Sandburg once called Ives “the mightiest ballad singer of this or any other century.” But his fellow performers might have described him with slightly different words. We’ve talked quite a bit on the show about careers that suffered during the McCarthy /blacklisting era. We haven’t talked about any that made it through unscathed. When the Sena…

1
To The North Pole!

5M ago

—

Frederick Cook claimed to reach the North Pole in 1908, which would make him the first man to do so. And while some believed him, not enough did. You’re listening to a 1910 recording of….Robert F. Peary. History books credit him with the Pole’s discovery in 1909. So why the uncertainty? The entire north polar region is sea, covered by floating ice,…

1
The Devil and Niccolo Paganini 1:30

5M ago1:30

1:30

Niccolo Paganini was the Jim Morrison of his day. He partied, drove the ladies wild, and was even rumored to have dabbled in the occult. Paganini was a violin virtuoso. He could play three octaves across four strings. Ask your local fiddler; that’s all but impossible. Paganini’s seemingly supernatural talents made him a celebrity, but also inspired…

1
The Okeh Laughing Record

5M ago

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Yup there it is. You know that feeling you get whether you’re in church, or a meeting, or somewhere where you really shouldn’t be laughing? Where you just can’t…quite…stop? The Okeh Laughing Record was recorded in Germany and released in 1923, and was an immediate seller, hitting the Billboard charts and reached number eight. It wasn’t listed as a …

1
Crazy with the Blues

5M ago

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You’re listening to Peetie Wheatstraw on the keys, playing Crazy With the Blues from 1936. Wheatstraw left an indelible mark on the St. Louis blues scene. He was known for that trademark “woo woo boy”, and of course his rather laid-back policy towards proper word formation. In fact, fellow blues great Blind Teddy Darby once overheard an audience me…

1
25 Minutes to Go

6M ago

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This live version of “25 Minutes to Go” is from Johnny Cash’s 1968 Columbia LP At Folsom Prison. The song gives a minute-by-minute description of a man awaiting the hangman’s noose. Two thousand Folsom prisoners attended Cash’s famed performance at the prison a year earlier; however, Death Row residents were not allowed. On performing a song about …

1
Live Bonus Episode 49:11

6M ago49:11

49:11

The United States Library of Congress selected Dr. Strangelove as one of the first 25 films in the National Film Registry. As we approach the 60th anniversary of Dr. Strangelove (in Jan 2024), our live podcast panel takes a critical look at the dark comedy and reveals how the satire is uncomfortably realistic, even to this day. Using dialogue from …

1
Whatever Lola Wants

6M ago

—

Richard Adler and Jerry Ross wrote the song “Whatever Lola Wants (Lola Gets)” for the 1955 Broadway musical Damn Yankees. RCA Victor released this recording that year, with Dinah Shore singing and Henri René conducting. Inspiration for the character in this Tony Award-winning production came from notorious dancer and actress Lola Montez. Born in Ir…

1
The Death of a President

6M ago

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William McKinley was as popular as presidents come, a saying that may need to be adjusted for inflation. On September 6th, 1901, Leon Czolgosz waited in line to meet the president at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo NY. He fired two shots into McKinley’s stomach, and while the president battled his wounds for more than a week, he finally succ…

1
Signs for the Future 39:53

6M ago39:53

39:53

Some questions fall far outside the scope of what governments are designed to answer. How will we explain ourselves to extraterrestrials? What can we say to warn humans 10,000 years in the future about the nuclear waste we’re leaving behind? Assuming we develop the proper technology, would it be beneficial to breed glowing cats? Two decades after N…

1
I Didn’t Raise My Boy to be a Soldier

6M ago

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A mother’s lament that perfectly encapsulated American anti-war sentiment. You’re on the Sound Beat. The Peerless Quartette recorded I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier in January of 1915. Alfred Bryan wrote the lyrics, and they drew a sharp line between those who supported the US entering the Great War and those who opposed. The opposition: paci…

1
Your Cheatin’ Heart

6M ago

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Legend has it this song came to Williams while with fiancé Billie Jean Horton. Just driving around, talking about standard fiancé stuff…like, his ex-wife. You’re on the Sound Beat. While telling his future bride about his former’s infidelities, he cried out that one day Audrey’s “Cheatin’ Heart” would pay. A hit was born, and, probably, so was a di…

1
The Little Man Who Wasn’t There

6M ago

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Hughes Mearns wrote “Antigonish” in 1910. Composers Harold Adamson and Bernard Hanighen added the melody to the poem and crafted the song “The Little Man Who Wasn’t There” in 1939…and picked up songwriting credits for doing so. In July of that year, Glenn Miller, his orchestra, and Tex Beneke released this record on the Bluebird label. The poem’s e…

1
An Illegal Floating City 31:53

6M ago31:53

31:53

Fishermen dying mysteriously off the coast of Japan. Entire populations of sea animals disappearing. Despite decades of work by the international community, the high seas remain law enforcement’s biggest blind spot, and the site of environmental crimes whose effects reach around the world. But some people are attempting to stop these crimes: We fol…

1
Der Graf von Luxemburg 1:30

6M ago1:30

1:30

It’s that age old tale of love and marriage…and money. You’re listening to the Opening Overture of Franz Lehar’s 1910 operetta Der Graf von Luxemburg. We are often our own harshest critics; before it’s debut, Lehar called the piece ‘Sloppy work, completely useless.’ Despite his opinion, the play ran for 299 straight performances in its original run…

1
Lester’s Savoy Jump 1:30

6M ago1:30

1:30

Considered one of the most influential saxophonists in history, Lester “Prez” Young succeeded Coleman Hawkins at the height of the swing era. You’re on the Sound Beat He’s backed by his quintet on the piece, as he plays over the standard 12 bar blues. But much like his famous predecessor’s breakthrough recordings, the song lacks a clear lead melody…

1
Crazy Blues

6M ago

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Perry Bradford wrote Crazy Blues and the great Sophie Tucker was originally slated to record. When she was unable to make the session due to illness, Bradford convinced record execs to let jazz singer Mamie Smith fill in. Here she is on that OKEH label recording from 1920. That last minute substitution would prove historic, marking the first time a…

1
The Leak from Compound 19 26:38

7M ago26:38

26:38

In February 2020, an elite group of biosecurity experts, worried about the threat of pandemics, plays a bizarrely prescient role-playing game. They run into an age-old pattern of secrecy and mistrust, one that thwarts their efforts to ‘beat’ the game. We travel back to a (real-life) period when dozens of mysterious deaths occurred in a closed Sovie…

1
Bei Mir Bistu Shein

7M ago

—

Sholom Secunda was a songwriter, not a fisherman. But he could tell you all about the “one that got away.” When Secunda sold a catchy Yiddish tune to a publisher in 1932, he did so for $30, or about $500 today. But when a-relatively-unknown trio of sisters released the song six years later, it went on to sell millions. Here are the Andrews Sisters …

1
Ground Control to Space Junk 28:24

7M ago28:24

28:24

There are no international laws against littering in space, which is a shame, because individual governments love to blow things up in low-Earth orbit. The result? A crisis of ricocheting debris that goes on forever. As private industry sends an unprecedented number of satellites into orbit, security experts find themselves in a race against the cl…

1
12th Street Rag

7M ago

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Few today recognize the name Euday Bowman, yet during ragtime’s heyday Bowman’s 12th Street Rag was one of the most well recognized tunes around. He wrote the tune in 1897, and over the next half century, it made a lot of money for a lot of people…uh, Bowman not among them. Though “the Rag” was credited with reinvigorating ragtime, made famous by j…

1
The Fabulous Bremen Boys

7M ago

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When you think of early aviators, names like Wright, Earhart and Lindbergh probably spring to mind. But unless you’re a confessed aviaphile, names like Cole, Fitzmaurice and von Hünefeld probably do not. You’re on the Sound Beat. When the three made an emergency landing in Greeley Island, Canada in 1928, they’d completed the first transatlantic fli…

1
Murder on the High C’s

7M ago

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Do not adjust your radio. It’s actually supposed to sound like this. You’re listening to Florence Foster Jenkins struggle her way through Lyadov’s The Musical Snuff Box. Jenkins was…just a bad singer. But she was also determined to be one. She ignored the early advice of her family and her husband…who would, incidentally, become her ex husband. (Ma…

1
Windmills in a North Korean Cabbage Patch 35:59

7M ago35:59

35:59

An arms-control advocate accepts an invitation to the dacha of a hard-partying North Korean power broker. There, through a haze of smoke and propaganda, they identify some common ground and set out to test a hypothesis: That it’s possible for Americans and North Koreans to work together toward peace. The result is a tense but extraordinary moment i…

1
Waltzing Matilda 1:30

7M ago1:30

1:30

Waltzing Matilda is one of Oz’s best loved songs and a common refrain at national sporting events. Peter Dawson is another Aussie favorite; the bass-baritone’s recording career spanned half a century. A Matilda, in this case, is a bag or sack, and to “Waltz Matilda” is to travel the countryside, or the bush, with a bag in tow. The song involves a h…

1
Old King Tut

7M ago

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For listeners of a certain age, a song about King Tutankhamen immediately brings Steve Martin to the mind’s theater. His “King Tut” mock-reprimanded the commercialization of the Treasures of Tutankhamen exhibit that toured from 1976 to ’79. But this one, “Old King Tut”, was recorded in 1923, the year AFTER the ancient Pharaoh’s tomb was found. Howa…

1
Anchors Aweigh

7M ago

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You’re listening to Anchors Aweigh by the United States Naval Academy Band, and… You’re on the Sound Beat. Spelling seldom makes for great radio, but “Aweigh” in this case is spelled “A-W-E-I-G-H”, and it means that the anchors have been raised, and the ship is ready for action. It also makes this the perfect fight song for the US Naval Academy. Th…

1
Skinny-Dipping in the USSR 27:43

7M ago27:43

27:43

As the Cold War draws to a close, a group of American scientists hatches a plan to board a Soviet warship with a nuclear weapons detector to prove to their own government that the USSR is open to nuclear arms verification. Meet the guys who brought a slug of depleted uranium through security at LaGuardia Airport, sat atop a Soviet nuclear device in…

1
Beethoven Hearts Bach

7M ago

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This version of Partita Number 1 in B Flat Major was recorded by Walter Gieseking in 1950. It’s perhaps ironic that Bach’s compositions are celebrated worldwide; in his entire life he never strayed more than 200 miles from his birthplace of Eisenstadt, Germany. But his influence has been felt all over the globe, and through every generation since. …

1
Caldonia!

7M ago

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Louis Jordan and his Tympany Five first recorded “Caldonia” in 1945. This recording is a rerelease from 1947, the year that Jordan and Moore divorced. Apparently, being sent to the hospital with stab wounds was Jordan’s idea of a dealbreaker. Though, there was one other deal to address: Jordan had listed Moore as the writer of “Caldonia”, enabling …

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