Making Contact

“Making Contact” digs into the story beneath the story—contextualizing the narratives that shape our culture. Produced by Frequencies of Change Media (FoC Media), the award-winning radio show and podcast examines the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground, building a more just world through narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the environment, labor, economics, health, governance, and arts and culture.

Seeing Signs from Queens Memory Podcast (Encore) 05/07/2025

The Healing Project: An Abolitionist Story (Encore) 04/30/2025

Radical Therapy from Re:Work 04/23/2025

The Promise and Peril of Geoengineering (Encore) 04/16/2025

The Calling 04/09/2025

The Trauma of Caste: A Dalit Feminist Meditation on Survivorship, Healing, and Abolition (Encore) 04/02/2025

Karinda Dobbins: Black and Blue (Encore) 03/26/2025

The Supreme Court Under Trump 03/19/2025

Flemmie Kittrell and the Preschool Experiment from Lost Women of Science 03/12/2025

How The First Home Pregnancy Test Was Born (Encore) Description 03/05/2025

Ninety Seconds to Midnight: The Dangerous Philosophy of Silicon Valley (Encore) 02/26/2025

A History of Development and Disruption (Encore) 02/19/2025

Exposed Part 2: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point from SF Public Press 02/12/2025

Exposed Part 2: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point from SF Public Press In episode two of “Exposed” from our friends at the San Francisco Public Press, we explore a little-known chapter in San Francisco’s nuclear era: human experiments carried out to assess the health effects of radiation. Scientists from the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, located at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, designed and executed at least 24 experiments that involved gathering data from humans — in some cases, injecting test subjects with radioisotopes or having them ingest fluids laced with trace amounts of radioactive materials. Even football players from the San Francisco 49ers were enrolled as test subjects in these so-called tracer studies. We hear from military veterans who were sent on a mysterious mission to spread radioactive substances onto rooftops at an Army base near Pittsburg, Calif., for an experiment the radiation lab played a role in designing. Some recount experiences of witnessing nuclear bomb blasts in the Nevada desert. We also examine a national pattern of human radiation experiments revealed by Eileen Welsome, the author of a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation, who shined a light on similar practices conducted by government facilities, hospitals and other institutions. Featuring: Eldridge Jones, who served in the military and was part of Operation Stoneman Merle Votaw, a Navy veteran who participated in Operation Stoneman II Eileen Welsome, author of "Plutonium Files" Holly Barker, Anthropologist and professor at the University of Washington who studied the Marshall Islands Credits: San Francisco Public Press: Reporting: Rebecca Bowe and Chris Roberts Editing: Michael Stoll and Liz Enochs Research Editing: Ambika Kandasamy Web Design: John Angelico Copy Editing: Kurt Aguilar, Michele Anderson and Richard Knee Archival Research and Illustration: Stacey Carter Audio Editing: Liana Wilcox, Mel Baker and Megan Maurer Sound Gathering: Justin Benttinen Photography: Sharon Wickham, Yesica Prado and Guillermo Hernandez Graphic Design: Reid Brown Fact Checking: Dani Solakian and Ali Hanks Proofreading: Lila LaHood, Noah Arroyo, Zhe Wu and Sylvie Sturm Special thanks to Alastair Gee and Danielle Renwick at The Guardian and Ben Trefny at KALW Public Radio, and to Laura Wenus and Amy Pyle Making Contact: Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Digital Media Marketing: Anubhuti Kumar Music Credits: Midday, by the Blue Dot Sessions Sweet Leilani, by Bing Crosby Learn More: Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world. /episode/index/show/radioproject/id/35190085

Exposed Part 1: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point from SF Public Press 02/05/2025

Exposed Part 1: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point from SF Public Press Today we present the first half of a two-part radio documentary from our friends at the San Francisco Public Press, “Exposed,” opening a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned naval base, in San Francisco’s southeast waterfront Bayview neighborhood, is currently the site of the city’s largest real estate development project. The base played a key role in the Cold War nuclear era, when it housed a research institution known as the Naval Radiological Defense Laboratory, which studied the human health effects of radiation. In episode one of the podcast, we trace the radioactive contamination found in the shipyard soil today back to its origins, with nuclear bomb testing in the Marshall Islands. We also hear from environmental justice advocates, including one who led a health biomonitoring survey revealing that nearby residents have toxic elements stored in body tissues that match the hazardous chemicals of concern identified at the shipyard. Featuring: Ahimsa Porter Sumchai, community advocate and medical doctor Michelle Pierce, Executive director of Bayview Hunters Point Community Advocates Leaotis Martin, resident of Bayview Raymond Tompkins, community advocate, chemist and former member of the Hunters Point Shipyard Restoration Advisory Board Daniel Hirsch, president of Committee to Bridge the Gap; Derek Robinson; Navy representative. Credits: San Francisco Public Press: Reporting: Rebecca Bowe and Chris Roberts Editing: Michael Stoll and Liz Enochs Research Editing: Ambika Kandasamy Web Design: John Angelico Copy Editing: Kurt Aguilar, Michele Anderson and Richard Knee Archival Research and Illustration: Stacey Carter Audio Editing: Liana Wilcox, Mel Baker and Megan Maurer Sound Gathering: Justin Benttinen Photography: Sharon Wickham, Yesica Prado and Guillermo Hernandez Graphic Design: Reid Brown Fact Checking: Dani Solakian and Ali Hanks Proofreading: Lila LaHood, Noah Arroyo, Zhe Wu and Sylvie Sturm Special thanks to Alastair Gee and Danielle Renwick at The Guardian and Ben Trefny at KALW Public Radio, and to Laura Wenus and Amy Pyle Making Contact: Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Anubhuti Kumar Music Credits: Midday, by the Blue Dot Sessions Sweet Leilani, by Bing Crosby Learn more: Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world. /episode/index/show/radioproject/id/35098860

Reclaiming Indianapolis’s Black History from Urban Roots 01/29/2025

Reclaiming Indianapolis’s Black History from Urban Roots Today we head back to Indianapolis with the podcast Urban Roots. In the 1950s and 1960s, Ms. Jean Spears was a young mother and burgeoning preservationist. She saved antiques from houses about to be demolished; she bought a home in a white slum and renovated it; later on, she did the same with a historic home in the black neighborhood near Indiana Avenue. In the eighties, she and some neighbors started digging into this black neighborhood’s history, uncovering the names of Black doctors, civic leaders, and other professionals who had lived there, many of whom had worked for Madam C.J. Walker. She helped rename the neighborhood to Ransom Place, in honor of Freeman Ransom, Madam Walker’s prodigious lawyer. And in 1991, they succeeded in getting the Ransom Place Historic District included in the National Register of Historic Places. Thanks in no small part to the connection to Madam C.J. Walker, Jean Spears was able to save this pocket of Black history, in an area that — as we explained last episode — the city of Indianapolis had almost erased from memory. But black Indy history is about more than Madam Walker, and other stories and places in the city need protection, too. In this episode, we’ll introduce you to three Black women who are carrying on what Ms. Jean Spears started — safeguarding these little-known stories of the past and guiding Indianapolis toward a brighter future. Featuring: Claudia Polley, Urban Legacy Lands Initiative; Kaila Austin, artist and historian; Judith Thomas, Deputy Mayor of Neighborhood Engagement for the City of Indianapolis; Paula Brooks, the Environmental Justice Program Manager at the Hoosier Environment Council. Credits: Urban Roots: Urban Roots unearths little-known stories from urban history, especially histories of women and people of color that are in danger of being forgotten. Our mission is to elevate underrepresented voices and help preserve the places significant to them. Hosts and Executive Producers: Deqah Hussein-Wetzel and Vanessa Maria Quirk Editor and Executive Producer: Connor Lynch Mixer: Andrew Callaway. Music/Composer: Adaam James Levin-Areddy. Making Contact Credits Episode Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer:[ Jeff Emtman](https://www.jeffemtman.com/) Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music: Roman- Galaxy (inspired up melody) Will Bangs – I’m so glad you exist Learn More: <https://urbanistmedia.org/> /episode/index/show/radioproject/id/35011190

Madam Walker & the Rise & Fall of Indiana Avenue from Urban Roots 01/22/2025

Madam Walker & the Rise & Fall of Indiana Avenue from Urban Roots Madam C.J. Walker was a brilliant entrepreneur who built a haircare empire and became the first African American woman millionaire. You might have heard about her, but not many people know that her headquarters used to be located in Indianapolis, along a once vibrant Black corridor called Indiana Avenue, a place that today is known for parking lots, high-speed traffic, and uninspiring university buildings. Why do so few people know this story? Because, over decades, government planners and private developers slowly and systematically erased Indiana Avenue's history. Luckily, however, some Black Hoosiers are working to uncover, and reclaim, what almost disappeared without a trace. In this episode, we tell their, and the Avenue’s, story. Featuring: A’Lelia Bundles: Journalist and Madam C.J. Walker biographer; Susan Hall Dotson of the Indiana Historical Society; Claudia Polley of the Urban Legacy Lands Initiative; Wildstyle Paschall, artist and community advocate; Devon Ginn of the Walker Legacy Center; and centenarian/Indiana Avenue author, Mr. Thomas Hart Ridley. Credits: Urban Roots Credits: Urban Roots dives deep into little known stories from urban history, unearthing histories of women and people of color that are in danger of being forgotten. Hosts and Executive Producers: Deqah Hussein-Wetzel and Vanessa Maria Quirk. Editor and Executive Producer: Connor Lynch Mixer: Andrew Callaway. Music Composer: [Adaam James Levin-Areddy.](https://www.ajla.me/) Making Contact Credits Episode Host: Salima Hamirani Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Music Credits Tephra- anemoia Ben von Wildenhaus - Week Twenty-five Learn More: Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world. /episode/index/show/radioproject/id/34923010

Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (Encore) 01/15/2025

Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women (Encore) On today's show, we look at how art can highlight the struggles of incarcerated women, build solidarity with them across prison walls, and fight against the erasure and censorship inherent to incarceration. First, we'll hear about a dance performance called "If I Give You My Sorrows" that's built around the complex ways that incarcerated women relate to their beds. Then, we'll learn about an art exhibition, "The Only Door I Can Open," that's curated and created by incarcerated artists, writers and poets inside Central California Women's Facility. Featuring Jo Kreiter, artistic director of Flyaway Productions and creative director of If I Give You My Sorrows Betty McKay, formerly incarcerated advocate and organizer Tomiekia Johnson, incarcerated writer and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Chantell-Jeannette Black, incarcerated artist and co-curator of The Only Door I Can Open Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, executive director of Empowerment Avenue Credits Making Contact Team Episode Host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: Jeff Emtman Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain Special thanks to Christine Lashaw from Empowerment Avenue for recording interviews with Tomiekia and Chantell that were part of this show. Music The music in this episode was excerpted from compositions for If You Give Me Your Sorrows. “Skewed” Carla Kihlstedt – voice, music box, field recordings Elijah Oberman – voice, synths Music/sound design – Carla Kihlstedt & Eli Oberman “Where Betty Can Go Find Betty” Pamela Z – voice, processing, MIDI instruments Vocal samples excerpted from an interview with Betty McKay Music by Pamela Z “Closure” Cole Kamen-Greene – trumpet Carla Kihlstedt – voice, violin Devin Ray Hoff – bass Matthias Bossi – percussion Music by Carla Kihlstedt (with structural advice from Elijah Oberman) “Prayer” Carla Kihlstedt – voice Music by Carla Kihlstedt “Salve” Kalyn Harewood – spoken voice (excerpted from an interview with Tomiekia Johnson) Carla Kihlstedt – violin, nyckelharpa, marxophone, voice Elijah Oberman – violin, sound design Jeremy Flower – synth programming Jon Evans – bass, guitar Matthias Bossi – percussion Music by Carla Kihlstedt The Only Door I Can Open and If I Give You My Sorrows presented by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2025: The Only Door I Can Open virtual exhibition hosted by MoAD: www.moadsf.org/virtual-exhibition Empowerment Avenue website: Flyaway Productions: Museum of the African Diaspora: The music featured in If I Give You My Sorrows is available for purchase: Petition for Tomiekia Johnson’s request for commutation Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world. /episode/index/show/radioproject/id/34838355

Borders: What are they good for? (Encore) 01/08/2025

Jenny Odell on Saving Time (Encore) 01/01/2025

Decoding Algorithmic Racism with Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble 12/25/2024

Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women 12/18/2024

Art from the Inside: Why We Need More Art By And About Incarcerated Women On today's show, we look at how art can highlight the struggles of incarcerated women, build solidarity with them across prison walls, and fight against the erasure and censorship inherent to incarceration. First, we'll hear about a dance performance called _If I Give You My Sorrows _that's built around the complex ways that incarcerated women relate to their beds. Then, we'll learn about an art exhibition, _The Only Door I Can Open, _that's_ _curated and created by incarcerated artists, writers and poets inside Central California Women's Facility. Featuring: Jo Kreiter, artistic director of Flyaway Productions and creative director of _If I Give You My Sorrows_ Betty McKay, formerly incarcerated advocate and organizer Tomiekia Johnson, incarcerated writer and co-curator of _The Only Door I Can Open_ Chantell-Jeannette Black, incarcerated artist and co-curator of _The Only Door I Can Open_ Rahsaan “New York” Thomas, executive director of Empowerment Avenue **Making Contact Team:** Episode Host: Lucy Kang Producers: Anita Johnson, Salima Hamirani, Amy Gastelum, and Lucy Kang Executive Director: Jina Chung Editor: Adwoa Gyimah-Brempong Engineer: [Jeff Emtman](http://www.jeffemtman.com/) Digital Media Marketing: Lissa Deonarain **Music credits: ** The music in this episode was excerpted from compositions for _If You Give Me Your Sorrows._ "Skewed" Carla Kihlstedt – voice, music box, field recordings Elijah Oberman – voice, synths Music/sound design – Carla Kihlstedt & Eli Oberman "Where Betty Can Go Find Betty" Pamela Z – voice, processing, MIDI instruments Vocal samples excerpted from an interview with Betty McKay Music by Pamela Z "Closure" Cole Kamen-Greene – trumpet Carla Kihlstedt – voice, violin Devin Ray Hoff – bass Matthias Bossi – percussion Music by Carla Kihlstedt (with structural advice from Elijah Oberman) "Prayer" Carla Kihlstedt – voice Music by Carla Kihlstedt "Salve" Kalyn Harewood – spoken voice (excerpted from an interview with Tomiekia Johnson) Carla Kihlstedt – violin, nyckelharpa, marxophone, voice Elijah Oberman – violin, sound design Jeremy Flower – synth programming Jon Evans – bass, guitar Matthias Bossi – percussion Music by Carla Kihlstedt Learn More: : _ presented by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in 2025 hosted by MoAD: : : [www.moadsf.org](www.moadsf.org) _ is available for purchase here: : Making Contact is an award-winning, nationally syndicated radio show and podcast featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews. We cover the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground building a more just world. /episode/index/show/radioproject/id/34470788