Episodes
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Why some grocery stores are rejecting self-checkout and replacing them with humans
Local shoppers at the California-based grocery store chain Trader Joe's and Massachusetts’ own Market Basket know there is no self-checkout in either store. Even as self-service checkouts gained floor space in other American grocery and retail stores, those two bet that their customers preferred the efficiency of trained human staff. And recently, some large retailers — Walmart, Costco and Dollar General — have announced they are rethinking self-checkout by adding more staff, or in some cases, removing the machines altogether. Advocates say self-checkout is convenient and reduces employee costs, while critics argue the system has failed to deliver on those promises as many businesses have been hit with merchandise losses from customer errors and shoplifting. Under the Radar looks to the future of self-checkout to find out if the practice has gone stale. GUESTS Rita McGrath, academic director of executive education at Columbia Business School Phil Lempert, founder and CEO of Supermarket Guru, a food and health news hub -
Mr. Mike's Merry Mix 2023: Our annual review of peculiar holiday music
For many Americans, there can be only one Christmas song to rule them all: Mariah Carey's "All I Want For Christmas Is You." In addition to 772 million views on that single YouTube video alone, it has hit No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart the past four years in a row and is believed to have raked in nearly $100 million in earnings thus far. But for the rest of us, there is a world of underground, often bizarre holiday music, and Under the Radar's holiday music correspondent has spent decades dredging them up from record stores and and forgotten corners of the internet. This season, for his 34th year of holiday melodies, Mike Wilkins honors his mixtape history with this year’s seasonal compilation, “Mr. Mike's Merry Mix," a Yuletopia recording. GUEST Mike Wilkins, radio engineer for PRX and GBH’s The World Stream or download his full playlist on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/seenthat/mikemas2023 -
Frozen food advent calendars and a new French bubbly are popping off this holiday season
This year, the newest versions of a favorite American Christmas tradition are, well, untraditional. Advent Calendars now offer much more than chocolates — frozen food and canned wine anyone? Plus, a lesser-known French bubbly our wine expert says is perfect for toasting in the New Year. And chic new restaurants Jiang Nan and Zhi Wei Cafe are making a splash in Boston’s Chinese food scene. It’s Under the Radar's Food and Wine Roundtable: Holiday Edition. GUESTS Jonathon Alsop, founder and executive director of Boston Wine School, author of "The Wine Lover's Devotional" Amy Traverso, senior food editor at Yankee Magazine, co-host of the GBH series, "Weekends with Yankee," author of "The Apple Lover's Cookbook" -
250 years later, local experts consider the complex legacy of the Boston Tea Party
In the 1760s, Massachusetts colonists began pushing back against the ever-tightening grip of British rule. The boiling tension erupted in violent episodes, few more shocking than the Boston Massacre in 1770 when five colonists were killed by British militia. Three years later, protestors publicly rejected the taxes on tea by dumping crates of tea from the British East India Company in the Boston harbor. This event would later become known as the Boston Tea Party. "The Boston Tea Party doesn't just come out of nowhere, there's weeks of tension as the ships arrive and even before the ships arrive," said Benjamin Carp, Brooklyn College history professor. "The goal is really to send the tea back to London, and this was technically illegal ... And so if someone would just agree to ship it back, then maybe we can not have to have some kind of dramatic protest. But because people keep telling them no, this is what leads to the Tea Party ultimately." On December 16, Boston will observe the 250th anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, a momentous event leading up to the American Revolution. "If you lived in Boston at that time, you were reading the letters, you were reading the pamphlets, the newspapers, people were gathered watching the event happen," said Anjelica Oswald, an American Ancestors researcher working on the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program. "If your family member was here in Boston, it's very likely that they had something they witnessed, something they read, something that brought their spirit into it, and maybe that's why they were mustered in for the revolution later." Leading up to the Boston Tea Party's anniversary, museums, schools and historical organizations across the state have come together to celebrate the significance of this historically pivotal event. "We have an amazing opportunity as a city, as a commonwealth and as a nation to mark this 250th anniversary of this iconic moment in American history," said Evan O' Brien, creative manager at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum. "And I think we have a great opportunity to make sure that we're telling the story in a way that is as accessible to everyone from around the world." GUESTS Benjamin Carp, Brooklyn College history professor and author of “Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party and the Making of America” Evan O’Brien, creative manager at the Boston Tea Party Ships & Museum Anjelica Oswald, researcher at American Ancestors helping with the Boston Tea Party Descendants Program -
Daniel Mason's 'North Woods' explores a vibrant history of New England
In the middle of a New England forest, a yellow house and the land on which it sits holds 200 years of personal and political history. The home and forest tell stories of family, time, memories, ghosts and the wonders of an evolving landscape. This sweeping saga is author Daniel Mason’s latest novel, “North Woods,” a riveting, imagined story of one New England house from the time of American colonies to the present. Through prose and poetry, Mason traces the intertwined seasons of the people linked to the home, as well as the exciting evolution of plants and animals who share the surrounding land. “North Woods” is the December selection for “Bookmarked: The Under the Radar Book Club.” Daniel Mason is the author of five books, including his latest "North Woods." He was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize for his book, "A Registry of My Passage Upon the Earth." Mason is also an assistant professor at the Stanford University Department of Psychiatry. -
It's the season of giving, but what motivates Americans to give?
It’s the season of giving and a time of year when Americans traditionally make charitable donations. With more than 1.5 million nonprofit organizations across the country, there’s plenty of choices for where Americans can donate their dollars. But just last year, total charitable giving dropped by 3.4%, according to the Giving USA Foundation. "Often when people don't give, they say something like, 'how could my $5 possibly help this enormous problem facing the world?'" said Michael Norton, Harvard Business School professor and co-author of “Happy Money: The Science of Happier Spending.” "So the feeling that it sort of drops in a bucket can prompt people not to give," he said. "So, when we're thinking about encouraging people to give, we're really trying to think about how do we increase that feeling of connection and increase that feeling of impact." Meanwhile, two Harvard University researchers say they have cracked the code for motivating potential donors to give. Together, they created Giving Multiplier, a research-based matching system that promotes both effective philanthropic and charitable giving and the world’s most effective charities. "In one case, you can spend $50,000 helping one person, or that same amount of money help 100 people, or even closer to 1,000 people with the surgery," said Joshua Greene, Harvard University psychology professor and co-founder of Giving Multiplier. "People in the in the U.S. are much more likely to feel a kind of personal connection for people who are suffering from blindness here, and yet the money can go much farther in other places. And so how do you deal with that?" Could this new method of philanthropy become the future model of giving? -
The Genius Next Door: Harvard's Imani Perry on the history and culture forged by Black Americans
When the MacArthur Foundation named its class of 2023 “genius grant" fellows last month, the recipients joined an exclusive group of previous fellows who have demonstrated outstanding talent and leadership in their fields. Interdisciplinary scholar and writer Imani Perry is one of this year's MacArthur fellows. “I describe my work in part as haunting the past,” Perry said. “I'm trying to train my attention on those who were disregarded in the past as a way of shaping our ethics for the present and the future. So it's sort of like trying to catch a hold of freedom, dreams that have existed over the course of generations, train my gaze and shine a light on them.” Perry, who is also a Boston University professor, studies the history and the cultural expressions forged by Black Americans in the face of injustice. There are 20 MacArthur fellows across the country, and Perry is one of four based in the Boston area. We talked with professor Perry for Under the Radar's series, “The Genius Next Door.” -
Why the 'Battle of Versailles' still resonates 50 years later
In 1973, Americans triumphed in a fashion smackdown that earned the country respect and admiration among critics worldwide. On that day 50 years ago, American and French designers went head-to-head in a creative competition dubbed the “Battle of Versailles." The fashion show was held at the historic Palace of Versailles, the former residence of King Louis XIV. The Americans won with cutting-edge ready-to-wear and stunning Black models. A half-century later, the legacy of the once-obscure event continues to shape global fashion. GUESTS Robin Givhan, senior critic-at-large for the Washington Post and author of “The Battle of Versailles: The Night American Fashion Stumbled into the Spotlight and Made History” Alva Chinn, actress and model from the 1973 "Battle of Versailles" Jay Calderin, founder and executive director of Boston Fashion Week and co-director of education at the School of Fashion Design in Boston -
The Genius Next Door: BU ecologist breaks down carbon dynamics
The MacArthur Foundation named its class of 2023 “genius grant" fellows last month. The recipients join an exclusive group of fellows who have demonstrated outstanding talent in their fields. Environmental ecologist Lucy Hutyra is one of this year's fellows. “I didn't realize I was breaking all those barriers at the time that I was breaking them,” Hutyra said. “The imposter syndrome can take over very easily, especially when you come from such a different background, and I think that the key is just kind of move past it. You do belong. You're there and you made it. Then you need to find allies and people that you can trust and that you can support, and I have been that for my friends, for my colleagues and for my students, and I'll always try to be that going forward.” Hutyra, who is also a Boston University professor, studies the impacts of urbanization on environmental carbon cycle dynamics. There are 20 MacArthur fellows across the country, and Hutyra is one of four based in the Boston area. We sit down with professor Hutyra for our Under the Radar series, “The Genius Next Door.” Listen now. -
Catch up on your New England news in 30 minutes
This week on Under the Radar's Regional News Roundtable: Gabe Amo was sworn into Congress this week, becoming the first Black person, or person of color, elected to represent Rhode Island in the U.S. Congress. Plus, controversy over a New Hampshire Republican who was forced to resign after an investigation revealed he hadn’t lived in the district that elected him for more than a year. And members of Martha’s Vineyard’s Steamship Authority attempted to cover up details of a ferry boat accident. GUESTS Arnie Arnesen, host of The Attitude with Arnie Arnesen from WNHN Ted Nesi, politics and business editor, investigative reporter for WPRI Steve Junker, managing editor of news at CAI
