Episodes

  • 20 years after its last Child Alert in Darfur, UNICEF is sounding the alarm again
    May 1 2026

    How Sudan became the world's forgotten conflict.

    PLUS:

    • The moment Buffalo Sabres fans stepped up to sing the Canadian national anthem
    • More countries look to move off fossil fuels as the Iran war squeezes fuel supplies
    • In his 19th season with the Stratford Festival Tom McCamus brings two iconic characters to the stage
    • Celebrated operatic tenor Russell Thomas reflects on unrequited love as he returns to the COC
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz.
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    54 mins
  • How the Strait of Hormuz shapes everything from the cost of groceries to the availability of airplane tickets
    Apr 24 2026

    How a tiny dot on the map came to have an outsized influence on the world.

    PLUS:

    • The long-awaited Michael Jackson biopic is here. Should you watch it?
    • Pope Francis helped convert a Popemobile into a mobile clinic for Gazan children. A year after his death, it still can't get in
    • Namesake documents a First Nation’s effort to get a B.C. city to address its colonial roots
    • What King Charles can learn from Queen Elizabeth’s visits with 12 U.S. Presidents
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz.
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    54 mins
  • How ‘surveillance pricing’ uses our personal data to charge us more
    Apr 17 2026

    As we buy more and more things online, companies are using personal data to offer different prices to different people with the goal of finding the maximum price you will pay at that moment.


    PLUS:

    • What’s behind the Trump administration’s feud with the Pope?
    • The case for putting Mariah Carey in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    • Can community ownership decommodify real estate?
    • Canadian actor Sugith Varughese's one-man play about how he came to play a doctor 26 times
    • Remembering the Kroftt brothers’ weird, trippy vision for kids TV
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz.
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    54 mins
  • For All Mankind's alternate space race reality and our collective fascination with the moon
    Apr 10 2026

    As the crew of Artemis II readjust to Earth's orbit, two of For All Mankind's creators reflect on the excitement of the moment and the parallels to their hit show.

    PLUS:

    Why one writer thinks most journalists are taking too soft an approach to the U.S. president's hard rhetoric.

    The star of Netflix hit 'XO, Kitty' talks about growing up alongside her character.

    AI companies want us to believe their systems are making ethical decisions when they're not, reminds a philosopher of technology.

    Tanya Tagaq's new album takes aim at war, colonialism, and environmental destruction.

    Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz.

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    54 mins
  • Why pre-internet conspiracy theories about the moon landing are so hard to shake
    Apr 3 2026

    Moon landing conspiracy theories pre-date AI slop by half-a-century. The curator of the Smithsonian's Apollo Collection explains why they endure.


    PLUS:

    • After five weeks of war, Trump might be further from victory with Iran than when he started
    • A new documentary reveals the harrowing lives of independent Russian journalists in the lead up to the war in Ukraine
    • How countertenor Iestyn Davies uncovered a rare vocal talent and found his calling
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz.
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    54 mins
  • If AI music isn’t human, can it still count as Canadian content?
    Mar 27 2026

    How AI music threatens CanCon regulations.


    PLUS:

    • Mass displacement in Lebanon
    • RCMP spying on Indigenous groups
    • Freshwater fish species at risk
    • No Kings protests in Minnesota
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly news quiz.
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    54 mins
  • KPop Demon Hunters creator Maggie Kang celebrates her recent Oscars win
    Mar 20 2026

    PLUS:

    • Jared Kushner negotiates with Iran while making billions from Iran’s enemies
    • Amidst tariff fears, the Port of Saint John emerges as a gateway for shipping Canadian goods
    • Pioneering music of overlooked gay porn composers gets new life on Dark Entries Records
    • After 16 years in power, Hungary’s Viktor Orbán faces a challenge to his authoritarian rule
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz.
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    54 mins
  • How strikes on Tehran's oil facilities sparked an environmental disaster that could last for years
    Mar 13 2026

    PLUS:

    • The co-writer of KPop Demon Hunters' smash hit Golden
    • The case for nationalized, public AI in Canada
    • NFB documentary My Knitting Circle shows how the craft can create a community
    • Oscar-nominated doc pays tribute to a journalist who spent his life to covering conflict
    • Riffed from the Headlines, our weekly musical news quiz
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    54 mins