Mike Stephen talks with Geoff Smith, executive director of the Institute for Housing Studies at DePaul University, about the state of rental housing in Cook County, connects with John O’Rourke, station manager at WELT-LP (95.7) in Fort Wayne, to learn about that station’s community programming, and connects with Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) to learn about the Secret History of Chicago organ player Deacon Jones. The local music this week is powered by soul-shakin’ blues powerhouse Curio. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 8 years ago Tagged

Mike Stephen wonders about video games these days and then chats with Democratic nominee for Cook County Assessor Fritz Kaegi on how he plans to remove politics from influencing the Assessor’s Office, talks to Olatunji Oboi Reed, founder of Equiticity, about Car2Go’s car sharing pilot that excludes of the south and west sides of Chicago, and calls over to Rome to check in with the editor of Crux, John Allen Jr, about the mercy of Pope Francis. The local music this week is powered by The Claudettes. To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 8 years ago Tagged

Mike Stephen celebrates the 600th edition of the show by taking the production on the road to The Friendly Tap in Berwyn!  Youth leaders from VOYCE drop by to discuss combatting local educational inequities, Plastic Crimewave (aka Steve Krakow) gives us the Secret History of Chicago blues rocker Cash McCall, and Chicagoland NASA Solar System Ambassador Mark Benson gets us fired up about all things space-related.  Also Mike’s dad, Mike Stephen, Sr., jumps on the mic to chat about a life of activism.  The live local music for the show is brought to you by The Black Oil Brothers! To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 8 years ago Tagged

Mike Stephen talks brew and politics with: OTL Winter Tavern Tour #5: Jacqueline’s, and Mick Dumpke of ProPublica Illinois & Scott Kennedy of IL Election Data as part of OTL’s Primary Prep Spectacular! This week’s local music is provided by Pixel Grip.  To subscribe to the OTL podcast, please visit our iTunes page or RSS feed.

Posted 8 years ago Tagged