|
December 1999 Shows
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER
1ST
Extension 720 takes the night off and yields the floor to Northwestern
University basketball.
THURSDAY DECEMBER
2ND
ANTIDISESTABLISHMENTARIANISM AND ALL THAT
We poke around in the tenebrous corners of the English language as our
expert panel, including Mike Agnes of Webster's and Alan Metcalf author
of,  The
World In So Many Words look at words extraordinary, foreign, unusual
and new. A lively debate is sure to ensue as we consider what's in the
language, how it got there and, in typical Extension 720 style, if it
should even be there at all.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 3RD
GETTING HITCHED IN HARARE?
Well, if you did get Hitched in Harare there is a slim chance that your
wedding photos may have found their way into the new book produced by
tonight's distinguished guests, acclaimed photographers Carol Beckwith
and Angela Fisher. Their book  African
Ceremonies is a visually staggering two-volume exploration of traditional
African rites and rituals. Spanning the continent, they document scores
of ceremonies including baby namings, initiations, weddings, harvest blessings,
coronations, healing exorcisms, and funerals. Tune in as we illuminate
the fascinating rituals and many cultures of a much misunderstood continent
tonight on Extension 720.
MONDAY DECEMBER 6TH
ALEXANDRIAN REVELS
We won't reveal exactly how we managed to entice Barbara Gaines, Artistic
Director of the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, away from the company's magnificent
new home on Navy Pier, but it wasn't easy. Barbara joins us to talk about
the challenges of staging Shakespeare and she brings along several members
of this year's company who will perform scenes from the current production
of "Antony and Cleopatra" and other Shakespearean favorites. Now, will
Milt say "I must from this enchanting queen break off" when we go to commercials
or will our talented panel find something more asp ..er I mean apt?
TUESDAY DECEMBER
7TH
A REPORTERS STORY
Tonight we leave the watercooler and word processor behind, gather Dictaphone,
notepad and pencil and head down to the streets as we talk to veteran
reporters who have spent their careers pounding the sidewalks for news.
In the air conditioned climes of the modern newspaper, even in the not
so modern neo-gothic halls of the mighty Trib, its easy to forget the
foot soldiers upon whom gathering organization depends. Hold the front
page as we discuss the reporters art with a press pack of Chicago's finest,
tonight on Extension 720
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER
8TH
HOW TO PLAY THE STOCK MARKET
It has been up and down and up again. And by the time you read this it
may be down yet once again. What are the overall trends in equities? Will
the tech stocks remain strong? What do the experts know that you don't?
We will have three such investment experts with us tonight. Plan to take
notes!
THURSDAY DECEMBER
9TH
STAND BY YOUR MAN (AND FOR THE SENATE)
Whatever your view of her ancestry, taste in sporting headgear or loyalty
to her wayward mate, Hilary Clinton is without a doubt one of America's
most intriguing political and personal figures. Understanding such a protean
personality is the work of a keen analyst of character and who better
for such a task than tonight's guest Gail Sheehy. Sheehy author of the
new book  Hillary's
Choice, has written numerous character studies of national and world
figures, including Bob and Elizabeth Dole, George Bush, Mikhail Gorbachev,
Margaret Thatcher, Saddam Hussein, Newt Gingrich, and Gary Hart. So tune
in tonight as Milt and Sheehy seek the woman behind the woman we think
we know.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 10TH
IT'S THE ID STUPID! (OR THE STUPID ID)
In a lecture on American Poetry of the seventies the speaker referred
to the subconscious as being rather like Ireland - somewhere everyone
referred to but where no one had actually been. Tonight's guest David
Weiner has a much less romantic opinion of the dark shapes lurking beneath
the conscious mind. Drawing on evolutionary psychology theories, imaginary
meetings with Sigmund Freud and a fictitious advertising agency, Weiner
seeks to explain why apparently normal people sometimes behave in a totally
irrational manner. In his new book,
 Battling
the Inner Dummy, Weiner brings into play Freud's speculation that
the primitive element of our subconscious, the "id" causes people to commit
foolish, irrational and even horrendous acts. Find out more about how
to reign in your id (aka Inner Dummy) tonight on Extension 720.
MONDAY DECEMBER 13TH
AN AMERICAN DYNSATY?
The word "power" in American public life has perhaps no better correlate
than the name Kennedy. Tonight's show attempts to penetrate the miasma
of cliche, hagiography, private tragedy and public scandal in an evaluation
of the Kennedy's role and legacy. Expert guests in a discussion of America's
first family of controversy tonight on Extension 720
TUESDAY DECEMBER
14TH
(Following a 7pm Basketball Game)
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO CABBIES
Few people have stories to tell like tonight's panelist Alan Freedman.Freedman,
a Chicago cabby for almost five decades, has literally seen it all, from
the gangster era to the era of street gangs. A plain-spoken raconteur,
Freedman has seen some things that the rest of us can only dream about
and some things that we can't even imagine. Alan Freedman shares his colorful
stories, along with other embers of his profession, tonight on Extension
720.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER
15TH
THE WINTER BOOK REVIEW: A BIOGRAPHY SPECIAL
Another 18 inches of snow? Imminent millennial catastrophe? Clearly the
best strategy for coping with it all is to draw the curtains, stoke up
the fire and settle down with a really good book. Tonight our regular
panel of ace reviewers Alan Gitleson, Penelope Mesic and Dan Tucker will
weigh the merits of a selection of the season's best new hardcovers. For
this special program the books reviewed are all biographical works covering
subjects as diverse as President Eisenhower and the Marquis de Sade.
THURSDAY DECEMBER
16TH
THE TECHNOLOGICAL SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME
If it is likely to click, whir, email, irradiate or genetically modify
its way into our lives in the coming years tonight1s panel will surely
know about it. Join Milt and guests as they contemplate the technological
wonders to come in the years ahead.
FRIDAY DECEMBER 17TH
DENDRITES IN DIAPERS
Jeremy Bentham may have been right that a newborn infant has less wit
than a fully grown dog - but they catch up fast, very fast. Many a parent
has doubtless asked of the gurgling and cooing individual in the cradle,
what's going on in there?. Tonight on Extension 720 our expert panel considers
the answer as it is to be found in the developing infant brain. What they
know and when will be discussed with the minimum of baby talk tonight
on Extension 720.
MONDAY DECEMBER 20TH
A BOMB FOR EVERYONE?
In the bloodbath following partition millions of Indians and Pakistanis
were slaughtered in an ethnic conflict of truly terrible proportions.
As you read this schedule, war between the two nations still smolders
in the frigid peaks of Kasmir. It is therefore a matter of some concern
that both nations were recently able to test Nuclear weapons secretly
acquired in the face of American opposition. With the ending of the Cold
War it seems that the world has entered a period of instability where
the familiar rules of bipolar deterrence no longer apply. Now in many
conflicts there is a nuclear option. Tonight on Extension 720 we welcome
an expert panel, including George Perkovich author of  India's
Nuclear Bomb, in a troubling discussion of small wars and larger bombs.
TUESDAY DECEMBER
21st
OPEN LINES
Tonight our listeners are our only guests. We will go to the phones at
9:10 PM to exchange reflections and greetings with friends from near and
far. As Ronald Reagan might have asked: Are you better off now than you
were a year ago?
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER
22
With only a few shopping days left to Christmas, we're still wrapping
up tonight's show.
THURSDAY NOVEMBER
23rd
PRERECORDED INTERVIEWS
Among the items we may play this evening are an interview with the man
who found Malloy's body on Everest, The Memoirs of a black child growing
up in Nazi Germany and one or two classic interviews from earlier years.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER
24TH
GRACE NOTES
If you are tired of muzac, endless loops of White Christmas, and hold
music that plays a single bar of Jingle Bells ad infinitum then tonight's
prerecorded show will provide welcome relief. In the company of a suitably
informed panel we will play some of the great choral and orchestral Christmas
music of the baroque and classical periods. Among the great composers
to be represented are: Bach, Hayden, Handel, Vivaldi and Palestrina.
MONDAY DECEMBER 27th
THE YEAR THAT WAS
Tonight, our annual review of the news that will be remembered as history.
We are joined by some of our veteran commentators and analysts.
TUESDAY DECEMBER
28TH
THE BEST OF THE 90's
On the pre-prepenultimate day of the decade we look back on some of the
highlights of Extension 720 in the nineties. Excerpts of Interviews with
Margaret Thatcher, Salman Rushdie, Al Gore and many others tonight on
Extension 720.
WEDNESDAY DECEMBER
29TH
Extension 720 is preempted by the tall scholars of the Northwestern University
basketball team.
THURSDAY DECEMBER
30TH
THE YEAR ON EXTENSION 720
It's been a busy year on Extension 720. We've paid a final visit to the
moon with Eugene Cernan, joined the war on Kosovo with Henry Kissinger
and from the front line with the BBC, talked politics with George Stephanopolous,
Dan Quayle, Richard Gebhardt and Bob Woodward, heard Presidents and the
Supreme court in action and listened to Gospel, Jazz and the sublime music
of Isaac Stern and Rene Flemming. We're going to do our best to cram a
quart into a pint pot and distill the best of the best into a two hour
review of 1999 tonight on Extension 720
FRIDAY DECEMBER 31st
Whether cataclysm or an anticlimax WGN's award winning news department
will have the latest on the Y2K phenomenon as Extension 720 is preempted
by a special news report.
Archive of previous show topics:
Sweet Home Chicago
Site
Map
| 
