February
2005 Shows
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TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 1ST
LIFE IN THE NFL
With the Super Bowl rapidly approaching, Extension 720 welcomes
three former Chicago Bears to discuss life on and off the gridiron.
Our guests will be DAN HAMPTON, a member of the Pro Football Hall
of Fame and a defensive lineman for the Bears from 1979 to 1990,
and EMERY MOOREHEAD, tight end for the Bears from 1980 to 1988,
and GLEN KOZLOWSKI, wide receiver and captain of special teams
for the Bears from 1986 to 1992.
WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 2ND
THE STATE OF THE UNION
Tonight, President Bush reports to a joint session of Congress
to give his State of the Union Address. After the conclusion of
the 7:00 Northwestern University basketball game, Extension 720
will have immediate analysis of the address and its implications
with a panel of political experts: JOE MORRIS, chairman of the
United Republican Fund of Illinois, DICK CICCONE, former political
and managing editor of the Chicago Tribune, and ERIC
ZORN, columnist and blogger for the Chicago Tribune.
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 3RD
TALKING AMERICAN
Tonight, Extension 720 examines the varieties and proclivities
of American English with noted author and journalist ROBERT MACNEIL.
From pervasive Southern California slang to the ever-expanding
Southern accent to the class-separated accents of Boston, MacNeil
and his co-author William Cran describe the differences and similarities
in language across these United States in their new book 
Do
You Speak American?.
FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 4TH
A NIGHT WITH OUR LISTENERS
Tonight, we do an open line to assess our listeners’ opinions
on the news from at home and abroad. Be sure to call early to
voice your opinions on the Iraqi elections, the State of the Union
Address, Bush’s plan to overhaul Social Security, and much,
much more.
MONDAY,
FEBRUARY 7TH
CHINA, INCORPORATED
Approximately 1.3 billion people live in China, people who are
not only consumers but workers in an increasingly powerful economy.
What is the future for China’s hybrid capitalist-communist
economy? Will their growing industrial and manufacturing strength
eventually cause the decline of America’s economy as we
know it? Tonight, we will go inside this Asian tiger with TED
FISHMAN, author of the new book 
China,
Inc.: How the Rise of the Next Superpower Challenges America and
the World, LYRIC HUGHES, noted global economist and the
publisher of ChinaOnline,
an Internet news service that provides business and economic news
on China, and MIMI YANG, a native of China, professor of modern
languages at Carthage College and lecturer at their Clausen Center
for World Business.
TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 8TH
RECONSIDERING THE REVOLUTIONARY WAR
In America, we usually view the Revolutionary War as a heroic
struggle of colonists to free themselves from the tyrannies and
oppressions of the British Empire. Tonight, however, we reconsider
the founding of America with renowned historian and biographer
STANLEY WEINTRAUB whose latest book—
Iron
Tears: America's Battle for Freedom, Britain's Quagmire: 1776-1783—recounts
the war as not only America’s triumph, but also as Great
Britain’s great military folly.
WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 9TH
WHAT’S NEW IN ADVERTISING?
Just a few days ago, millions of Americans watched the Super Bowl—many
of them not for the game, but for the debut of the highly touted
and expensive commercials. What new trends in advertising did
the ad world’s most important night signal? And how are
advertising firms coping with the age of the Internet? And is
advertising growing more vulgar and stupid? All these questions
will be addressed tonight after the 7:00 Northwestern Basketball
game as we explore the state of the advertising industry. Our
panel of ad experts will be: LEWIS LAZARE, advertising columnist
at the Chicago Sun-Times, KEVIN LYNCH, partner and writer
at Hadrian's Wall, a boutique advertising firm in Chicago, and
DAVID LOEW, VP Creative Director at Young and Rubicam.
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 10TH
BLACK CHICAGO
In honor of Black History Month, Extension 720 tonight
examines the history of blacks in Chicago. From the post-Civil
War era to the Great Migration to today, we will be examining
all aspects of the history of African Americans in the Second
City. Our guests include JOHN FOUNTAIN, professor of journalism
at the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, former Chicago
correspondent for the New York Times, and author of 
True
Vine: A Young Black Man's Journey of Faith, Hope and Clarity,
and CHRISTOPHER REED, professor of history at Roosevelt University
and author of the forthcoming book 
Black
Chicago's First Century, Volume 1, 1833-1900.
FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 11TH
THE SURGEON'S LIFE
Tonight, Extension 720 goes under the knife as we welcome
three prestigious Chicago surgeons to discuss the life of a surgical
resident and what really happens in an operating room. Our guests
will be neurosurgeon DR. ROBERT KAZAN, cardiovascular surgeon
DR. DAVID CALANDRA, and DR. MICHAEL COLLINS, an orthopedic surgeon
and author of the new book 
Hot
Lights, Cold Steel: Life, Death and Sleepless Nights in a Surgeon's
First Years.
MONDAY,
FEBRUARY 14TH
THE HISTORY OF LOVE
Tonight, after the 7:00 Northwestern basketball game,
Extension 720 examines the history of love in western civilization.
From courtly love to love at court, we will discuss love through
the ages, as well as read some accounts of how our European forbearers
fell in love. Our guests will be BARBARA NEWMAN, professor of
English at Northwestern University, and ROBERT BUCHOLZ, professor
of history at Loyola University Chicago.
TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 15TH
THE LIFE OF JOHN JAMES AUDUBON
Extension 720 is pleased to welcome Pulitzer Prize-winning author
RICHARD RHODES back to our studios, this time to discuss his newest
book 
John
James Audubon: The Making of an American. In writing
the first major biography of Audubon in forty years, Rhodes illuminates
many details about the famed naturalist’s personal life,
from his birth as an illegitimate child in France to his eventual
fame as “The American Woodsman.” Tune in tonight to
hear this fascinating tale from one of the best working writers.
WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 16TH
NUTRITION AND WELLNESS
One of the maxims of La Rochefoucauld states that “To safeguard
one’s health at the cost of too strict a diet is a tiresome
illness indeed.” Many Americans, however, seem to have taken
this too much to heart, and an abundance of adiposity has been
the unfortunate result. The federal government, just last month,
responded by issuing a far more strict set of dietary guidelines.
Tonight, we will be discussing these new recommendations and the
latest trends in nutrition and wellness with our two resident
experts: MARY ABBOTT HESS, president of Hess and Hunt Nutrition
Communications and a former head of the American Dietetic Association,
and ROBERT KUSHNER, professor at Northwestern University’s
Feinberg School of Medicine and head of the Wellness Institute
at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 17TH
SCIENCE AND THE HUMAN SPIRIT
What is the relationship between philosophy and science? And how
does the discovery of the universe aid the discovery of ourselves?
We will be exploring these fundamental questions tonight as we
welcome theoretical physicist and award-winning novelist ALAN
LIGHTMAN to discuss his latest book 
A
Sense of the Mysterious: Science and the Human Spirit.
FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 18TH
THE NEW CARS
For the past few months, the major car companies have been unveiling
the 2006 models at auto shows around the country. If you’ve
been to the Chicago Auto Show and want the experts’ opinions,
tune into Extension 720 tonight as we welcome RICK POPELY of the
Chicago Tribune and JOE WIESENFELDER of Cars.com.
They will be on hand to evaluate the aesthetic and engineering
advances currently on display at McCormick Place.
MONDAY,
FEBRUARY 21ST
OUR MANIC CONSUMER CULTURE
American culture stresses accumulation over actualization, and
thus it is no surprise that our constant pursuit of wealth and
material goods leaves us emotionally unfulfilled. Our need for
better clothes, bigger cars, larger homes and perfect bodies does
not merely damage ourselves, but America as a whole. But why is
America uniquely fixated on consumer culture? And what can we
do to change this destructive pattern? Tonight, PETER WHYBROW,
professor of psychiatry and bio-behavioral science at UCLA, will
address these questions and more. His latest book—
American
Mania: When More Is Not Enough—tackles the problem
of consumerism head on and prescribes nothing short of a complete
reevaluation of the American Dream as the cure for our unique
mania.
TUESDAY,
FEBRUARY 22ND
SHAKESPEARE’S COMEDIES
Extension 720 continues its celebration of Shakespeare and the
release of the 
The
Complete Arkangel Shakespeare with a look at the Swan
of Avon’s greatest comedies. Our two theatre experts NICK
RUDALL of the University of Chicago and CINDY GOLD of Northwestern
University select and dissect scenes from Much Ado About Nothing,
A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Tempest,
Twelfth Night and other “comedic” works of
the Bard.
WEDNESDAY,
FEBRUARY 23RD
A NIGHT AT SYMPHONY HALL
After the 7:00 Northwestern basketball game, join Extension
720 as we celebrate one of Chicago's great cultural institutions:
the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Our guests include DEBORAH CARD,
president of the CSO, principal bass JOE GUASTAFESTE, assistant
principal bassoon BILL BUCHMAN, and principal oboe MICHAEL HENOCH,
who will discuss the orchestral life as well as play highlights
from the current and upcoming seasons.
THURSDAY,
FEBRUARY 24TH
A LOOK AT PRISON LIFE
Dwight Eisenhower once remarked: “If you want total security,
go to prison. There you're fed, clothed, given medical care and
so on. The only thing lacking . . .is freedom.” Though in
theory this may be true, modern prisons are filled with violence
and even murder. Tonight we will go inside the prison walls to
discover what life is like for prisoners and their keepers. Our
guests will be JAMES BRUTON, former warden at the Minnesota Correctional
Facility-Oak Park and author of the new book 
The
Big House: Life inside a Supermax Security Prison, and
JW FAIRMAN, former executive director of the Cook County Department
of Corrections.
FRIDAY,
FEBRUARY 25TH
THE MILTIES
The 77th Annual Academy Awards are this Sunday, but before the
Oscars are given out, the second most important award in the film
business will be given out tonight—the Miltie. Will our
experts agree with the Academy and choose Ray, Finding
Neverland, Sideways, Million Dollar Baby
or The Aviator as the best film? Or will they choose
one of the many great films—such as Eternal Sunshine
of the Spotless Mind or Hotel Rwanda—that
were unjustly ignored. Tune in to hear what GENE PHILLIPS and
PENELOPE MESIC have to say about the best films of 2004.
MONDAY,
FEBRUARY 28TH
THE DIPLOMATIC LIFE
The incomparable Peter Ustinov once wrote “A diplomat these
days is nothing but a head-waiter who’s allowed to sit down
occasionally.” The life of a diplomat is indeed a blend
of propriety and politics, a delicate balance that is successfully
achieved by a select few. Tonight, we will be talking with three
consuls general based in Chicago about their travels throughout
the world and what it is like to serve their countries abroad.
Among our guests will be ANDREW SEETON, consul general for Great
Britain, ELISABETH KEHRER, consul general for Austria, and ROBERT
deLEEUW, consul general for the Netherlands.
Archive
of previous show topics:
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1999
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2001
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2002
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2003
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2005
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