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KBCS Programs Honoring Martin Luther King, Jr.

January 20, 2025 - 2:50 am

Black and white image of Martin Luther King, Jr. with hands folded near profile "Martin Luther King" by seatonsnet is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0

Today on this observed day of civil rights leader, Martin Luther King Jr, KBCS is presenting feature programs for our public affairs, information and educational programming from 4am to 1pm, with 2 special music programs for the evening Roots Rock + Soul. 

Thank you for all your support to 91.3FM KBCS HD-1, listener supported community radio.  Your contributions help keep KBCS going strong and providing more programs and resources to our listening community.  Please tune in today for insightful and educational programming honoring one of America’s most loved and noted freedom fighters, civil rights activist and human rights advocate, Martin Luther King Jr.

4am – Sojourner Truth – Special episode honoring MLK with readings by Residents of the High Desert from the Beyond Vietnam speeches.  Sojourner Truth Podcast

5am – I See U – MLK Day- Seeing (Me) Is Believing with author Tami Charles – When Tami Charles’ son was in kindergarten, he asked her: “If Dr. King was such a good guy who wanted all these wonderful things for everyone, Mommy, why did the bad guys hurt him?” She knew then that she would need some tools to talk about racism to a young child. So, the former New Jersey school teacher, penned an award-winning children’s book to help her navigate through the intense conversations with her son – like THE TALK, about how Black children must learn how to interact with the police to make sure they survive.

6am – Civics 101 – How Should We Teach Civics? –  Civics and social studies education are getting a lot of attention these days. How do we teach about our democracy?

7am – Alternative Radio – Sheldon Wolin – The Inversion of Totalitarianism

8am – Democracy Now – Martin Luther King Special featuring – As Donald Trump returns to office we will air highlights from protests ahead of the inauguration as well as from the 2025 Inaugural Peace Ball in Washington D.C. where Angela Davis and Alice Walker are among the scheduled speakers. We will also hear Dr. Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. in his own words to mark the federal holiday.

9am – King Stories: (Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.) – King Stories  is a one hour documentary of captivating stories told by close friends and associates of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Host Julian Bond, along with insiders—Ralph Abernathy, David Garrow, Dick Gregory, Mark Lane and Larry Williams—share rarely documented stories about the personal and private sides of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Notably one of the most significant Americans in the 20th Century, Dr. King is an iconic figure. But who was the man? King Stories offers snapshots into his personality and character. We begin with Dr. King’s precocious teenage years followed by close-ups of behind the scenes accounts of day-to-day life on the road marching and protesting for American black civil rights. We hear a moving account of Dr. King’s last conversation just minutes before he was struck down by a sniper’s bullet, and the disclosures of the investigation into his murder.

10am – 35th US President – John F Kennedy’s Inaugural Speech from 1961

10:15am – Martin Luther King, Jr’s – “I Have A Dream” Speech

10:30 – Peace Talks Radio: Martin Luther King Jr.’s Path To Nonviolence

Martin Luther King Jr.’s journey to a philosophy of nonviolence and his lasting legacy as a peace proponent is recalled in interviews with his daughter, Yolanda King, and one of King’s top colleagues in the civil rights movement, Dr. Dorothy Cotton. This program is also available in a 59:00 version available at PRX.

11am – King’s Last March – Although it was one of the most challenging and controversial chapters of his career, the final year of King’s life has not been the focus of significant public attention. This dramatic and illuminating documentary uses a rich mix of archival tape, oral histories and contemporary interviews to paint a vivid picture of what may have been the most difficult year of Dr. King’s life.

12 noon – Philosophy Talk – Disinformation and the Future of Democracy

Anti-vaxxers, Q-Anon devotees, 9/11 truthers — should people this deluded really be allowed to report the news or hold elected office?

The 2020 election and startling events that followed show that the US is as polarized as ever. Not only is there fundamental disagreement over values and goals, but people can’t seem to agree on the most basic, easily verifiable facts, like who actually won. With so many seemingly living in an alternative reality, how do we continue the business of democracy together? Should we adopt paternalistic policies towards fellow citizens who are so profoundly divorced from truth? And does our current plight suggest that the project of liberal democracy is failing? The Philosophers stay informed about their guest, attorney and political analyst Dean Johnson, co-host of KALW’s “Your Legal Rights.”

1pm – Roots Rock + Soul with Iaan – KBCS Music Director, Iaan Hughes brings to the airwaves select cuts for today.  Tune in to hear some of the choice sounds from the KBCS music library and our insightful and creative Music Director.

5pm – Roots Rock + Soul – Evening Mix – Greg presents 2 feature programs to share for the evening:

1963: A Man’s Dream, A Nation’s Nightmare – An hour-long jazz special: It was a year of raised hopes and devastating tragedy, and the world of jazz continued to reflect both the growing unease and the youthful vitality of a nation in transition. We’ll hear the music of John Coltrane, Jackie McLean, Eric Dolphy, and others.

Blues and Beyond: Songs and Stories For MLK Day: “Blues In The Mississippi Night” – Music and stories for MLK Day, including the secret session “Blues In The Mississippi Night”

In this hour of The Blues & Beyond, songs and stories that connect with the spirit of the Martin Luther King Day holiday. We’ll hear from Sam Cooke, The Neville Brothers, and Johnny Copeland, as well as his daughter Shemekia Copeland, and from B. B. King, and others, including Big Bill Broonzy. We’ll hear some of Broonzy’s remarkable 1947 talking and singing session with Memphis Slim and John Lee “Sonny Boy” Williamson, recorded by Alan Lomax, but not issued until many years later, and even then with their names initially disguised – because it just wasn’t safe for them otherwise. The session is known as “Blues In The Mississippi Night,” and I’ll talk with Bob Riesman who wrote the breakthrough biography of Big Bill Broonzy in 2011 about it as well.

Thank you for joining 91.3FM KBCS HD-1 for this special day to honor and remember Martin Luther King, Jr.

Black and white image of Martin Luther King, Jr. with hands folded near profile

“Martin Luther King” by seatonsnet is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0