Hour 1
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President Barack Obama gestures while giving his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. Vice President Joe Biden and House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio listen at rear. (AP)

Romney-Gingrich, neck and neck in Florida. Obama kicks off his own campaign. SEAL Team 6 back at work, in Somalia. Our weekly news roundtable goes behind the headlines.

Hour 2
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Snow falls on the Egyptian Theatre on Main Street during the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah on Saturday, Jan. 21, 2012. (AP)

From the Sundance Film Festival, stories of complicated relationships—and hard times.

 
RECENT
SHOWS
Jan 26, 2012
In this April 2, 2009, file photo provided by the Metropolitan Opera, veteran American bass James Morris as Wotan stands over Swedish soprano Irene Theorin as Bruennhilde during the final scene of Richard Wagner's "Die Walkuere" during the final dress rehearsal at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. (AP)

The opera “therapist,” the opera “terrorist.” Two greats. We’ll listen in with critic Peter Conrad.

 
Jan 26, 2012
In this Oct. 27, 2011 photo, a wind turbine is seen at the First Wind project in Sheffield, Vt. Vermont Gov. Peter Shumlin wants the state to get 90 percent of its energy needs from renewable sources by 2050, largely eliminating the state's reliance on fossil fuels. (AP)

American Energy. President Obama says we’re going to become an energy power again. Is he right? And how clean can the energy be?

 
Jan 25, 2012
’That's Disgusting: Unraveling the Mysteries of Repulsion’ by Rachel Herz. (W.W. Norton)

From spoiled milk to monkey brains – and worse. What revolts us and why? We’ll take on the science of disgust.

 
Jan 25, 2012
President Barack Obama delivers his State of the Union address on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Jan. 24, 2012. (AP)

The State of the Union. We’ll look at President Obama’s blueprint for the country and staying in the White House.

 
Jan 24, 2012
Apple employees demonstrate interactive features of iBooks 2 for iPad, Thursday, Jan. 19, 2012 in New York. IBooks 2 will be able to display books with videos and other interactive features. (AP)

The revolution brewing in your child’s backpack. One little computer tablet may soon replace all those big old textbooks.

 
Jan 24, 2012
In this photo released by the Iranian President's Office, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center, listens to a technician during his visit of the Natanz Uranium Enrichment Facility April 8, 2008. During a tour of the Natanz facility in ceremonies marking the second anniversary of Iran's first enrichment of uranium, Ahmadinejad announced the start of work on installing the 6,000 new centrifuges. Later in a nationally televised speech, he announced the testing of the new, more effective device. (AP)

There’s a hot debate on right now over U.S. military action against Iran’s nuclear program. High stakes. We’ll tune in.

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Nov 8, 2011
GIOVE-A, part of the satellite navigation system Galileo. (AP)

GPS tracking, the government, and you. The Supreme Court looks at whether tracking your every move equals “unreasonable search.”

 
Jan 16, 2012
Rep. Bobby Moak, D-Bogue Chitto, right, stands with relatives including Betty Ellis, mother of murdered Tammy Ellis Gatlin left, and gunshot survivor Randy Walker, both victims of recently pardoned killer David Gatlin, to call for an end to such end-of-tenure pardons by outgoing governors, Monday, Jan 9, 2012 at the Capitol in Jackson, Miss. Outgoing Gov. Haley Barbour's pardon of at least four convicted killers who worked as inmate trusties at the Governor's Mansion, including a man who was denied parole less than two weeks ago has outraged victims' relatives as well as a number of Democratic lawmakers. (AP)

Mississippi Republican Governor Haley Barbour pardoned 208 criminals – murderers on down – on his last day in office. We’ll look at what moved Haley Barbour, and the uproar now.

 
Jan 4, 2012
Ralph Waldo Emerson, circa 1857. (George Eastman House Collection)

“Self-Reliance.” Did the great Ralph Waldo Emerson get it wrong? Have we? Have we turned self-reliance into self-centeredness?

 
Jan 2, 2012
A protest inside the office of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky., Tuesday, Dec. 6, 2011, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Protesters are demanding that the lawmakers represent the "99 percent" and not just the corporate lobbyist and and the richest. (AP)

How to fix American politics. Money out, people, up, says Harvard’s Lawrence Lessig.

 
Dec 15, 2011
(Paulbence/Flickr)

From time travel to the Amazon to Catherine the Great to new Murakami, we’ll look at the best books of 2011.

 
Dec 2, 2011
A farmer pours olives from a bucket she picked before sorting out the leaves during the harvest, Monday, Sept. 27, 2010. A staple of many farmers around the world, olives are often used to make olive oil. (AP)

“Extra virginity.” We’ll look at the sublime and scandalous world of olive oil.

 
On Point Blog
On Point Blog
My Kodak Moment
Friday, January 20, 2012

The photo won that contest, and then a national one as well. Soon, Diane’s picture popped up in photo frames and on packages of Kodak film.

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1 Comment
 
Update: Congress Reacts To SOPA Protest
Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Congressional support for the Stop Online Piracy Act is flagging, as web giants Google and Wikipedia and numerous other websites, joined an internet-based protest of the proposed legislation today.

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2 Comments
 
The Range Of On Point
Friday, January 6, 2012

We love the endless variety of stories we get to pursue. Here’s just a piece of the week ahead:

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7 Comments
 
Jay-Z, Rihanna, Gnarls Barkley… and Tom
Wednesday, December 21, 2011

First Radiohead live on the Colbert Report, now mashup artist Titus Jones has sampled Tom Ashbrook from a 2009 On Point show on his new album Culture Shock. Our Tom in there along with Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, and Beyonce. Woot! Woot!

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North Korea, On Point
Monday, December 19, 2011

Over the years, we’ve done numerous shows on North Korea. Last year, we examined life inside the Hermit Kingdom, as the reclusive nation is known, and took the pulse of the country amidst one of its numerous crises with the outside world.

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