Press Play with Madeleine Brand

KCRW

Latest episode

LACMA’s decades-in-the-making $724 million wing finally opens
16/04/2026 | 52 mins.
Plus, Yale confirms higher education is in crisis and says the blame lies mainly with…elite universities like Yale, our weekly film reviews, and Evan Kleiman on how tofu can be creamy.
AI is replacing coders, but some coders welcome the change
16/04/2026 | 51 mins.
Plus, how a culture on Capitol Hill may have enabled Eric Swalwell’s alleged crimes and sexual misconduct, a split in the U.S. Catholic Church between more progressive leaders and their flock, and Tax Day’s winners and losers.
‘LIVE from…’ London? Saturday Night Live expands to the UK
14/04/2026 | 52 mins.
Plus, labor unions in LA’s public schools unite to win big salary increases, layoffs and sluggish sales in the video game industry, and how a chimpanzee civil war makes humans look good by comparison.
Swalwell’s stunning exit adds more chaos to CA governor race
14/04/2026 | 51 mins.
Plus, who will succeed Eric Swalwell after he resigns from Congress, how a blockade of the Strait of Hormuz would work, and a love letter to the music of the Texas-Mexico border.
Remembering “Swedish Death Cleaning” guru Margareta Magnusson
09/04/2026 | 53 mins.
Plus, the Iran War’s economic impact will last for a while, a rave review for a new Steven Soderbergh film called The Christophers, and Evan Kleiman’s elegy for peas.