Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Press Play with Madeleine Brand

Host Madeleine Brand looks at news, culture and emerging trends through the lens of Los Angeles.

rss_feed RSS Feed

Most Recent Episode

Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Angry voters. Corrupt leaders. Shakespeare’s ‘Coriolanus’ feels like a modern tragedy

Plus, President Trump’s former personal attorney is up for confirmation as attorney general. And Israel has lost the Democratic Party. Even centrist Rahm Emanuel questions unconditional U.S. support.

00:49:42
Jul 14, 2026 4:30 PM
Clean

More Episodes

Press Play with Madeleine Brand
What happens when a quarter of Congress is over 70

Plus, a big federal housing bill quietly became law despite the president’s objections, the Sklar Brothers handicap this week’s World Cup semifinals, and summer music courtesy of our new DJ Olive Kimoto.

00:49:58
Jul 13, 2026 2:57 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why libraries still matter as LA Central Library turns 100

Plus, writer Susan Orlean on her critically acclaimed, bestselling love letter to libraries, our weekend film reviews, and Apple TV’s Widow’s Bay surprises with 19 Emmy nominations.

00:50:40
Jul 9, 2026 3:20 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Why immigration arrests are surging again

Plus, how 19th century immigration backlash led to the antisemitic trope of the Jewish arsonist, a documentary on the dangers of the Pacific Coast Highway, and Evan Kleiman’s chicken parmesan recs.

00:49:31
Jul 8, 2026 3:53 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
AI ‘actor’ Tilly Norwood. Marketing gag, or existential threat?

Plus, a real actor named John Early stars as a woman in Maddie’s Secret. And the family that ran Cafe Gratitude has moved out of California, turned their back on veganism, and is embracing MAHA.

00:49:39
Jul 7, 2026 4:17 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
White House mounts fierce push to reverse soccer star’s red card

Plus, President Trump pressures the House to pass a voting bill, the administration withholds federal aid to LA’s homeless housing organizations, and KCRW DJ John Tejada’s song of the summer.

00:50:19
Jul 6, 2026 3:40 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Fireworks are illegal in LA. Why are they still everywhere?

Plus, Venezuela's natural disaster is exacerbated by a human one, our weekend film reviews including the latest Minions movie, and the U.S. survives and advances in the World Cup.

00:49:04
Jul 2, 2026 2:55 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘A little bit of freedom’ as CA moves death row prisoners out of isolation

Plus, a hard-fought housing bill goes into effect today. The goal is to lower housing costs by building more homes near transit stops. And Evan Kleiman celebrates the Fourth of July…and the hot dog.

00:50:14
Jul 1, 2026 3:40 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
State Sen. Scott Wiener run out of a trans march over Gaza stance

Activists screamed insults at him and accused him and “Zionist handlers” of supporting genocide. Plus, big Supreme Court decisions on birthright citizenship, trans athletes, and campaign finance - and this summer’s best TV.

00:49:20
Jun 30, 2026 2:57 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
How legendary producer Ariana Morgenstern shaped KCRW’s sound

Plus, the Supreme Court’s dramatic expansion of presidential power, the Democratic infighting as California voters decide whether to tax billionaires, and a celebration of Mel Brooks as he turns 100.

00:55:42
Jun 29, 2026 4:39 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Supreme Court puts thousands of Haitians at risk for deportation

Plus, the Court’s ruling against a Rastafari man who sued prison officials for shaving his head has again turned Black hair into a political flashpoint, our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman loves tiki drinks.

00:49:55
Jun 25, 2026 2:56 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, and sports’ most intense rivalry

Plus, the LAPD shooting of a dog renews questions about police shootings. And it’s not your imagination - fruit is a lot sweeter these days. It’s on purpose.

00:50:02
Jun 24, 2026 2:26 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Brexit begets ‘Bregret’: 10 years on, Brits feel buyer’s remorse

Plus, Congo’s soccer team is looking good both on and off the field, how Uber and Lyft use dynamic pricing in all sorts of ways to make you pay more, and the rise of the online apartment scout.

00:50:02
Jun 23, 2026 3:57 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
What’s in Boyle Heights fire’s toxic air spreading across LA?

Plus, how a New York six-year-old’s disappearance changed parenting, the UK’s prime minister bans social media for kids as one of his last acts, and why summer concert season is becoming a financial flop.

00:50:07
Jun 22, 2026 4:37 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Venezuelan artist Magdalena Suarez Frimkess is 96. And pissed.

Plus, a chance to amend the Los Angeles City Charter for the first time since the 1990s. One idea? Letting noncitizens vote in city elections. Our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman’s Ojai road trip recommendations.

00:50:33
Jun 18, 2026 4:40 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Remembering Lorcan O’Herlihy, who built affordable housing that looked good

Plus, how Luigi Mangione captivated people after he allegedly murdered a healthcare executive, how filmmakers use baseball to signal virtue, and using goats, sheep, and cattle to reduce wildfire risk.

00:49:29
Jun 17, 2026 4:1 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Yoko Ono at The Broad: An 'iconoclast' willing to do 'the strangest stuff'

Plus, Gov. Newsom says the DOJ is investigating him because he’s considering running for president, why some Iranian-Americans booed Iran’s soccer team while others cheered, and Serena Williams says taking a GLP-1 helped her get back on the tennis court.

00:49:51
Jun 16, 2026 4:26 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Miles Davis’s nephew says his uncle’s fusion era is misunderstood

Plus, the Justice Department’s top prosecutor in LA continues to push election fraud conspiracies, the DOJ approves the Paramount-Warner Bros. Discovery merger, and remembering artist David Hockney.

00:51:24
Jun 15, 2026 4:7 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
‘A global eclipse’: The World Cup arrives in Los Angeles

Plus, how soccer’s success at the 1984 Olympics in LA set the stage for the ‘94 World Cup, our weekend film reviews, and Evan Kleiman has easy dinners you can make even when you don’t feel like cooking.

00:49:45
Jun 11, 2026 3:10 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The eyebrow-raising ethics of a White House cage fight

Plus, immigration agents descended on Los Angeles a year ago this month, conducting mass arrests and sparking violent protests. Now the tactics have changed. And author Sarah Wang on her new novel about a Taiwanese immigrant addicted to plastic surgery.

00:48:55
Jun 10, 2026 3:0 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Historian Ada Ferrer recounts her 9-year-old brother left behind in Cuba

Plus, President Trump says the Iran War is ending, but Iran doesn’t seem as eager to move on. And we remember Iranian novelist Marjane Satrapi, whose last book celebrated the women, life, freedom movement.

00:49:42
Jun 9, 2026 3:22 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Jakob Nowell on filling his late father’s shoes as Sublime’s frontman

Plus, Nithya Raman is now in second place in the mayor’s race. That prompted President Trump to cry voter fraud. And Cubans in both Cuba and the U.S. worry about Trump’s efforts to target them.

00:49:17
Jun 8, 2026 4:44 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
The unpleasant experience of visiting Yosemite

Plus, a far-right, Trump-loving lawyer who calls himself “El Tigre” promises to eradicate Colombia’s drug cartels. We’ll have your weekend movie reviews, and Evan Kleiman brings us a peculiar French dessert.

00:50:20
Jun 4, 2026 5:23 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Bass headed to runoff; Pratt says ‘I hope she’s ready’

Plus, recapping the statewide races, how last year’s fires affected people on the streets, and we’ll meet a man who worked with the homeless who became homeless himself after the Eaton Fire.

00:49:54
Jun 3, 2026 5:1 PM
Clean
Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Do YouTubers’ success in Hollywood threaten the studio system?

Plus, a two-year analysis of Gov. Newsom’s signature homeless policy reveals a deeply flawed program, how AI can detect cancer in mammograms, and ‘90s cult fave Koo Koo Roo promised to return, but so far, nary a squawk.

00:49:27
Jun 2, 2026 4:58 PM
Clean