Labor Heritage Power Hour

“We Are Union, Hallelujah!”: Laborpalooza and More

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour, we bring you live music, radical art, and labor history from across time and place.First, we take you to McGinty’s Public House in downtown Silver Spring, Maryland, for Laborpalooza—the high-energy Saturday night concert June 21 at the 2025 Great Labor Arts Exchange. From contest-winning songs and poems to fiery hip hop, choral harmonies, and satirical anthems, this episode captures the spirit of a movement that sings, rhymes, and dances for justice.Then, we return to part two of artist and printmaker Eric Ruin’s deep and honest conversation with Tabitha Arnold. Eric reflects on the challenges and contradictions of living as a mid-career artist—balancing ambition, solidarity work, and creative survival in a system that rarely values art for its own sake.Finally, in Labor History in Two, we remember Ella Reeve “Mother” Bloor, the undercover labor activist and early socialist leader born on this day in 1862.
Hosted by Chris Garlock. Produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation and broadcast on WPFW 89.3 FM and the Pacifica Network.
🖥️ Watch full performances from Laborpalooza on the Labor Heritage Foundation YouTube channel.
Broadcast on July 10, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and Pacifica stations across the U.S.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Class, Power, and Primetime

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour, cultural critic Kathleen M. Newman joins Chris Garlock to unpack how class, power, and work are portrayed in three hit TV series: The Residence, Running Point, and Your Friends and Neighbors. From the White House to pro sports to suburban secrets, these shows pull back the curtain on the invisible labor that makes elite worlds run—and the messy lives behind the glamour. Plus, what happens when working-class characters finally get their own stories?Broadcast on July 3, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and on the Pacifica network. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

The Screenwriter Who Fought Back

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: We go behind the scenes of Hollywood’s Golden Age with J.E. Smyth, author of Mary C. McCall Jr.: The Rise and Fall of Hollywood’s Most Powerful Screenwriter. SAG-AFTRA member Harold Phillips talks with Smyth about McCall’s groundbreaking career, her role in founding the Screen Writers Guild, and her fight for union recognition in an industry built on stars but powered by words.
Then we head to San Francisco for a preview of this year’s LaborFest, commemorating the 1934 General Strike with a month-long lineup of labor walks, films, music, and international solidarity. Organizer Steve Zeltzer shares what’s on tap this July—and why art and culture remain vital tools in the struggle for workers' rights.
Originating on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and broadcast on Pacifica Radio stations across the country. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.

Print. Protest. Repeat.

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Publisher Tim Sheard reflects on a life of storytelling and organizing—from the founding of Hardball Press to his latest project, Asian Workers Stories. Then, artist and printmaker Eric Ruin talks with Tabitha Arnold about class rage, punk rock, and how zine culture shaped his radical artistic journey. Plus, Rosemary Feurer shares her favorite labor song, and we’ve got your Labor History in 2:00.Broadcast on June 19, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Songs of Solidarity and Struggle from ICE Raids to Cowboy Strikes

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Francisco Herrera calls on music as a tool of resistance against ICE raids and repression in California; Carsie Blanton and Colleen Kattau bring songs of truth and freedom; Will Attig shares his favorite labor anthem; Seth Newton Patel digs into the 1883 Cowboy Strike; plus a double dose of Labor History in 2:00 and Little Steven’s Bitter Fruit. Broadcast on June 12, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@carsieblanton @ColleenKattau @WillAttig @unionveterans @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Who Will Stand With Us?

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: Two powerful stories of solidarity and creative resistance. Dropkick Murphys frontman Ken Casey joins veteran labor organizer William Attig to talk music, organizing, and their new single Who'll Stand With Us?, ahead of Friday’s Unite for Veterans, Unite for America rally in D.C.Then, John Beck of Our Daily Work/Our Daily Lives explores Tales from the Cleaners, a new volume in the Workers Write! series from Blue Cubicle Press.Plus, Labor History in 2:00 looks back at the history of the minimum wage.Broadcast on June 5, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

“Trump the Uniter?” Labor Struggles and Resistance

On today’s Labor Radio Podcast Daily: Trump’s crackdown in Newark backfires, uniting protestors and sparking global anti-fascist solidarity. From What’s Going On Labor Mondays. On today’s labor arts calendar: the film Lilly — about equal pay trailblazer Lilly Ledbetter — screens online, and High Iron, an immersive rail labor experience, is on view in Laramie, Wyoming.In today’s labor history: remembering the Memorial Day Massacre of 1937. @stucknation @wpfwdc @AFLCIO #1u #UnionStrong #LaborRadioPod
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“Set Their Hearts on Fire”

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Art doesn’t just reflect the movement—it shapes it. Chattanooga-based artist Tabitha Arnold talks with comics artist and organizer Michael DeForge about how art fuels organizing, the tension between creativity and capitalism, and the quiet revolution of caring for one another. They explore how illustration becomes agitation, and why even a bird on the moon might carry a message of resistance.
Then in part two of our conversation with artist and movement strategist Ricardo Levins Morales, he reflects on lessons from the road, the forest, and the picket line. From hitchhiking as a radical teen to defusing activist conflict, Morales offers a deeply rooted vision for organizing that centers healing, clarity, and a commitment to winning. He unpacks the difference between messaging and truth-telling, the power of a second grader’s sense of justice, and the trickster wisdom we need to navigate today's challenges.
Plus: Labor History in 2:00 remembers a powerful day of solidarity in 1946 New York, and a brand-new song from the Dropkick Murphys.
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant. Produced by the Labor Heritage Foundation, airing on WPFW 89.3 FM and the Pacifica Network. A proud member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.
Broadcast on May 29, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC.Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@rlmartstudio @dropkickmurphy3 @michael_deforge @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Voices of Labor, from the Vatican to the Big Top

This special edition of the Labor Heritage Power Hour features the Labor Radio Podcast Weekly with stories from across the movement: Pope Leo XIII’s legacy, FAA system failures, frontline Social Security workers, Canadian union solidarity, the 4-day workweek, circus elephants, and a tribute to Wobbly poet T-Bone Slim.Broadcast on May 22, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and Pacifica stations across the country. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Solidarity, Song, and the Last Human Job

This week on The Labor Heritage Power Hour, we bring you powerful voices from the frontlines of labor struggle and song. UAW President Shawn Fain accepts the 2025 Solidarity Forever Award with a stirring call to action: “Solidarity isn’t a slogan—it’s a muscle.” Plus, sociologist Allison Pugh joins us to discuss The Last Human Job, her new book on the vanishing art of connective labor—from therapists and teachers to VA counselors and hairdressers.
Also on the show: a Labor History Month crossover with the Labor History Today and Power At Work podcasts, as historians Joe McCartin and Veronica Martinez-Matsuda connect past and present struggles—from PATCO to Trump’s anti-worker agenda. And we remember radical songwriter T-Bone Slim, whose century-old labor ballads still resonate today.
Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@allisonpugh.bsky.social @georgetownkilwp.bsky.social @uaw.org @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod