Labor Heritage Power Hour

Striking At Kings

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour, latest labor arts news, including Lottie Walker’s one-woman show about East London union leader Sarah Wesker and the return of the Labor Oscars. We hear from songwriter Mindy Murray about her powerful new song “Striking at Kings,” inspired by the 1938 King Farm strike, plus a Labor History in 2:00 look at the 1903 Oxnard Strike. Young adult author J. Albert Mann interviews labor journalist Kim Kelly about Fight to Win and teaching labor history to young people, and we close with a fearless, funny, and furious moment from Carsie Blanton, calling for solidarity and dignity for working musicians.Broadcast on February 12, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Kahlia Chapman.The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Songs for Minneapolis

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: highlights from the 2026 Labor Grammys—including the winning song—and we talk with singer David Rovics about songwriting, AI, and why stories move people more than slogans. Plus: powerful medleys from LHF’s new Songs for Minneapolis playlist, a deep-dive interview with David Correia (Set the Earth on Fire) on the 1902 anthracite strike and the roots of modern policing, and, on Labor History in 2:00, the President calls in the feds. Plus, a tribute to beloved WPFW engineer Mighty Myke Nasella.
Broadcast on February 5, 2026; Chris Garlock, host/producer; Harold Phillips, producer/announcer (labor arts news); Patrick Dixon, producer (Correia interview); David Correia interview by Sean Duffy; WPFW engineering by Kahlia Chapman.  The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

A Brick and a Bible

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: We explore the forgotten 1933 Funsten Nut Strike in St. Louis with playwrights Kathryn Bentley and Colin McLaughlin, creators of the new play A Brick and a Bible, about Black women workers who organized thousands during the Great Depression.
Then, from the Labor Notes podcast, director Chris Sessions and Andy Myers of Working Films discuss the documentary Partners: How Starbucks Baristas Started a Labor Revolution and how screenings are being used to build real-world solidarity.
Plus: the latest labor arts and history news and Labor History in 2:00.
Broadcast on January 29, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Shannon Drake; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.@LaborNotes @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Murderous billionaires, labor’s racial divide, and DC Labor Chorus concert highlights

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour, culture, history, and struggle collide.
We begin with cultural critic Kathleen Newman, who reflects on labor themes surfacing in contemporary film and television—from Netflix’s The Beast in Me to Apple TV’s Pluribus—and how stories of power, class, and exploitation continue to shape popular culture.
Next, historian Rudi Batzell takes a deep dive into the roots of division within the U.S. labor movement. Drawing from his work on race, class, and strikebreaking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Batzell explores how racial divisions—and the legacy of slavery—shaped the limits of early union organizing. This segment comes from a labor history series produced by Patrick Dixon for America’s Work Force Radio, hosted by Ed “Flash” Ferenc.
We close with highlights from the powerful DC Labor Chorus 2025 holiday concert—songs of resistance, solidarity, and immigrant justice that remind us why music remains central to movement-building.
Plus: the latest labor arts news, including registration now open for the 2026 Labor Notes Conference and Great Labor Arts Exchange, organizing wins across the museum sector, and more.Broadcast on January 22, 2026; hosted by Chris Garlock and Harold Phillips; produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Homestead Strike Reimagined; Made by Labour

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: cultural critic Kathleen Newman takes us inside The Hidden Shift, a dramatic two-screen film installation inspired by the 1892 Homestead Strike—complete with a Pinkerton, a suspected murder, and questions of loyalty and solidarity. Historian Martin Wright (Made by Labour) joins us for a conversation on working-class history and memory. Plus, the latest labor arts news—including organizing wins across museums, bookstores, animation studios, and the West Virginia Mine Wars Museum—and a new Labor History in 2 on the founding of Britain’s Independent Labour Party.Broadcast on January 15, 2026; 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 and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport.@LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

When Workers Tell Their Own Stories

This week on The Labor Heritage Power Hour, we explore what happens when workers recognize their power—and use it to imagine something better.
We begin with a conversation about the post-pandemic union upsurge. Labor organizer and researcher Eric Dirnbach talks with Dave Kamper, author of Who’s Got the Power: Hope for Troubled Times, about graduate student organizing, teachers’ strikes, the UAW’s stand-up strike, and the return of solidarity as a force for change. Drawing on history and recent victories, Kamper reflects on why moments of crisis can also be moments of possibility.
Then we head to Italy with a report from the Working Class History podcast, taking us to the 2025 Working Class Literature Festival at the occupied former GKN factory outside Florence. There, workers are fighting not only to save their jobs, but to transform their workplace into a cooperative—while creating space for writers, artists, and organizers to tell their own stories.PLUS: The 1916 Youngstown Massacre and Carsie Blanton’s “Little Flame”.
From union halls to occupied factories, from organizing drives to poetry and song, this episode reminds us that labor history isn’t just something we remember—it’s something we’re still making.
Broadcast on January 8, 2026; 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 and syndicated on Pacifica’s Audioport. @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

Labor songs for the fightback (Encore with added tracks!)

This week's Labor Heritage Power Hour: Chris and Elise spin labor songs to boost your spirits. Playlist: Unaccountable - Elise Bryant & Steve Jones; Who's Gonna Build Your Wall - Tom Russell; All You Fascists Are Bound To Lose - The Solidarity Singers of the New Jersey State Industrial Union Council; A Strike Song (VirginLV) – Culinary Union; The Communists Have the Music - They Might Be Giants; What We Want - Shelby Bottom Duo; Union Conga - Al Bradbury; Bread and Roses-Women of the World; People Have the Power - Patti Smith; Time For A General Strike - Mike Stout; Have You Been To Jail For Justice - Anne Feeney. 1/2/26 Newly-added bonus tracks: No Contract No Coffee; Are You a Human or a Bot; Prompt Engineers; Waiting for AGI (Ai-Tsuno/Dave Rovics)Original show aired 2/20/25.Broadcast on January 1, 2026 from WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and on stations across 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

A Discography of Workers’ Revolt (Encore)

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Chris Garlock sits down with Strike While the Needle is Hot: A Discography of Workers’ Revolt authors Josh MacPhee and Kennedy Block to spin and unpack strike records from the ’60s–’80s—including the rousing 1978 EP “Ford Workers on Strike.” A fast-moving tour of worker-made music and how vinyl captured picket lines, speeches, and solidarity anthems. Broadcast on December 25, 2025 (originally released September 4, 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

Labor Radio; The Dig; Power Line Podcast; The Workers' Mic; The Heartland Labor Forum

This week’s Labor Radio Podcast Weekly takes a wide-angle look at where labor power is showing up right now—on the shop floor, in politics, in culture, and across the media landscape.We start on The Workers’ Mic, where hosts are joined by The Labor Radio Podcast Network’s Chris Garlock and Harold Phillips to talk about why independent labor media matters and how the Network connects worker struggles across industries and regions.
From there, The Dig digs into the political moment, with Eric Blanc, Leah Greenberg, and Waleed Shahid examining the liberal resistance’s sharp left turn and what it means for organizing and strategy moving forward.
On Labor Radio from WORT in Madison, it’s a packed labor news roundup—from state worker rallies and dairy workers authorizing a strike to Starbucks organizing wins and fights over school voucher transparency.
We also hear from Heartland Labor Forum, which takes on the often-overlooked issue of mental health in the labor movement, spotlighting union-led programs that support members and their families.
Our unusual pick this week comes from the Power Line Podcast, featuring a tailgate conversation with Austin Carr—known online as “America’s Favorite Lineman”—on life in the trades and how social media is reshaping work and identity.
Plus, in our Shows You Should Know speed round, we spotlight more voices across the Network, including The Wealthy Ironworker, Boiling Point, RadioLabour Canada, El Cafecito del Día, and The CWA Hour of Power, and we pause to remember Ken Nash of Building Bridges.
👉 Subscribe, listen, and follow us at laborradionetwork.org@thedigradio @powerlinepodcast @coalition_labor
@Heartland_Labor#LaborRadioPod #1u #UnionStrong #WorkersVoices #SolidarityMedia @AFLCIO
Help us build sonic solidarity by clicking on the share button below.Highlights from labor radio and podcast shows around the country, part of the national Labor Radio Podcast Network of shows focusing on working people’s issues and concerns.
Produced by Chris Garlock, edited by Patrick Dixon, social media guru Mr. Harold Phillips.

“A Red Carol”

On today’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: "People always think this story is about you,” Bob Crachit tells Scrooge in the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s “A Red Carol” radio play. “But it ain’t about you, it’s about us - and how we let ourselves get infected with your ideas, your greed, your lies, it’s you steppin’ over the hungry and homeless and us following your lead, it’s us lettin’ you turn our government into a casino, listenin’ while you say day after day that profit is the new god, and us not standin’ up and shouting "NO!"'
“It ain’t about you," Cratchit says. "It’s about us.”
Click here to support the San Francisco Mime Troupe and here to support WPFW’s jazz and justice in the New Year! Produced by the San Francisco Mime Troupe; Broadcast on December 18, 2025; WPFW broadcast engineered by Kahlia Chapman. @SFTroupers @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod