Labor Heritage Power Hour

A Discography of Workers’ Revolt

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 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

Strike While the Needle is Hot

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Shanara Gabrielle on Theater Alliance’s fire work, then Zoltoid, the Worker Safety Oracle with Jay Herzmark. Plus previews from our Labor Day Special—Strike While the Needle is Hot (Josh MacPhee/Kennedy Block’s strike-record book, featuring Ford Workers on Strike) and Labor 131 with Jessie Wilkerson on the 1929 Elizabethton rayon strike. Labor Day Special airs Monday, Sept 1, 11am–1pm EDT on WPFW 89.3FMBroadcast on August 28, 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

Poems of Work, Songs of Struggle

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Poet Martín Espada joins Susan Eisenberg to read from Jailbreak of Sparrows—poems of work, class, and immigrant labor, including “Look at This” and “The Snake.” Then we mark the IWW’s Little Red Songbook anniversary with four classics: “Hold the Fort,” “The Internationale,” “Dump the Bosses Off Your Back,” and “Winnsboro Cotton Mill Blues.”Broadcast on August 21, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC, and other stations across America 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

How We Get Free — Naomi R Williams on Worker Solidarity in Racine

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour, scholar and creator Shana L. Redmond sits down with Naomi R Williams, Assistant Professor of Labor Studies and Employment Relations at Rutgers University, to discuss Williams' new book A Blueprint for Worker Solidarity: Class Politics and Community in Wisconsin.
Williams takes us into the history of Racine, Wisconsin — a small industrial city where, in the 1970s and 80s, workers built cross-racial, cross-sector alliances that transformed their community. From “total person unionism” to coalitions linking labor, civil rights, and women’s movements, Racine’s story offers a powerful blueprint for building democracy and justice today.
This episode also features John Lewis Says Freedom, a brand-new song from musical storyteller and political satirist Charlie King. WPFW’s Summer Fund Drive—support the station for jazz and justice here or call 202-588-9739.
Tags: labor history, worker solidarity, Racine Wisconsin, Naomi Williams, Shauna Redmond, unions, WPFW, Summer Fund Drive, civil rights, total person unionism
Broadcast on August 14, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. and other stations across America on the Pacifica Network. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Kimmon “Macgyver” Williams; 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

From Tolpuddle to Texas & Frisco: Labor’s Long Ride

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: We kick off with Billy Bragg singing Power in a Union at the Tolpuddle Martyrs Festival and end with his moving anthem Help Save the Youth of America. In between, we explore labor solidarity from the streets of San Francisco’s LaborFest to the windswept plains of Texas, where cowboys once went on strike. Plus: labor poetry, cooperative alternatives, and Rick Smith on Reagan vs. PATCO. Music, memory, and the power of collective action—all in one hour.Broadcast on August 7, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and stations on the Pacifica network across the country. Support independent media during WPFW’s Summer Fund Drive—donate today at wpfwfm.org. Your gift keeps shows like this on the air.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 #CowboyStrike #TolpuddleMartyrs #BillyBragg

Are You Now or Have You Ever Been?

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour, we open with a tribute to the late Tom Lehrer, the sharp-witted satirist who reminded us that protest songs can be powerful and hilarious. His classic “The Folk Song Army” kicks off a show that digs deep into the contradictions of American progress.
We mark the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal with a revealing conversation between author Mark S. Ferrara and labor educator Linda Donahue, who explore the hidden histories of the immigrant diggers, displaced communities, orphan mule drivers, and working-class women who built and lived along the canal. Ferrara’s book The Raging Erie tells a vivid and unsettling story of how labor shaped — and was shaped by — one of the nation’s greatest infrastructure projects.
Then, we turn to Charlie King, who reflects on the chilling echoes of McCarthyism in the 1980s when American Express asked potential Louisville workers: “Are you now or have you ever been a member of a union?” His response: a stirring modern protest song that’s as relevant today as ever.
Plus: your weekly Labor History in 2:00 from Rick Smith. The Labor Heritage Power Hour originates on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC. and is broadcast 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

Art Works (Encore)

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: An inside look at the organizers and artists on the front lines of political mobilization and social change: Ken Grossinger on his 2023 book Art Works: How Organizers and Artists Are Creating a Better World Together. Check out the Art Works music playlist on Spotify.PLUS: Stand Up, Don’t Sit Down; An excerpt from AFSCME’s I AM STORY podcast.Originally broadcast 7/6/23 & 7/18/24 Produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. @ArtWorksbook @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod @AFSCME

The Hard Work of Hope

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Ron Carver sits down with lifelong activist and author Michael Ansara, whose powerful new memoir The Hard Work of Hope traces his journey from a 13-year-old stepping into a Woolworth’s picket line to leading anti-war and grassroots campaigns across the country. Ansara reflects on building hope through action, the lessons of SDS, and the importance of solidarity today.
We celebrate John Lewis' birthday with Linda Allen’s “Good Trouble,” and hear fiery remarks from APWU President Mark Dimondstein, winner of the 2025 Joe Hill Award, on the power of labor history, resistance, and the role of the arts in the fight for justice.
Plus: Labor arts news, contract wins from the SNL VFX crew, video game performers, and Annapolis Symphony musicians. And we remember civil rights legend Ida B. Wells and the 1934 San Francisco General Strike in this week’s Labor History.
Check, check—1, 2, 1, 2—don’t miss this packed episode of labor voices, music, poetry, and power.
Broadcast on July 17, 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

“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