Labor Heritage Power Hour

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour, novelist Ann Goethals joins us to share the stories behind The Doublewide, her powerful debut novel about caregiving, community, and the invisible labor that holds our world together. Ann reads from the opening chapter and reflects on her years as a teacher, union activist, and caregiver navigating the realities of dementia care. We’ve also got Labor Arts News Briefs, including big wins for PAs organizing with LIUNA, a new contract at the Los Angeles Times, and a first contract victory at Chicago’s Museum of Science and Industry. Plus: exciting news about the return of the Labor Oscars and Labor Grammys under the Labor Heritage Foundation’s banner. Then we turn to Labor History in 2:00, tracing the fall of the Knights of Labor and the rise of the American Federation of Labor — two very different visions of the labor movement. Plus a sneak preview of next week’s show, the San Francisco Mime Troupe’s radio drama, A Red Carol. Broadcast on December 11, 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

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour: Singer–songwriter and longtime movement troubadour David Rovics joins us to talk about his unlikely collaboration with an AI persona he calls Ai Tsuno, which has already produced nearly 40 songs in a stunning range of styles. We dig into what it means to “vibe code” music, how expertise and craft still matter in avoiding “AI slop,” why this technology threatens the jobs of working musicians, and why Rovics believes we’ll need something like universal basic income as AI transforms whole professions. Along the way, we hear clips from new labor anthems including No Contract, No Coffee and In the Age of AI. Then we travel back to December 3, 1946, when Oakland workers shut down their city in a historic general strike. Drawing on accounts from Stan Weir, we tell the story of how one unlikely pop hit—“Pistol Packin’ Mama,” by Bing Crosby and the Andrews Sisters—blared from jukeboxes dragged onto the sidewalks, becoming the unofficial soundtrack of the uprising and reminding us how popular culture and class struggle collide in surprising ways. We close with a joyful preview of the DC Labor Chorus’ annual Favorite and Sacred Songs concert (Sat., Dec. 6, free; RSVP here). We feature a powerful medley including “None of Us Are Free,” “We Did Not Come This Far” and a union-flavored holiday wish for justice and good contracts—a taste of the spirit, harmony, and solidarity waiting for audiences this weekend. Broadcast on December 4, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and stations across the country on the Pacifica network. Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; editing by Patrick Dixon, 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

This week's show: Workers have been singing while working and singing about working since antiquity; the Heartland Labor Forum’s Mark Galus plays classics from Billy Bragg, Joe Glazer and Anne Feeney as well as some more obscure folk and punk tracks. Broadcast on November 27, 2025 (Original broadcast December 5, 2024).Hosted by Chris Garlock and Elise Bryant; original source The Heartland Labor Forum (KKFI in Kansas City); this version produced by Chris Garlock; engineered by Mike Nasella & Kahlia Chapman. The Labor Heritage Power Hour is a member of the Labor Radio Podcast Network.@Heartland_Labor @LaborHeritage1 @wpfwdc @aflcio #1u #unions #laborradiopod

This week on the Labor Heritage Power Hour:Historian Robert W. Snyder joins us to discuss When the City Stopped: Stories from New York’s Essential Workers, a powerful collection of oral histories from the frontline workers who kept NYC alive during the darkest days of the COVID-19 pandemic. Interviewed by Tim Sheard—veteran nurse, labor organizer, and Hard Ball Press publisher—we explore the trauma, courage, inequality, and solidarity that defined the era, and the urgent need to preserve these memories. Then, historian Peter Cole takes us to the Philadelphia waterfront with Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly. Recorded at the 9th annual Reuther–Pollack Labor History Symposium, hosted by the WALS Foundation, Cole tells the story of one of the most important—and too often forgotten—Black labor leaders in American history, who led an interracial, militant IWW union decades before the Civil Rights Act. Broadcast on November 20, 2025 on WPFW 89.3FM in Washington, DC and stations across the country 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

On this week’s Labor Heritage Power Hour: Senator Bernie Sanders accepts the Eugene V. Debs Award in Terre Haute, celebrating Debs’ legacy of solidarity and social justice — and reminding us that Debs’ vision still guides the labor movement today.Then, from the Solidarity Works podcast, meet California musician Johnny Miller Jr., who’s keeping labor’s musical traditions alive with songs of struggle, hope, and community.Plus music from The Local Honeys. Broadcast on November 13, 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