Series and Documentaries from Michigan Radio

Programs | Series and Documentaries | Jack Lessenberry | The Environment Report | Recent NPR Programming | APM's Marketplace How We Got Here: The Decline of Newspapers | Up North in a Down Economy | Michigan's Bottom Line: Hybrid Economy | Remaking Michigan | The Auto Crisis | Northern Arts | Foreclosing on the American Dream | Ashes to Hope: Overcoming the Detroit Riots | Grading Michigan Schools If you have a local newspaper subscription, it probably doesn't deliver what it once did. Over the next few days on Morning Edition, the series "How We Got Here: The Decline of Newspapers" will take a look at the uncertain situation of the newspaper industry. In the series "Up North in a Down Economy," Michigan Radio will look at how the recession is affecting small towns in northern Michigan. Michigan Radio provided special coverage from this year's Mackinac Policy Conference. Throughout the last week of May, we aired special reports on Michigan's economy and other topics discussed at the conference. A one-hour special program, entitled "Michigan's Bottom Line: Hybrid Economy," followed on Friday, May 29. "Hybrid Economy" was co-hosted by Michigan Radio's Sarah Hulett and Michigan Public Radio Network Managing Editor Rick Pluta. The program examined how alternative energy is changing what powers our cars, homes, and jobs, and how it may be the key to Michigan's economic future. Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep was in Detroit the week of April 20-24, 2009, to take a look at the economic crisis that has hit the state. Throughout the week, NPR featured stories on Morning Edition about how we're adapting to the economic change. At 1p on Friday, April 24, Michigan Radio aired a special one hour program called "Remaking Michigan", about how the state is trying to re-set itself economically. We opened the phones to take questions, invited Twitter replies (using @michiganradio), and hosted a live web chat. The domestic auto industry is in crisis. In our special series, "The Auto Crisis: Can Michigan Survive", Michigan Radio will explore how the crisis happened, what it means for economy, what can be done about the problems, and what the crisis means for all of us. We spend a lot of time exploring the world of arts and culture from Detroit to Grand Rapids and everywhere in between. But what about up north? In our series "Northern Arts", Michigan Radio's arts reporter Jennifer Guerra takes a trip up north to spend some time around the campfire with a group of northern Michigan musicians visit to the deep woods of Mancelona for a lesson in the fine art of letter press and more. Michigan has one of the highest foreclosure rates in the country. Thousands of people in the state have had their homes foreclosed on. Michigan Radio takes an in-depth look at what this means for our state, our communities, and all of us. Why has Michigan been hit so hard? What is this doing to our neighborhoods? What are the solutions? Michigan Radio's reporters and hosts explored these questions through in-depth reports and interviews during Morning Edition and All Things Considered during the week of July 21st. At the end of the week our documentary, "Foreclosing on the American Dream" explored how home foreclosures affect people, neighborhoods, and even art. We have also compiled a list of resources that might be helpful if you are facing foreclosure or have already been through the process. In the summer of 1967 chaos broke out in the streets of Detroit. After five days of violence 43 were dead, thousands were injured and over 4000 people had been arrested. This summer – forty years later – Michigan Radio takes an in-depth look at the deadliest riot of the 1960’s. Why did the riots begin? What fueled them? And, have we ever really recovered? Our documentary, "Ashes to Hope: Overcoming the Detroit Riots" explores how the riots affected people, neighborhoods and even music. It explores questions such as: Whether it was truly a riot? Or, a rebellion? Is the "white-flight" that we see today in Detroit a consequence of the riots? Did the riots cripple the relationship between the state of Michigan and Detroit? We also hear from Michigan Radio reporters as well as first-hand accounts of what it was like to be in Detroit during the riot. "Ashes to Hope: Overcoming the Detroit Riots" won a 2008 National Edward R. Murrow Award for Best Radio News Documentary, as well as a 2008 Clarion Award from Women in Communications. Michigan Radio's "Grading Michigan Schools" is a multi-part series that takes an in-depth look at education in Michigan. We hear why one college student feels let down by the public school system in the state. We find out about "unschooling," an education philosophy that abandons textbooks and a curriculum. We also look at how the public school system is serving at-risk students through education for the very young and early intervention for kids with special education needs. "Grading Michigan Schools" won a 2008 Clarion Award from Women in Communications.