Category: Series

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Curious City - How sweet the sound: The history of Evanston folk coffeehouse AmazinGrace

Folk music surged in popularity across America in the late 1950s through the ‘70s, including here in the Chicago area. Last episode, we looked at how a few area coffeehouses catered to many patrons in their teens and early twenties. These were alcohol-free spaces where people could listen to live music and hangout for hours. Curious City host Erin Allen looks at one of those beloved coffeeshops of the 1970s: AmazinGrace, which was born out of Vietnam War protests on the campus of Northwestern University and later moved to the heart of downtown Evanston. She was joined by a panel of AmazinGrace founders, performers and patrons at last year’s Evanston Folk Festival. WBEZ is a programming partner of the Evanston Folk Festival, which is taking place this year Sept. 6-7, 2025. A pre-sale is happening now through April 22. Enter the code EFFWBEZ to access the sale.
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The Indicator from Planet Money - Economic lessons learned from Investopedia (and Ferris Bueller)

The current economic upheaval has lots of us scrambling for our glossaries and history books.

Today on the show, the editor-in-chief of Investopedia walks us through three vocab terms — spanning topics from tariff history to market volatility — that are spiking on the website lately.

Related listening:
What can we learn from the year's most popular econ terms?
What's a moneyline bet anyway? (Apple / Spotify)
Why tariffs are SO back (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

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The Indicator from Planet Money - Did Trump enable insider trading?

On the morning of April 9, President Trump posted on Truth Social "THIS IS A GREAT TIME TO BUY!!! DJT." Around four hours later, he announced a pause on some new tariffs, causing a stock market spike. Now, Democrats are demanding an investigation into possible insider trading. But were Trump's posts actually insider trading?

Related episodes:
Morally questionable, economically efficient (Apple / Spotify)
An insider trader tells all

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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The Indicator from Planet Money - The spat over VAT

If you've ever passed through airport customs overseas and been refunded a VAT — or value added tax — for souvenirs, you've benefited from the VAT system. But President Trump says VAT is unfair to the U.S. On today's episode, we learn what VAT is and what it isn't.

Related episodes:
What's so bad about a trade deficit? (Apple / Spotify)
Tarrified! We check in on businesses (Apple / Spotify)
Why there's no referee for the trade war (Apple / Spotify)

For sponsor-free episodes of The Indicator from Planet Money, subscribe to Planet Money+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org.

Fact-checking by Sierra Juarez. Music by Drop Electric. Find us: TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Newsletter.

Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoices

NPR Privacy Policy