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The Broadside

WUNC

Each week, The Broadside highlights a story from the heart of the American South and asks why it matters to you. From news to arts and culture, we dive into topics that might not be on a front page, but deserve a closer look. Along the way, we explore the nuances of our home—and how what happens here ripples across the country.

Hosted by Anisa Khalifa, The Broadside is a production of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC. Find it every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts.

Each week, The Broadside highlights a story from the heart of the American South and asks why it matters to you. From news to arts and culture, we dive into topics that might not be on a front page, but deserve a closer look. Along the way, we explore the nuances of our home—and how what happens here ripples across the country.

Hosted by Anisa Khalifa, The Broadside is a production of North Carolina Public Radio-WUNC. Find it every Thursday wherever you listen to podcasts.

33hr 6min
Thumbnail for "Public schools’ big enrollment problem".
March 13, 202520min 55sec20.1 MB
Thumbnail for "The mill and the man who changed the world".
July 10, 202522min 44sec21.83 MB
Thumbnail for "The other Declaration of Independence".
July 3, 202518min 47sec18.05 MB
Thumbnail for "Appalachia’s crypto boom and bust".
June 26, 202525min 13sec24.22 MB
Thumbnail for "A return to Midway Plantation".
June 19, 202518min 52sec18.13 MB
Thumbnail for "America's favorite bloodthirsty plant".
June 12, 202521min 36sec20.74 MB
Thumbnail for "The hunt for a million dollar fish".
June 5, 202519min 34sec18.79 MB
Thumbnail for "Can we save the red wolf (again)?".
May 29, 202519min 42sec18.92 MB
Thumbnail for "Pokémon is more than just a card game".
May 22, 202518min 59sec18.23 MB
Thumbnail for "The fight for free speech at public universities".
May 15, 202518min 52sec18.12 MB
Thumbnail for "The mystery of the Big Hole".
May 8, 202517min 42sec16.99 MB
Thumbnail for "The Kingdom of the Happy Land".
May 1, 202520min 51sec20.02 MB
Thumbnail for "What exactly is a Southern home?".
April 24, 202522min 8sec21.25 MB
Thumbnail for "Why cola became king (Revisited)".
April 17, 202521min 27sec20.6 MB
Thumbnail for "The wild world of Civil War reenactment".
April 10, 202527min 54sec26.79 MB
Thumbnail for "Everyone hates the DMV".
April 3, 202519min 50sec19.06 MB
Thumbnail for "The modern Graveyard of the Atlantic".
March 27, 202517min 31sec16.82 MB
Thumbnail for "Quarterback of the rising sun".
March 20, 202520min 59sec20.16 MB
Thumbnail for "The fight over fluoride".
March 6, 202520min 14sec19.44 MB
Thumbnail for "The road to rebuilding after Helene".
February 27, 202519min 15sec18.5 MB
Thumbnail for "Hell froze over: Southern hockey is thriving".
February 20, 202520min 23sec19.58 MB
Thumbnail for "The hunt for a long-lost musical masterpiece (Revisited)".
February 13, 202521min 58sec21.11 MB
Thumbnail for "Who gets to be Native in America".
February 6, 202521min 25sec20.57 MB
Thumbnail for "Election season is over… right?".
January 30, 202519min 29sec18.72 MB
Thumbnail for "How North Carolina became Japan's favorite state".
January 23, 202521min 41sec20.83 MB
Thumbnail for "Segregation academies and a forgotten migration".
January 16, 202522min 42sec21.8 MB
Thumbnail for "The gambling gold rush is here".
January 9, 202523min 28sec22.54 MB
Thumbnail for "That time we almost destroyed the world".
January 2, 202518min 17sec17.57 MB
Thumbnail for "The ballad and the flood".
December 26, 202439min 46sec38.2 MB
Thumbnail for "Deck your halls with Rauch balls".
December 19, 202424min 40sec23.69 MB
Thumbnail for "Tony Hawk and the skateboard rabbit hole".
December 12, 202418min 58sec18.22 MB
Thumbnail for "Can we save Christmas (trees)?".
December 5, 202420min19.22 MB
Thumbnail for "The mystery of the Brown Mountain lights".
November 28, 202417min 15sec16.57 MB
Thumbnail for "Storytelling's surprising digital age revival".
November 21, 202418min 22sec17.64 MB
Thumbnail for "The world's biggest video game is from North Carolina".
November 14, 202420min 55sec20.1 MB
Thumbnail for "A Day in the Life: The artist".
November 7, 202421min 4sec20.24 MB
Thumbnail for "The weirdest and wildest political stories".
October 31, 202421min 20sec20.49 MB
Thumbnail for "Why it's so hard to find a good couch".
October 24, 202422min21.14 MB
Thumbnail for "Bonus episode: Let's go to the fair!".
October 23, 20245min 16sec5.06 MB
Thumbnail for "Is it becoming too hot to work?".
October 17, 202420min 36sec19.79 MB
Thumbnail for "Hurricanes, helicopters and how we help".
October 10, 202422min 43sec21.82 MB
Thumbnail for "The art and alarming science of political ads".
October 3, 202423min 40sec22.74 MB
Thumbnail for "The gravestone grudge that changed cemetery law".
September 26, 202414min 42sec14.12 MB
Thumbnail for "The Latino South".
September 19, 202423min 33sec22.61 MB
Thumbnail for "How y'all conquered the world (Revisited)".
September 12, 202419min 57sec19.17 MB
Thumbnail for "Is this the death of DEI?".
September 5, 202418min 48sec18.06 MB
Thumbnail for "The new Southern Hollywood".
August 29, 202425min 31sec24.5 MB
Thumbnail for "How the Greensboro Six changed golf forever".
August 22, 202414min 54sec14.31 MB
Thumbnail for "What happens after a hate crime".
August 15, 202427min 56sec26.82 MB
Thumbnail for "Pro wrestling climbs back to the top rope".
August 8, 202422min 6sec21.23 MB
Thumbnail for "Love found while ‘chasing the light’".
August 1, 202418min 5sec17.38 MB
Thumbnail for "How beach music taught Southerners to 'dance sexy'".
July 25, 202427min 20sec26.26 MB
Thumbnail for "Bigfoot is from North Carolina".
July 18, 202419min 8sec18.38 MB
Thumbnail for "Can we bring red wolves back from the brink (again)?".
July 11, 202418min 59sec18.25 MB
Thumbnail for "The other Declaration of Independence".
July 4, 202418min 16sec17.55 MB
Thumbnail for "The surprising cricket capital of the South".
June 27, 202421min 2sec20.21 MB
Thumbnail for "The science behind saving an island".
June 20, 202417min 57sec17.24 MB
Thumbnail for "Craft beer’s emerging Southern flavor (Revisited)".
June 13, 202419min 18sec18.54 MB
Thumbnail for "Charlotte the stingray's tangled web".
June 6, 202421min 31sec20.67 MB
Thumbnail for "The hunt for a long-lost musical masterpiece".
May 30, 202421min 58sec21.1 MB
Thumbnail for "Billy Graham’s statue and the legacy of ‘America’s Pastor’".
May 23, 202421min 37sec20.77 MB
Thumbnail for "NASCAR's racing simulator revolution (Revisited)".
May 16, 202421min 9sec20.31 MB
Thumbnail for "Our trash lives next to this community".
May 9, 202418min17.3 MB
Thumbnail for "How many dollar stores are too many? (Revisited)".
May 2, 202421min 19sec20.47 MB
Thumbnail for "Zombie deer and our looming conservation crisis".
April 25, 202420min 42sec19.89 MB
Thumbnail for "Can we save the banana from extinction?".
April 18, 202412min 54sec12.39 MB
Thumbnail for "Breaking Southern baseball's color barrier".
April 11, 202421min 22sec20.53 MB
Thumbnail for "The toxic spill that left a legacy of change".
April 4, 202420min 22sec19.56 MB
Thumbnail for "Teachers challenge the nation's toughest union ban".
March 28, 202422min 19sec21.44 MB
Thumbnail for "Women's basketball is having its moment".
March 21, 202420min 47sec19.97 MB
Thumbnail for "Tornado Alley is moving to the South".
March 14, 202417min 37sec16.93 MB
Thumbnail for "Why cola became king".
March 7, 202421min 18sec20.46 MB
Thumbnail for "Robert F. Williams' bold history lesson".
February 29, 202426min 8sec25.1 MB
Thumbnail for "Purple, teal and the rise of basketball fashion".
February 22, 202416min 36sec15.94 MB
Thumbnail for "More power poles, more problems".
February 15, 202415min 16sec14.67 MB
Thumbnail for "Craft beer’s emerging Southern flavor".
February 8, 202419min 18sec18.54 MB
Thumbnail for "How one business built Black Wall Street".
February 1, 202424min 45sec23.77 MB
Thumbnail for "NASCAR's racing simulator revolution".
January 25, 202420min 40sec19.86 MB
Thumbnail for "Place, Erased: Environmental ghost towns".
January 18, 202419min 37sec18.84 MB
Thumbnail for "EVs are reshaping the South one small town at a time".
January 11, 202417min 41sec16.99 MB
Thumbnail for "The remarkable story of daredevil Tiny Broadwick".
January 4, 202425min 13sec24.23 MB
Thumbnail for "Featuring: Embodied - How fandoms build community".
December 28, 202336min 49sec35.36 MB
Thumbnail for "The kids are alright: NPR Student Podcast Challenge finalist".
December 21, 202317min 54sec17.2 MB
Thumbnail for "Recovering from long Covid could be a long journey".
December 14, 202318min 5sec17.37 MB
Thumbnail for "Millions across the South can’t trust their tap water".
December 7, 202319min 16sec18.5 MB
Thumbnail for "One state could be a test case for tackling the opioid crisis".
November 30, 202317min 35sec16.89 MB
Thumbnail for "Featuring: North Carolina pottery from clay to kiln".
November 23, 202324min 36sec23.62 MB
Thumbnail for "The process to return Native American remains is broken".
November 16, 202321min 35sec20.73 MB
Thumbnail for "My next-door neighbor is a weapon of mass destruction".
November 9, 202324min 40sec23.7 MB
Thumbnail for "The takeover of The Robesonian".
November 2, 202320min 16sec19.47 MB
Thumbnail for "How many dollar stores are too many?".
October 26, 202321min 2sec20.21 MB
Thumbnail for "What it takes to make music in prison".
October 19, 202326min 7sec25.09 MB
Thumbnail for "Asian American Studies has arrived".
October 12, 202320min 23sec19.57 MB
Thumbnail for "A look inside America’s climate data bunker".
October 5, 202321min 33sec20.7 MB
Thumbnail for "How y'all conquered the world".
September 28, 202319min 49sec19.04 MB
Thumbnail for "Introducing: The Broadside".
September 14, 20231min 28sec1.41 MB

Public schools’ big enrollment problem

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March 13, 202520min 55sec

Nearly every public school district in North Carolina has fewer students than before the pandemic: part of a larger trend happening across the country. Facing empty classrooms and dwindling dollars, many public school leaders are trying to figure out where all the kids went and what declining public school enrollment could mean for the communities they serve.

Featuring: 

  • Liz Schlemmer, education reporter for WUNC
  • Alec MacGillis, reporter for ProPublica

Links: 

  • Check out Liz Schlemmer’s reporting on the enrollment decline here.
  • Read Alec MacGillis’ reporting on school closures here.
  • You can find a transcript of this episode here.

The Broadside is made possible by contributions from listeners like you. Support WUNC-North Carolina Public Radio and this podcast by making a donation.

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Public schools’ big enrollment problem
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