KFAI's MinneCulture Presents

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Many of the stories you hear on the Listening Lounge are from independent producers around the U.S. and the world. I find these stories on the Public Radio Exchange (PRX). I've highlighted several of my favorites in this PRX playlist called Todd Melby's Favorites . There's some great, great audio here, including two documentaries from Jonathan Mitchell, Weenie Royale from The Kitchen Sisters, Miner by Gregory Warner and this really cool love story called From Brooklyn to Banja Luka. Give it a listen. Make your own list of favorites, send me an email and I'll link to them here.

This show centers on stories from the critically-acclaimed Working series. We'll hang out with a miner in the Congo, a banker in London and a sex worker in Azerbaijan. The link to the entire Working series is here . And then we relax with a lighter story. The story of how the CIA wired a cat to spy on the Soviets in DC parks. Weird, but true. It's from this LA producer named Nate DiMeo, who likes to produce obscure historical stories called The Memory Palace . We'll air more stories from Nate in the near future, including one called Horrible Deaths, which is scheduled to air around Halloween.

"Life Stories" are public radio stories made over many years, by producer Jay Allison -- working together with Christina Egloff, and friends, colleagues, neighbors, strangers and whoever would take the loan of one of his tape recorders. They are are stories about life as we find it, and record it. On the occasion of her retirement, this Chicago judge borrowed a cassette recorder, and with her family, reflected on her 18 years on the bench. Produced with Judge Susan Snow, Brent Runyon and WBEZ Chicago.