Press Play with Madeleine Brand

KCRW

Latest episode

“He should resign.” Councilmember Nithya Raman on LA28 chair Casey Wasserman
2026/2/05 | 52 mins.
Plus, Raman's efforts to reform LA’s so-called “mansion tax,” big layoffs hit The Washington Post, a former Los Angeles Times editor gets candid about the future of news, and the origin of KCRW’s pie contest.
Artist An-My Lê’s desert photos of starscapes, and the sublime
2026/2/04 | 52 mins.
Plus, inhumane conditions at the immigrant detention facility in the Mojave Desert, deported migrants who become targets of the cartels when they return to Mexico, and why the show Survivor endures.
LAPD won’t enforce ICE mask ban. Is it legal?
2026/2/03 | 52 mins.
Plus, the latest Epstein files include LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman, LA County reports two measles cases as an outbreak surges in South Carolina, and how to create music kids and their parents will like.
Evan Kleiman on the meme’d, maligned, and misunderstood bay leaf
2026/1/30 | 52 mins.
Plus, the prospects of President Trump’s Board of Peace running Gaza, our weekend film reviews, and the behind-the-scenes studio machinations of the new Melania Trump "documentary."
Writer George Saunders on death, morality, and ruining our planet
2026/1/29 | 52 mins.
Plus, how California lawmakers are responding to federal immigration enforcement tactics, why fentanyl overdose deaths suddenly declined in 2023, and why a $1,500 per person dinner sold out in minutes.