Podcasts
Welcome to the WCPT Podcasts page, which brings together the station’s eleven regularly updated podcasts. We offer full episodes and featured interview feeds of our five main shows, and the WCPT Weekend podcast, which is where you can find all of your favorite programs from our eclectic Saturday and Sunday lineups.
RECENT HIGHLIGHTS
Filling in for Edwin Eisendrath, Jill Wine-Banks is joined by Kwame Raoul, attorney general of Illinois. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Edwin Eisendrath: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Joan Esposito is joined by Stacy Davis Gates, Chicago Teachers Union president and president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. They discuss upcoming school board election priorities, the role of the board president, and recent legal actions taken by the Chicago Teachers Union. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Joan Esposito is joined by Gregory Royal Pratt and Laura Rodríguez Presa, investigative reporters for the Chicago Tribune; they are two of the Tribune reporters recently awarded, as Staff of the Chicago Tribune, the 2026 Pulitzer Prize in Local Reporting, and will speak at the 41st annual Printers Row Lit Fest the weekend of September 12-13. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by U.S. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL). (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by Richard Carlbom, chair of the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (DFL). He talks about Minnesota primary results (the election was August 11), party strategy, and upcoming election challenges and opportunities. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Joan Esposito is joined by Adam Mockler, Gen-Z liberal political commentator who hosts “The Adam Mockler Show” on You Tube. He discusses the rise of independent media, network shifts at CNN and CBS, and current trends within the Democratic Party. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew talks to Ohio State Rep. Dani Isaacsohn (D-Cincinnati), minority leader of the Ohio House of Representatives. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by David Jolly, 2026 Democratic candidate for Florida governor, ahead of the Florida primary election. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined in studio by U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, 2027 candidate for Chicago mayor. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Joan Esposito talks to U.S. Rep. Jonathan Jackson (D-IL). (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Patti Vasquez is joined by John E. McDonough, professor of practice in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and author of “America’s Wrong Turn: US Health Care in the Neoliberal Era.” From 1985 to 1997, McDonough served as a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives where he co-chaired the Joint Committee on Health Care. He later helped craft the state and federal health care laws that became known, respectively, as Romneycare (after then Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney) and Obamacare. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by U.S. Rep. Danny K. Davis (D-IL), who will retire at the end of the current term (in January). (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by Karen Hunter, host of “The Karen Hunter Show” on SiriusXM. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Joan Esposito is joined by U.S. Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL). (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by Anna M. Gomez, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
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Joan Esposito is joined by Anna M. Gomez, commissioner of the Federal Communications Commission. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Patti Vasquez is joined by Adam Hamilton, United Methodist pastor and 2026 U.S. Senate candidate in Kansas, days before the August 4 Kansas Democratic primary that Hamilton won. He faces incumbent Republican Sen. Roger Marshall in the November midterm election.
Richard Chew is joined by retired Army Lieutenant General Russel Honoré, who served as the 33rd commanding general of the U.S. First Army and designated commander of Joint Task Force Katrina. He is the founder of the GreenARMY, a coalition of civic, community, and environmental groups fighting industrial pollution and climate impacts in Louisiana. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Joan Esposito is joined by Brian Tyler Cohen, author of the new book “The Day After: How to Wield Power in a Post-Trump World.” (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Richard Chew is joined by Eddie S. Glaude Jr., the James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor in the Department of African American Studies at Princeton University and author of several bestselling books, including “America, U.S.A.: How Race Shadows the Nation’s Anniversaries” (2026). (Find this conversation and many others on the “Richard Chew: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Patti Vasquez and guest co-host Ken Mejia-Beal are joined in studio by Christian Mitchell, former Illinois state representative (2013-2019), deputy governor in J.B. Pritzker’s administration (2019- 2023), and 2026 candidate for lieutenant governor of Illinois (as Pritzker’s running mate). (Find this conversation and many others on the “Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
Ahead of the four-year anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, Joan Esposito is joined by Hadley Duvall, reproductive freedom and abortion rights activist. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Joan Esposito: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
On the fourth anniversary of the Supreme Court’s Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade, Patti Vasquez and guest co-host Ken Mejia-Beal are joined by Amanda Zurawski, reproductive rights activist who was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Zurawski v. State of Texas case. She is also a Free & Just storyteller. (Find this conversation and many others on the “Driving It Home with Patti Vasquez: Featured Episodes” podcast.)
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Joan Esposito is joined by Amanda Zurawski, reproductive rights activist who was the lead plaintiff in the landmark Zurawski v. State of Texas case.
