When Juana Summers moved to Baltimore in 2015 to be with her now-husband, she quickly fell in love with the city’s strong sense of community. The former Politico reporter and National Public Radio correspondent lives on a friendly block in Hampden where the neighbors look out for each other. She says: “What I love about Baltimore is that we can all come together and love the same thing and it doesn’t feel transactional. I like asking people what they’re into, what excites them—and there’s always a cool answer.” She’ll bring that same enthusiasm and curiosity to her new role as a host of NPR’s popular afternoon show, All Things Considered.

What was your start in journalism?
My earliest byline was in The Kansas City Star, which is my hometown newspaper. I started writing for the Teen Star when I was 12 or 13. I remember being captivated by the idea that I could be nosy about people’s lives and that someone would pay me money for it. I started in newspapers and digital media, but I didn’t find radio until I got to college.

What do you think your role is as a Black woman at NPR?
If I can be honest, when I was younger it felt like public radio wasn’t necessarily built for a person who looked like me. I grew up in a middle-class, working-class family in the Midwest and it felt elite and coastal at times. I know that when I turned on my radio and I heard people like Michel Martin doing the news or Michele Norris before her or Audie Cornish who had this job before me, there was a familiarity there. I’m hoping I can be that type of entry point.

Sometimes it can feel heavy to listen to the news. We have been talking about that a lot at work. Sometimes people associate the concept of joy and enjoyable stories with fluff pieces, and I don’t think that has to be the case. As relentless as we can be in covering the news, it’s just as important to center stories on culture, stories about empowerment, stories that make people smile and take people someplace unexpected.

So what are you into?
I help run the pinball leagues at Holy Frijoles. I’ve been playing competitive pinball for six or seven years. It’s the way I’ve met most of my friends. Up until recently, most people I play with didn’t have a clue what I do for work.

How did you celebrate the new job?
The day it was announced, two close friends bought us a crab feast in the middle of the day. I texted my manager and was like, “This has been a very strange day, and I guess in Baltimore, when you get good news, people show up with two dozen crabs, so I’m going to go eat crabs for an hour and I’ll be back.” It was very nice. It was the most Baltimore thing that’s happened to me in quite some time.

By large margins, Maryland residents say they support legislation currently before the General Assembly that would significantly change diverse swaths of longstanding public policy, including the recreational use of marijuana, the minimum wage, education spending, and aid-in-dying. (Among others, retired NPR host Diane Rehm, who has supported aid-in-dying legislation since her husband’s 2014 death in hospice care in the state, recently testified in favor of such legislation.)

Similarly, an overwhelming majority of Marylanders, 86 percent, say they are “very” of “somewhat” concerned with pollution in the Chesapeake Bay, according to the latest Goucher Poll released today. And 62 percent of residents rate the health of the environment in Maryland as either “poor” or “fair” as legislators consider raising the state’s renewable energy targets.

At the same time, the study revealed that important, differing perceptions of racial discrimination and justice among white and black citizens continue to persist. Also noteworthy: A majority of both groups agree race relations in Maryland have worsened in recent years.

“The Democrats in the General Assembly have laid out a robust set of policy proposals this legislative session,” said Mileah Kromer, director of the Sarah T. Hughes Field Politics Center at Goucher College in a statement. “Our poll results suggest that much of their agenda is popular with the general public. Some of these issues, however, are contentious and will face formidable opposition from organized interests on their way to an uncertain fate at Gov. [Larry] Hogan’s desk.”

From the Goucher Poll, which surveyed 808 adults between February 7-12:

Statewide Policy Issues

• 67 percent support raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour and 30 percent oppose it.
• 57 percent support legalizing the recreational use of marijuana and 37 percent oppose it.
• 63 percent support a statewide ban on Styrofoam products such as food containers, plates, and cups and 31 percent oppose it.
• 62 percent support the proposed “aid-in-dying” bill and 31 percent oppose it.
• 64 percent say the state spends too little on education, 24 percent say about the right amount.
• 66 percent support raising the minimum age for the sale of cigarettes and other tobacco products and 31 percent oppose it.

Racial Justice Issues in Maryland

• 39 percent of all Marylanders agree that “people of all races receive equal treatment by the police in your community.”
  • Among African Americans, 18 percent agree.
  • Among whites, 47 percent agree.
• 55 percent of Marylanders agree that “racial minorities face discrimination on the job or at work in Maryland.”
  • Among African Americans, 69 percent agree.
  • Among whites, 47 percent agree.
• 53 percent of Marylanders agree that “race relations in Maryland have gotten worse over the past few years.”
  • Among African Americans, 54 percent agree.
  • Among whites, 54 percent agree.
• 24 percent of Marylanders agree that “the criminal justice system in Maryland treats whites and blacks equally.”
  • Among African Americans, 10 percent agree.
  • Among whites, 30 percent agree.
• 63 percent of Marylanders agree that “racism is a big problem in Maryland today.”
  • Among African Americans, 72 percent agree.
  • Among whites, 58 percent agree.

Early this spring, when President Trump proposed the elimination of federal funding for public broadcasting, WYPR kept its cool. “Every few years there is a threat,” says the station’s program director, Andy Bienstock. 

“What it does is remind listeners how important their support is. In this current news cycle, people need sources they really trust.” To wit, in six short days in March, audience members pledged more than $370,000 in the station’s most successful fundraising drive to date.

But this wasn’t the first time 88.1 FM had to overcome a period of uncertainty. Like in 2002, when its predecessor, WJHU, was sold. Or in 2007, when the station—now WYPR—weathered the financial crisis without laying off a single employee. And then there was the Marc Steiner debacle of 2008, when the host’s dismissal launched an outpouring of audience protest. The station stood its ground and hired Dan Rodricks, who became a hit. 

“We look to the future a lot in this business,” says president Anthony Brandon. “We don’t speculate too much on what we did yesterday.” 

The station has had to evolve in other ways, too, like investing in digital and social media, but even that didn’t go quite as expected. “As we’ve looked at all these new ways of reaching listeners, be it podcasts or Facebook Live, the idea was that regular radio listening was going away,” says Bienstock. “But our numbers are as good as they’ve ever been in our history.” 

Over the past 15 years, the NPR affiliate has grown from a 14- to 41-person staff, with 220,000 weekly listeners and an annual budget of $5.8 million, up from $1.4 million in the final days of WJHU. Programming has remained fluid, with familiar faces like Tom Hall and Sheilah Kast moving time slots, beloved old-timers walking the plank (RIP Car Talk), and new shows joining the lineup, like the Out of the Blocks docu-series and Future City with Wes Moore. 

“The fact that we’re even here talking about this is an incredible success,” says Bienstock. “We never lose sight of the miracle that is public radio.”

The Ground
To May 19. Hutzler’s, 200 N. Howard St. Thu.-Sat. 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Free. 410-756-0397. There are few artistic institutions in Baltimore more avant-garde and awe-inspiring than The Contemporary. In recent years, the nomadic gallery has presented mesmerizing, mind-bending, and moving projects, showcasing the power of art through alternative exhibits. For its first 2017 show, delve into The Ground, a solo commission by New York-based artist Michael Jones McKean, who has transformed the historic Hutzler’s department store into a massive labyrinth and metaphor on “place.” Through replicas, dioramas, and scenes, he explores dichotomies and turns time on its head, merging past and present, human and nonhuman, and material and digital into a future yet to be seen.

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St. Patrick’s Day Parade
March 12. Washington Monument, 699 Washington Pl. 2 p.m. Free. ’Tis the season to celebrate the Emerald Isle, with green beer, green clothing, and the 62nd annual St. Patty’s Day parade. After you run in the annual Shamrock 5K race, make your way to the Washington Monument on Charles Street for a great view of the bagpipers, floats, dance groups, and local officials hoofing it to celebrate the contributions of Irish Americans.

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Off the Shelf: Modern & Contemporary Artists’ Books
March 12-June 25. The Baltimore Museum of Art, 10 Art Museum Dr. Wed.-Sun. 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Free. 443-573-1700. Over the years, artists have gone off the canvas and onto the page to turn books into works of art. At the BMA, explore more than 100 rarely shown “artists’ books” by more than 50 iconic artists, including Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and Baltimore’s own Grace Hartigan.

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Misty Copeland
March 22. MICA, Brown Center, 1300 W. Mount Royal Ave. 7 p.m. $30. 410-396-5494. Since breaking out on the national stage with her memorable “I Will What I Want” ad for Under Armour, American Ballet Theatre dancer Misty Copeland has become an adopted Baltimore icon, and role model for women the world over. This month, at the Maryland Institute College of Art, meet the artist-athlete, hear about her new book, Ballerina Body, and learn the secrets of her envy-inducing calves.

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Terry Gross
March 22. Goucher College, 1021 Dulaney Valley Road, Towson. 6-9 p.m. $45-175. 410-235-1660. Terry Gross, the host of NPR’s Fresh Air, will speak at Goucher, sharing stories and wisdom from her 40-year career (which has included more than 13,000 conversations with the likes of Johnny Cash, Hillary Clinton, Mel Brooks, and Maurice Sendak). There will even be a chance for audience members to turn the tables and ask the expert interviewer their very own questions.

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Harlem Globetrotters
March 25. Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. 2 & 7 p.m. $25.50-124.50. 410-347-2020. With March Madness finally upon us, we’re fully engulfed in all things basketball, and we don’t just mean the NCAA. At the end of the month, see the world-famous Harlem Globetrotters as they dribble their way into town for a winter game with b-ball wizardry and hoop-shooting tricks that are fun for the family.

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Stevie Nicks
March 26. Royal Farms Arena, 201 W. Baltimore St. 7 p.m. $66-600. 410-347-2020. More than 50 years after Fleetwood Mac’s Stevie Nicks wrote her first song, she is still enchanting audiences, touring behind her latest release, 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, a collection of never-before-released gems, some of which date back to her pre-Fleetwood Mac days. This month, Nicks—joined by special guests The Pretenders—will cast her spell in Baltimore.

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Light City
March 31-April 8. Locations & times vary. Free. 410-752-8632. We didn’t know what to expect from the Light City arts festival last spring, but boy, did it deliver. A celebration of light, music, and innovation, the inaugural event contributed a whopping $33.8 million to Baltimore’s economy, and attracted some 400,000 attendees to city streets. Starting this month, with a fresh lineup of installations, musicians, movers, and shakers, we anticipate nine nights that will beam even bigger and brighter than last year.

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Rent
March 31-April 2. Hippodrome Theatre at the France-Merrick Performing Arts Center, 12 N. Eutaw St. Times vary. $48-142. 410-837-7400. It’s been 525,600 minutes—times 20—since this smash-hit musical burst onto Broadway. Two decades later, Rent has become a Pulitzer and Tony award-winning show with beloved characters and an iconic rock soundtrack. A loose adaptation of Puccini’s La Bohème, the story follows seven artists struggling to follow their dreams in New York City.

For many National Public Radio listeners, his voice is a familiar one, coming across the airwaves to tell stories that explain the world to us a little more and find the extraordinary in the seemingly ordinary. Ira Glass, the host of This American Life, returns to his hometown in March for an appearance at Goucher College. He joined us to talk about This American Life’s two decades, the booming podcast scene, and what he listens to.

This American Life turned 20 last year. Can you believe it’s that old?
I do. And I can’t tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing from a marketing perspective to tell people that the show is 20 years old. On the one hand, it makes it seem like an institution and, on the other hand, it seems like there’s no show that’s 20 years old. It just seems like that’s for old people then. I worry saying the show is 20 years old is a way of alienating potential listeners who are 19 and 25.

What do you think has been the most successful part of the show? Has that changed?
We’ve managed to find stories that are interesting enough that people would want to listen, that people continue to listen, and the audience continues to grow. The thing that’s changed is the kind of stories we do. If someone were to go back and listen to our archives, there were a lot more personal stories in the early years. We had a lot more writers come on the air, David Sedaris and other people like that. Now, it’s much more of a reported show, and honestly, [has] much more ambitious, investigative stories, but always with the idea that the story will be told with characters and scenes and a plot. The thing that was true of the show at the beginning was that it was a show where the stories were narratives, very traditional stories with characters, scenes, funny moments, and emotional moments. That was true when we were doing personal stories, and as we’ve taken on more serious subjects and things that are on the news, we’ve kept to that.

Do you think you’ll keep that investigative direction?
I think we’re going to keep that. We’re in the unusual situation now where because of the money we’ve made from podcasting, we have a little money to spend and it’s been nice to be able to spend that money on investigative reporting, to let a reporter or producer work on something for several months before it has to go on the air. It’s a luxury we definitely didn’t have at the beginning. We did a project a couple of years ago where we sent three reporters to a high school in Chicago over the course of five months. That’s a huge investment of time, energy and money. And that’s all because of podcasting, which brings in this new revenue we’ve never had before.

Podcasts have been such a boon, it seems like, for programs like yours. Did you foresee that any of this was going to happen?
Oh my god, just the opposite. It kind of just happened and we witnessed it gratefully, like we were the unusual recipients and holders of a winning lottery ticket. No, it’s very odd that our colleagues in newspapers and magazines, and even network TV news, are experiencing this tightening and one of the few places where journalism audiences are getting larger and where people are interested in long-form, detailed journalism is podcasting. It’s this crazy moment, and I’m grateful that it’s happening.

The business plan when we started Serial was if we could get 300,000 people to download each episode, we could sell underwriting and cover our costs. Sarah Koenig and Julie Snyder just referred to it as this little thing they were doing on the side. There was very much a feeling that no one was going to hear it, and the fact that 8 million people have downloaded every episode and it became a phenomenon unto itself, I wish we could say we knew enough to know that.

Does that change This American Life at all?
It just means we can consider stories with more cursing in them. (laughs) No, the serious answer is it doesn’t change what we do on the radio at all, but it does mean there are certain stories that we come across that we realize, oh, this could be a six-episode podcast, this could be a 10-episode podcast. So we have other things planned and other shows planned that we’ll be coming out with.

Why do you think podcasts have become so popular?
Honestly, I feel like we’re in a bubble right now. It will have to burst. They’re so popular because people are just discovering them and it’s sort of cool and new still, so that’s part of it. And some of the individual shows are popular just because they’re great shows on their own merit. Like Radiolab is a great show, those guys are super engaging, it’s beautifully produced, they pick great stories. It’s built to be pleasing. With a show like ours, what we’re doing is such traditional storytelling. I feel like the reason people like it is the same reason we on the staff like the stories. It’s just fun to lose yourself in a story and what to find out what’s going to happen and the feelings that go along with it. It’s the most traditional kinds of stuff. And then I think there’s a market niche thing. There’s certain times when it’s nice to have a story when you can’t keep your eyes on a TV screen: you’re walking down the street, you’re driving, you’re cooking.

What was it like for you to have the first Serial happen in your hometown?
I grew up within 10 minutes of everything that happens in the first episode. That Best Buy parking lot, that was our Best Buy. Security Square Mall was our mall, [so was] Reisterstown Road Mall, but for a fancy mall it was Security Square Mall. Reisterstown Road Plaza, excuse me, or The Plaza as we used to call it in the northwest suburbs. [Mimics teenage voice] ‘You going to The Plaza? Where’s Karen? She’s at The Plaza.’ And Woodlawn High School was the rival to Milford Mill High School, where I went, so I knew the whole world of it. It was very surreal, it was very strange for me. Especially when Sarah would go driving around, it would be like, oh, you’re driving around my old neighborhood.

What do you listen to? Any podcasts on your list?
Right now, my number one podcast that I like that we’re not making is Reply All, made over at Gimlet, which is one of our ex-producers Alex Blumberg, who started a for-profit company to make podcasts. They’re all pretty good, but that’s my favorite. And my wife is a huge fan of various comedy podcasts. She’ll play me stuff from ones she’ll know I’ll like. And then there are the occasional random shows I’ll start listening to. [Musician] St. Vincent has a music show, it’s not a podcast though, it’s on Apple music, so it’s a little harder to get. People call her up and ask her to make a playlist for a specific person for a specific moment in their life. And then she’ll talk to them on air and play the music for them. It’s just wonderful. For a long time I was a big Marc Maron fan. My nephew just started a podcast, the Creator-Destructor Podcast. It’s about music. If the purpose of this question is to get recommendations for podcasts I feel like my list is very idiosyncratic. But honestly, I haven’t had time to listen to much, or really to see much TV.

You listen to people talk all day long. Do you ever not want to listen to anything?
I do have trouble when I’m at the gym. On the treadmill, I need music to keep going. But I don’t get sick of listening to people talk. I do have a hard time with podcasts that are just people talking, that aren’t edited. When Serial came out last year, there were a bunch of podcasts about each episode, and I listened to a few of them, and I was like, “Oh my god, these people don’t understand pacing. Like, how dare these people do a podcast critiquing a podcast, they don’t understand how to pace a podcast.” It made me so angry that I wasn’t able to listen. I was very curious about what they had to say about our show, I just couldn’t stand it. I was just like, “Pacing, pacing, obey the basic laws of pacing.” I don’t want to seem like some crazy crank. I mean, it’s the golden age of podcasting, there are many, many wonderful podcasts out there. And even some of the podcasts that are just straight up interview podcasts, like Marc Maron, are beautifully made and the pacing is good. But there’s a whole world of podcasts out there where the fact that they can be any length, people don’t completely comprehend what good pacing could do to make them better.

What’s it like for you coming back to Baltimore?
It’s nice. Honestly, I just come in and go from the train station to see my dad and hang out with him. And we’ll go see a movie or we’ll go to the symphony or something, so I basically live in his orbit. There’s a lot of the city that I don’t see very much.

Do you get recognized when you visit?
A little. It’s totally nice; people are very normal about it. Public radio listeners treat me and other people on public radio as some sort of distant friend that they haven’t met yet. People are appropriate and not weird. It’s exactly at the level that a person would want it to be.