WHYY Radio Sunday Specials

The best specials and series to inform, entertain and keep you company.

Listen Sundays at 6 p.m. on WHYY radio.

June 29
Call to Mind
Each broadcast hour focuses on a timely mental health topic and explores emerging research, shares stories of people living with mental illness, and features interviews with top experts.

July 6
Selected Shorts: Tangled Lives
Selected Shorts host Meg Wolitzer presents three stories about those moments, those situations, those people that pull you in and won’t let you go. These works focus on unexpected encounters that end up affecting a character’s life in some unusual or enduring way

July 13
Adults Learning to Read
A recent survey showed 54% of Americans read at or below a 6th grade level. In our latest Humankind documentary, Adults Learning to Read — available free at PRX. You’ll hear adult learners, experts in educating this population as well as several political journalists explaining the dangers of a “post-literate” society. 

July 20
Steps to Recovery – The History of Alcoholics Anonymous
Steps to Recovery explores the history of AA’s founding in June 1935, including excerpts from films and a play reconstructing the events. Alcoholics Anonymous observes its 90th anniversary in June of 2025. The organization marks its beginning when one hopelessly addicted drunk realized that connecting with a fellow-sufferer would create a safe zone in which both could stop their downward spiral. In this program we examine the AA recovery principles that have promoted sobriety for millions of alcoholics and created a template to help people worldwide who struggle with many forms of addiction.

July 27
Americans Reconnect: Talking Across the Political Divide
At a time of stark polarization, Americans Reconnect: Talking Across the Political Divide offers an antidote to our national malaise: stories of people who model the listening skills and humanity necessary to bridge political differences, showing that Americans are still capable of civility and compassion when they disagree over hot button issues.

This radio program stands out amidst a firehouse of media stories that not only seem to accept polarization as an inalterable truth but, at times, even stoke it. By contrast, this program focuses on solutions to polarization. The production team spent more than a year researching and reporting on how people can maintain relationships despite stark political differences, offering hope for a divided electorate that Americans can still come together.

A partnership with the national nonprofit organization Braver Angels is central to the reporting. The group uses family and marriage therapy techniques to help people bridge political divisions. The insights of Braver Angels co-founder Bill Doherty deeply inform the radio special and are woven throughout.

Reported by award-winning journalist Catharine Richert and produced and edited by Annie Baxter and Lorna Benson. The team has led a year-long reporting project examining polarization – and how to overcome it.