%s1 / %s2

Playlist: Jennifer Brandel's Portfolio

Caption: PRX default Portfolio image
No text

Featured

What's Manufactured in Chicago?

From WBEZ | Part of the Curious City series | 06:53

Chi-town manufacturing hasn’t disappeared, you just have to know where to look for it.

Avatars-000040049164-9s3esz-t200x200_small

Chicago is a city of big shoulders. A city of industry. A city on the make...that makes stuff.

Those sentiments were crafted last century when we were a beacon of industry.

Jessica Chronister wanted to know: what exactly do we still make here?

She was interested to know what our factories are pumping out.

There's plenty of stuff: The South Side's Ford plant makes cars, mills just over the border in Gary, Indiana churn out steel, and one Chicago neighborhood smells like chocolate for good reason.

We had WBEZ's Susie An look into this. She found a side of local manufacturing that's easy to miss.

B Fleischmann composed the Curious City theme song. Additional music in this episode is by Dustin Wong.

Find more here: http://www.wbez.org/series/curious-city/so-what%E2%80%99s-still-made-chicago-area-107281

What Chicago Aldermen Actually Do

From WBEZ | Part of the Curious City series | 11:45

Pregnancy tests? Pigeon poo? What Chicago aldermen really do
One frustrated Chicagoan wondered what her alderman’s responsible for

Avatars-000040049164-9s3esz-t200x200_small

Our podcast is back for season 2!

Chicagoan Andrea Lee had a problem.

When she looked across the street from her condo building in the city’s Noble Square neighborhood, the 35-year-old noticed that her neighbors had something she didn’t: recycling bins.

So Andrea did what many Chicagoans with neighborhood problems do: She called her local alderman, only to learn that aldermanic power (at least when it comes to refuse collection) ain’t what it used to be.

She asked Curious City:

“If these are the city services that are supposed to be tackled by the aldermen, and this isn’t what they’re actually doing, then what are they doing?”

For the full story and to watch a day-in-the-life video, visit: http://www.wbez.org/series/curious-city/pregnancy-tests-pigeon-poo-what-chicago-aldermen-really-do-107648

Where is the highest point in Chicago?

From WBEZ | Part of the Curious City series | 06:53

The area’s so flat that every bunny hill seems a candidate. But, no, really — where is it?

Avatars-000040049164-9s3esz-t200x200_small

Most of the midwest is pretty flat.

Around Chicago, even a slight rise in elevation for a bridge can seem mountainous in relation to the land around it.

Curious listener Elizabeth Silk asked us: "What is the highest point in Chicago?"

She thought it might be a hill in her neighborhood park. Turns out, it's not. 

But, we got Molly Adams from WBEZ's sister station Vocalo.org to get to the bottom...well...the top...of that question.

B. Fleischmann composed the Curious City theme song.

Additional music in this episode is by Andrew Howes.

Find the full story here: http://www.wbez.org/series/curious-city/sweet-spot-top-chicago-107897

Did a WWII nuclear experiment make the U of C radioactive?

From WBEZ | Part of the Curious City series | 10:03

Um, No. But did the Manhattan Project’s Enrico Fermi consider the risk to Chicago?

Artworks-000045847124-ntmp6c-t200x200_small The world’s first controlled nuclear chain reaction took place beneath the University of Chicago. Curious City's Geiger counter couldn’t detect any radiation footprint from the site. (Whew!) However, producer Katie Mingle looked at whether safety was first and foremost as scientists ran the experiment. wbez.is/Zsh95C (photo: WBEZ/Logan Jaffe)

How much money do panhandlers and street performers make?

From WBEZ | Part of the Curious City series | 10:18

Working for change on Chicago’s sidewalks

Artworks-000050044085-5i2h64-t200x200_small

Melissa asked us about wages for street performers and panhandlers and we got her answers. Scientific? No. Revealing? Yes, especially when you consider that we were warned that street musicians in particular might not want to talk money.

For the full story and to see the video, click here:http://www.wbez.org/series/curious-city/working-change-chicago%E2%80%99s-sidewalks-107567