The Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (MOCAD) is re-opening this weekend after closing last year to perform renovations on the space.

The first exhibition upon its return will feature a slate of local and international artists including the renowned Olayami Dabls. 

Dabls is well known for his African bead museum on the city’s west side. He is also a story teller, sculptor and painter with work spanning 45 years. His exhibition at MOCAD will be a retrospective of his work over that time. 

Dabls joined the program along with the co-director and artistic director for MOCAD, Jova Lynne to discuss it.   

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Technology changes the world around us at a fast pace. So fast, our jobs, the way we communicate, even the way we move around hardly resemble what they were like 10 or 15 years ago.   

Typically, new technology becomes the standard and the old one becomes obsolete. The music industry is very familiar with this.  The songwriters and producers of today create music in bedrooms instead of major studios.

Vinyl records break this rule. In recent years, records have consistently generated the most revenue among all physical music formats. That’s due in part to Record Store Day which molded younger music fans into collectors. They leap frogged cassette tapes and CDs, which were considered more advanced than records when they were released. 

Jeremy Peters, a music business professor from Wayne State University, joined the show to discuss what in the last 20 years catapulted vinyl records back into the mainstream.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Detroit teenagers have been gathering in large numbers downtown over the past few weeks.

On its face, there’s a simple explanation: as the weather warms up, teens are looking for somewhere to be. But there was a time when Detroit teenagers already had those places. So what happened to them?

Pete Saunders, an urban planner and publisher of the Substack The Corner Side Yard, thinks these gatherings are signaling something deeper about how American culture changed. He joined the show to discuss why these teen gatherings are happening  across the U.S.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

The story of retired baseball player Ron LeFlore is one  worth repeating. 

LeFlore was a gifted athlete who refused to let the mistakes he made during his childhood define him. His talent, perseverance and a little luck catapulted him out of his prison cell and onto the Detroit Tiger’s roster for six seasons. He led the league in stolen bases twice and secured a spot on the 1976 All-Star team. 

Although Ron LeFlore’s story has been told before in an movie and an autobiography, author Adam Henig felt there was still more to tell.

In Henig’s book “Baseball’s Outcasts: The Story of Ron LeFlore” he details the former Tiger’s journey from the streets of Detroit to the dugout, and LeFlore’s life after the major leagues. Henig  joined the show to explore some of the lesser known details about Ron LeFlore’s life. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Alissa Graff found out, despite the growing interest in women’s leagues, she would still need to fight for screen time if she wanted to watch women’s sports at her local bar. So, over the last year or so, Graf and others have taken things into their own hands—organizing watch party for women’s hockey, basketball and more.

Now she hopes to open her own sports bar called Bar IX. It’s a nod to the landmark Title IX amendment that, among many things, expanded women’s access in education and sports. 

Alissa Graff joined the program to talk about starting Bar IX and this moment in women’s sports. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

This year marks 150 years of Major League Baseball. In that time, baseball like every sport, has become intertwined with culture in the United States. The rules of the sport have not changed much over the years, but we have. 

In this segment, we discussed the cultural boundaries of not just baseball but all sports. From Jackie Robinson to Billie Jean King, we explored what happens when our society’s most uncomfortable realities  up in the arena.

Bryan Ellis is an assistant professor of sociology at Michigan State University’s Center for Integrative Studies. He teaches about the social science of sports. He joined the program to help us unpack this.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

In 2022, the Supreme court overturned Roe v. Wade which eliminated the constitutional right to an abortion for pregnant people. After the ruling, the number of vasectomy consultations and procedures increased. 

In the first six months after the Dobbs decision, vasectomy rates nationwide increased nearly 60% in men under 30 years old, according to Planned Parenthood of Michigan. Abortions are legal in Michigan. But renewed interest in vasectomies still prompted the healthcare provider to announce plans in January to resume its vasectomy services—ten years after the organization suspended the procedure because they did not have the resources to support it. 

Vasectomies are just one small part of the larger umbrella that makes up reproductive health, so the growing interest among men to undergo the procedure doesn’t necessarily mean men understand more about reproductive health overall.  

Dominick Shattuck, a community psychologist, a men’s health fellow at the American Institute for Boys and Men, and faculty member in the OBGYN department of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, joins the show to discuss how men can take on a larger role in reproductive health.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

In 2020, Detroit DJ and producer Carl Craig was tapped by the Dia Art Foundation in New York City to construct a sound installation inspired by the techno party scene. Party/Afterparty was a deeply personal sound and light exhibition that captured the euphoria of the club environment and the loneliness after parties ended.

Now, Carl Craig is mixing it up by going in a new, more scientific direction. He is the Arts Power Up artist in residence at Michigan State University. The residency embeds renowned artists on the college’s campus to collaborate with the university’s scientists.

Craig is working with a nuclear physics lab called the Facility for Rare Isotope Beams (FRIB). What FRIB does is a mystery to most people, so they brought Craig in to help explain it. His job as a world-renowned artist is to learn what FRIB does, then translate it into a sound-rich art installation so people like you and me can experience it.

Carl Craig joined the show to explain his approach and why he has taken on these art projects.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

For over 30 years, silent films were a major attraction at theaters. The movies relied on visual storytelling techniques and live musical accompaniment rather than dialogue. But in the 1920s “talkies” were born, making silent films obsolete for the average movie-goer. Despite that, the techniques that shaped the genre inspired the work of talkie films since that time.

The Senate Theater aims to honor that history by bringing the silent film era experience to Detroit.

Dennis Scott, a long-time theatre organist and composer joined the show alongside historian and organist John Lauter. Scott will compose for a screening of the silent film “Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans” live at the Senate Theatre. He will also host a hands-on workshop for anyone interested in learning how to play the organ. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

For over a century, women have been playing baseball. Some of the earliest teams can be traced back to the 1890s. For a brief period during World War II, women played in their own league.

It was called the All American Girls Professional Baseball League and was depicted in the 1992 film “A League of Their Own.” That league lasted 11 years.

Since then, all other attempts to start one have fallen short. Will the new women’s league expected to start this summer last?  

Leslie Heaphy, President of the International Women’s Baseball center and Associate Professor of history at Kent State University, joined the show to discuss  the past, present, and future of women’s baseball.  

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Romance books have been growing in popularity over the last few years. Now bookstores are following suit.

Carolyn Haering opened Mon Coeur, a romance bookstore, in Canton, Michigan just last year. The name means “my heart” in French.

Haering says she started the store because she believes the genre allows her to escape into a fun and typically happy story. She joined to discuss her store and recommend books about love.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Since late last year, “Heated Rivalry”—a series about two male hockey players who fall in love— has taken the country by storm. 

The show’s stars, Hudson Williams and Connor Storrie, have made appearances at major events across North America. But before the “Heated Rivalry” story charmed the audience on screen, it seduced its readers as the second book in author Rachel Reid’s “Game Changers” series. 

Now the story represents the cultural moment we are in now: Romance novels exploded in popularity after the pandemic and LGBTQ+ romance stories are becoming more prevalent. To encapsulate the moment, we want to spotlight the queer love stories that came before it.

Queer love stories are not new, and “Heated Rivalry” scratches the surface of the plethora of stories that have been and continue to be written about LGBTQ+ romance.

Erin Bell, the director of the Writing Center at the University of Detroit Mercy and a researcher of women’s writing and literature, joined to help us pull back the layers of non-traditional love stories. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Khary Mason is a multidisciplinary artist from Detroit who has spent much of his life living in a state of cognitive dissonance.

For over 20 years, Mason worked as a member of the Detroit Police Department and eventually became a detective for the city’s homicide unit.

Looking back six years after leaving the department, he considers those training years a form of indoctrination and sees the work of “protecting and serving” communities as a means of controlling them. 

He illustrates these reflections in his new exhibition “Friendly Fire: Scenes of Service, Searching for Safety.” It is on display now at Irwin House Detroit through March 15. Mason joined the program to discuss his journey into service and why he chose to get out. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

It was medals galore for the U.S. winter Olympic teams. American athletes across many sports brought home 33 medals, which is the second-highest total of any country. Women secured 21 of those medals.

These athletes dedicate their lives to perfecting their craft for a shot at securing a medal.

We reflect on the 2026 Winter Olympics while we look toward Women’s History Month and highlight the hard work and dedication these women athletes displayed in Italy these last couple of weeks.

Ketra Armstrong, a professor of sport management at the University of Michigan, joined the show to reflect on the accomplishments of the women on Team USA.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

In the 2010s, the effort to uplift people with bigger bodies shifted online. The Body Positivity Movement expanded its reach with the advent of social media and trendy hashtags. However, that momentum appears to be slowing with the growing popularity of weight loss medications. 

GLP-1 agonists are FDA approved weight loss medications that were approved in 2014 to treat patients who suffer from obesity. Nowadays, the drug is in high demand. The percentage of U.S. adults who use it doubled from 2024 to 2025. At the same time, obesity rates in the U.S have been declining since 2022.  Could this be the end of the body positivity movement of this era? What does embracing weight loss drugs say about the shifting standards of beauty in the U.S?

Randy Seeley is the director of the Michigan Nutrition Obesity Research Center at the University of Michigan. He is also a paid consultant to pharmaceutical companies Lilly and Novo which manufacture drugs like Zepbound, Mounjaro and Ozempic. He joined the program to explain how GLP-1s are being used for both health and vanity.

Then Kendrin Sonneville, an associate professor and Chair of Nutritional Sciences at the University of Michigan joined to talk about how GLP-1 medications are changing the way we view bigger bodies. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

For practicing Catholics, today is the last day to indulge in some of your favorite snacks and treats before lent—and a Paczki might be the sweetest snack of all.

Fat Tuesday or Paczki day has become a staple celebration in metro Detroit since Polish immigrants first migrated here in the 1910s. Michigan is home to over 740,000 Polish Americans. Only New York and Illinois have more.

Most Polish immigrants originally lived in the city of Hamtramck, but after the Dodge Main factory in closed, many moved to suburban cities like Warren and Sterling Heights.

George Kurzatkowski is a board member of the American Polish Cultural Center in Troy. He joined the program to discuss Polish culture and history, and the meaning behind Paczki day. 

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

The Negro Leagues are widely credited with revolutionizing baseball. 

The aggressive, scrappy, base-stealing style of play was an attraction for fans of all backgrounds. The league’s founder, Rube Foster, was largely responsible for introducing that mentality and bringing the league to its early success. After Foster passed in 1930, the league continued to innovate for nearly two decades. During that time, the league pioneered night games, fielded some of sports greatest players and broke the color barrier. 

Bob Kendrick, the President of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, joined the show and details the Negro league’s lasting legacy in baseball, in sports and in American culture.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro

Research shows that people who frequently socialize are more likely to participate in politics — to vote, attend meetings, and financially contribute to a cause.

So what does it actually take to get people out into the world and enjoy each other’s company? What are the barriers, and what breaks those barriers down?

Ian Solomon is an artist, journalist, and organizer. He’s the founder of Amplify Outside, which works to get Black Michiganders into outdoor spaces. Ian also hosts the PBS series “Ian Outside” on Great Lakes Now and recently joined Planet Detroit as its outdoors reporter. He joins the program to discuss what it looks like to build community power.

Rube Foster was a pioneer in American baseball. His efforts in the early 20th century to organize Black baseball teams sparked professional Negro Leagues. The league’s style of play, the players, and the business model would go on to arguably alter the course of U.S. history. 

Bob Kendrick, president of the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in Kansas City, Missouri, joined the show. He describes how Foster’s grit and business savvy tactics turned a fractured era in baseball into a lasting pillar of America’s favorite pastime.

Listen to The Metro weekdays from 10 a.m. to noon ET on 101.9 FM and streaming on demand.

Subscribe to The Metro on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, NPR.org or wherever you get your podcasts.

More stories from The Metro