(Airs 10/10/25 @ 3 p.m. & 10/12/25 @ 6 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with former Times Union Editor, current Upstate American, Substack columnist Rex Smith, Judy Patrick, former Editor of the Daily Gazette and former Vice President for Editorial Development for the New York Press Association, and Barbara Lombardo, former Editor of the Saratogian and Adjunct Professor at the University at Albany. On this week’s Media Project, Rex, Judy and Barbara talk the new Pentagon rules for journalists, media trust at an all-time low, an interview with special guest Glenn Kessler, former fact checker for The Washington Post, and much more.

Imagine that! WAMC's October 2026 ended so fast (shout out to our members) that your Food Friday host/producer didn't have a show booked. Retired CIA prof John Fischer was quickly called into service. He may have been feverish, or maybe he had just awakened from his afternoon nap. Whatever the reason, the esteemed food, wine, mixology and cheese expert ranted about doing a Food Friday concerning "Hudson Valley beers and gas station convenience food." What the blue blazes?

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are public policy and communications expert Theresa Bourgeois, Former Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick, Former Times Union Associate Editor Mike Spain, and Investment Banker on Wall St. Mark Wittman.

On this week’s 51%, we speak with artist Barbara Benish about how she started the ArtMill Center for Regenerative Arts in the Czech Republic, and how artists continued to work under the totalitarian regime of former Czechoslovakia. Benish came to the Czech Republic from Los Angeles in 1989, just as a revolution overturned the country’s long-running Communist regime. Initially hoping to explore her roots, Benish saw how the arts survived decades of censorship through community, how creativity continued to influence and change society, and how the arts flourished after the revolution. Benish tells the story of this time and the creation of her community in her new book ArtMill: A Story of Sustainable Creativity in Bohemia.