Old Mole Variety Hour

Coming Soon

Airs at: Mon, 01/27/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Airs at: Mon, 02/02/2026 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Hosted by:

Denise Morris, Frann Michel, Jon Nelson, OldMoleVarietyHour, Patricia Kullberg

Produced by:

KBOO

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Views, Reviews, and Interviews from a socialist-feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial point of view.

Every Monday from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM.

A program of social and political commentary from a socialist-feminist, anti-racist and anti-colonial point of view.

The Old Mole burrows down to the roots of the great issues of our time – the struggles of ordinary people for democratic and sustainable ways of life. The Mole goes where corporate media fear to tread, supporting grassroots challenges to top-down authority and giving voice to movements that shake the foundations of an unjust society. The Moles' perspective is democratic, anti-capitalist, feminist, anti-colonial and anti-racist. We count Karl Marx as a friend but are open to other voices from the left. The show includes analyses of global politics and economics, local grassroots activism, segments on the Left & the Law, and reviews of films, books, music, and theater.

Contributors include: Julian Ankney, Larry Bowlden, Joe Clement, Norm Diamond, Kevin Foster, Jan Haaken, Desiree Hellegers, Patricia Kullberg, Luisa Martinez, Laurie Mercier, Frann Michel, Denise Morris, Bill Resnick, Victoria Saucedo, Sophie Smith, Mike Snedecker, Roben White, Matt Witt

Here is why we call this show "The Old Mole"

For individual segments and more content: View more Old Mole content

Check out our Program Blog

Subscribe to our podcast (see above; search the show name on iTunes; also available on Googleplay)

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Our theme song is the traditional "Mole in the Ground," sometimes performed by Clayton & Ernie, sometimes by Joe Clement, and sometimes blended with other versions, like the one by dj/rupture, sung by Sindhu Zagoren on the album Special Gunpowder, or Blind Boy Paxton

Our graphic lettering is by Charlie Ertola. Host portraits by Clayton Morgareidge.

You can leave comments for the Moles by clicking on the comment section for any of our audio pieces.

Streams:

KBOO Stream 1

Program status:

Current

The Palestine Exception

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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The Palestine Exception, a Portland-based documentary film directed by PSU faculty Jan Haaken and Jennifer Ruth, will screen at Cinema 21 on Jan. 26. As students across the country organize protests against Israel’s war on Gaza, decades-long taboos in academia around critic... Read more

Whites Would Not Like the Real MLK

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Our Well-Read Red, Patricia Kullberg, reads excerpts from an article by Michael Harriot in which he argues that the real Martin Luther King Jr. made White people uncomfortable and intended to do so. And if MLK were not white-washed, White folks wouldn’t like him today. The ... Read more

The Fort Showalter Blues

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Joe Birdsong is a man perpetually out of place. He’s at once too Black and not Black enough. His skin is too dark and his hair too kinky. But he is also teased for talking like a White man. He’s at once color blind and acutely aware of color in a way that penetrates to his ... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour for January 20, 2025

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Public domain image: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Martin_Luther_King,_Jr_.svg Patricia Kullberg hosts this Martin Luther King Day episode of the Old Mole, featuring the following segments: Whites Would Not Like the Real MLK: Our Well-Read Red, Patricia Kullbe... Read more

Former Albina Residents Sue for Compensation

Airs at: Mon, 01/20/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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In December 2023, a team of civil rights lawyers, including Albies, Stark & Guerriero, LLC, Oregon Law Center and Legal Aid Services of Oregon brought a suit against the City of Portland, Emanuel Hospital, and Prosper Portland on behalf of Emanuel Displaced Persons Associat... Read more

Criminalizing Solidarity

Airs at: Mon, 01/13/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Historian Rachel Ida Buff talks with Frann Michel about connections between attacks on encampments in support of Palestine and encampments of houseless people, as well as attacks on other forms of collective solidarity and the commons, including migrant caravans and wate... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour for January 13, 2025

Airs at: Mon, 01/13/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Desiree Hellegers hosts this episode of The Old Mole Variety Hour, which features Criminalizing Solidarity: Historian Rachel Ida Buff talks with Frann Michel about connections between attacks on encampments in support of Palestine and encampments of houseless people, as ... Read more

Eco-Disasters in Japanese Cinema

Airs at: Mon, 01/13/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Eco-Disasters in Japanese Film. Japan has rich traditions of filmmaking and of approaching films as commentary on daily life. But Japanese cinema also offers rich commentary on ecological crises. Jan Haaken talks with University of Oregon professor Rachel DiNitto about her ... Read more

Resisting Google in the Gorge

Airs at: Mon, 01/13/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Since the construction of a Google data center in The Dalles, Oregon in 2006, the city has become a magnet for data centers looking for tax breaks, and cheap energy and water to power and cool them. Beginning in 2021, with representation from the Reporters Committee for Fre... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour for January 6, 2025

Airs at: Mon, 01/06/2025 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Jon Nelson hosts this episode of the Old Mole, which is a re-broadcast from Against the Grain. How should we understand the relationship between capitalists, big and small, and the Republican and Democratic parties — especially in the wake of Trump’s return to power? Sa... Read more