Something Offbeat

This week, we're tackling three questions. The first question: How much can humans actually be genetically engineered? The second question: Are people kinder or meaner than they were 20 years ago? And the third… do you want to jam with a 1,000-person rock band? You might have a chance to in January. Featuring audio from KCBS' Bay Area All Local, WCCO's Chad Hartman and WWL's Scoot.

We're starting off today's show up in space, then making our way back down to Earth with moon water, where we'll have to deal with rat infested cities and robots. A full schedule! Special thanks to WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, The Dave Glover Show out of KMOX in St. Louis, the Dana & Parks Show out of KMBZ in Kansas City and A New Morning out of WBEN in Buffalo.

Happy Halloween Offbesties, and welcome to a spooky edition of Something Offbeat's weird news roundups. Today, we're focused on, you guessed it, Halloween headlines, from adult-o-ween to the changing face of Satanic Panic to pumpkin mishaps and freaky magicians.

This week, our stories have a bit of a theme. They're all about feeling a rush – from that stomach-dropping sensation you get while riding a roller coaster to the joy of perfectly shucking an oyster to… some more questionable ways to live on the edge. With audio from Scoot and Tommy Tucker from WWL in New Orleans, the Dana & Parks Show from KMBZ in Kansas City and the Dave Glover Show from KMOX in St. Louis.

This week, we're taking a deep dive into the spooky side of artificial intelligence as we gear up for Halloween. We'll hear about the news that people will soon be able to use ChatGPT to order from Walmart from KCBS Radio's Bloomberg Tech and Business report out of the Bay Area and about the dangers of getting in too deep with an AI companion from WBBM Newsradio's the Noon Business Hour in Chicago. We'll also check out a discussion about legislation that would make it illegal to marry AI from the Dave Glover show out of KMOX in St. Louis and about an AI-themed haunted house from WWJ in Detroit. Finally, we'll check in with the Dana and Parks Show from KMBZ in Kansas City on the results of a scary, smelly survey that might reveal why some of us are turning to the embrace of AI.

"Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers interviews a woman who has kept her fridge running for decades on this "Other Side of the News" dispatch.

We're travelling to the bottom of the Great Lakes to explore a notorious shipwreck on this episode with an interview from WWJ Newsradio in Detroit, then heading south to Louisiana where WWL's Tommy Tucker digs into the dangerous and sometimes deadly feral hog infestation and finally to the bear-filled forests of the Ozarks, where the Dana & Parks Show out of Kansas City said multiple attacks have recently been reported.

In this "Other Side of the News feature from "Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers, he talks to a woman offering dignity in an unusual place to wash up for those experiencing homelessness.

On this "Something Offbeat" weird news roundup, you'll hear about cat fed to a snake from WWL's Scoot, a man pretending to be a higher schooler from the Dana and Parks Show out of KMBZ and new road rage data from WCCO's Adam and Jordana.

On this "Other Side of the News" report, Mike Rogers interviews an orchestra of chainsaws.

This week's "Something Offbeat" news roundup covers a teaching assistant arrested for fart spray from the Dana & Parks Show, The Dave Glover Show's take on this week's non-rapture, and a history of prediction failures from Scoot.

In this "Other Side of the News" dispatch, host Mike Rogers interviews a man who beat the top Donkey Kong score -- twice.

Here's another "Something Offbeat" roundup of weird news. This week, we've got more alien headlines from The Dave Glover Show, a nurse who was fired for reporting babies switched at birth from the Dana & Parks Show and and the offbeat origins of shock rock with Alice Cooper and WWL's Scoot.

Mike Rogers speaks to a man who is helping to connect telecommunication "dead zones" with pay phones on this "Other Side of the News" clip.

What would really happen if we made contact with alien life? How would our lives change? Would we even still BE alive? And most importantly… what would happen to the stock market? Dr. Avi Loeb joined host Mike Rogers on "Something Offbeat" to discuss what's different about the 3I ATLAS comet currently making its way through our solar system, and the implications it could have for us here on Earth.

In a potential landmark discovery, NASA says its Mars rover has found potential signs of ancient microscopic life on the Red Planet. For details, WWJ's Tracey McCaskill was joined live by Mike Narlock, Head of Astronomy at Cranbrook Institute of Science in Bloomfield Hills. (Photo: Getty Images)

Here's a preview of Mike Rogers' longer interview with Harvard Dr. Avi Loeb, out this Friday from the "Something Offbeat" podcast. Loeb thinks there are some things about a comet moving through our solar system that indicate it could be intelligently directed (an alien spacecraft?).

Catch up on weird news from this week with a roundup from the "Something Offbeat" podcast, featuring stories from KMOX's The Dave Glover Show, KMBZ's the Dana & Parks Show and KDKA's the Big K Morning Show.

Mike Rogers learns about a rhinoceros who learned how to play piano on this "Other Side of the News" segment.

"Something Offbeat" is back with a roundup of weird news. This week, we've got stories from Los Angeles to Stonehenge from The Dave Glover show on KMOX, the Dana and Parks show on KMBZ and KNX News' LA Local.

Host Mike Rogers speaks with a woman about attending strangers' weddings for a fee.

This week, we go on another tour of weird news from Audacy stations across the country.

"Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers interviews a man working on deleting much of his digital footprint.

As back-to-school season gets into gear, "Something Offbeat" rounds up news about Gen Z from KMOX's The Dave Glover Show, WCCO's Adam & Jordana and KMBX's Dana & Parks.

"Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers talks to a man who loves Chick-fil-A more than you do. Probably.

This week "Something Offbeat" checks out news from Audacy's WCCO, KMBZ and WWL.

In this "Other Side of the News" dispatch, Mike Rogers learns about Monty, the blues-singing donkey.

"Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers unpacks the Coldplay kiss cam scandal with Paul Keable, Chief Strategy Officer at Ashely Madison.

In this "Other Side of the News" dispatch, Mike Rogers talks to a man taking a tiny car across the U.K.

"Something Offbeat" goes on a tour of strange news out of Audacy stations in New Orleans, La., Kansas City, Mo., and Detroit, Mich.

On this dispatch from Mike Rogers' "Other Side of the News", he covers Mt. Everest of bananas in Westmont, IL.

This week, "Something Offbeat" checked in on weird news from Audacy stations around the country.

Mike Rogers speaks with Jim Pappas, a man who has been on a cheesesteak adventure.

This week, "Something Offbeat" brings you weird stories from New Orleans, Kansas City and the Twin Cities about stinging ants, a surprising potential treatment for male pattern baldness and our attitudes about wealth in the U.S.

Earlier this year, Audacy reported on the California Institute of Integral Studies' new accredited bachelor's degree in psychedelic research, the first of its kind in the United States. For this episode, host Mike Rogers spoke to Jim Grigsby executive director of the CU Denver Center for Psychedelic Research about the growing field of psychedelic research.

This week on "Something Offbeat", we round up weird news covered by KMOX's The Dave Glover Show, KMBZ's Dana and Parks Show and WCCO's Adam and Jordana.

Today, we're starting off with a story our host Mike Rogers covered this week on his daily “Other Side of the News” feature. Then, we'll get some dispatches from Detroit and Chicago.

On this episode, we check in with "Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers' "Other Side of the News" reports and get a preview of our next Something Offbeat on degrees in psychedelics.

"Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers has been bringing the "Other Side of the News" to listeners for decades. Now, you can catch up on his dispatches here! This week, we check out a man who is on a Six Flags diet, a new construction-themed theme park and the darkest night sky we could find.

"Something Offbeat" host Mike Rogers has been bringing the "Other Side of the News" to listeners for decades. Now, you can catch up on his dispatches here! First up, we check out a U.S. playdate between the largest and smallest dogs and then head to the U.K. for tips on how to handle a 24-hour pub crawl and and to learn about using asparagus to peek into the future.

One new mom in Philadelphia took her trip to first time motherhood slow and steady. She – a Santa Cruz Galapagos tortoise – waited until she was 97 years old. Host Mike Rogers talked with Lauren Augustine, curator of reptiles and amphibians at the Philadelphia Zoo, all about Mommy and her new tortoise babies, named after the “Golden Girls”.

In this episode, we dive into research into how the costs add up to $4,000 for Gen Z. We talked to Aleksandra Medina - one of the founders of Frich, a financial app for Gen Z - about break ups and other spending trends they've noticed.