Sticky Wicket

If you’re like us, climate change leaves you with a lot of questions, and they’re not about the rate of ocean warming — they’re about practical things that affect our everyday lives. So, for us and for you, we created a podcast about it.

Kathleen Babineaux Blanco: a carpet cleaner’s daughter from New Iberia turned school teacher turned stay-at-home mom turned…Louisiana's first female governor. In 2003, her focus was on education reform, juvenile justice, and economic development. And halfway into her first and only term, it looked like she had a good chance at re-election. But that all changed, with Hurricane Katrina.

In 1979, Ernest "Dutch" Morial became the first black mayor of New Orleans. He won the election with 95% of the black vote, and just 20% of the white vote. He campaigned on a platform of police reform, but it wasn’t just Dutch who wanted to re-organize the NOPD – they were organizing themselves. They wanted a union, pay increases, and better working conditions. Soon after Dutch took office, the police wasted no time. They staged their first strike, in history. Their bargaining tool? Mardi Gras.

When President John F. Kennedy was assassinated on November 22nd, 1963, people around the country quickly rejected their government's conclusion that a sole assassin committed the crime. A slew of conspiracy theories took hold, but only one conspiracy theorist transferred his theories into actual arrests. Jim Garrison, District Attorney of New Orleans, was media savvy, and skillfully attracted TV cameras, reporters, and supporters with his giant claims. In 1967, the world watched Garrison insist that he had “solved the assassination.” But who was at fault? Listen to the Sticky Wicket podcast for free! Supposedly a ring of homosexuals in New Orleans’ French Quarter. Namely, Clay Shaw, a retired businessman, preservationist and playwright who was not publicly out. He was arrested for conspiracy to murder the president. Did he do it? Was there evidence to support Garrison? Listen to find out what happened when a city DA abused his power to remain in the spotlight, by any means necessary.

Listen to the Sticky Wicket podcast for free! Huey Pierce Long: you either loved him, or hated him. He had thousands of adoring fans, and fearful enemies. Long went from traveling salesman to Louisiana Governor, and then US senator, through his mastery of the media. Then once in power, he waged a war against it. He rose in popularity through his anti-establishment speeches at rallies and on the radio, and spoke directly to rural and poor people, campaigning for income caps and ‘sharing the wealth.’ His methods though, became increasingly corrupt: attempts to shut down newspapers, physical attacks on journalists, propaganda newspapers, election tampering, and all the while, strongly combatting any alternative ideas to his own. He took this as far as he could, until his own antics paid him the ultimate price. This is the story of one of the most polarizing forces in Louisiana politics, an environment historically riddled with corruption, populism, and cult of personality types. And Huey

Sticky Wicket: Louisiana Politics Versus the Press is a new mini series out of WWNO New Orleans Public Radio and WRKF Baton Rouge Public Radio that takes on four historic clashes between Louisiana politicians and the media, one at a time. These relationships have always been love/hate in the Pelican state. Click on the player above to hear the trailer, and tune in Tuesday, November 13th at 630 p.m. to hear the first episode live on WWNO. Follow Sticky Wicket on instagram at @stickywicketpod . ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sticky Wicket is part of the “Democracy and the Informed Citizen” Initiative administered by the Federation of State Humanities Councils. The initiative seeks to deepen the public’s knowledge and appreciation of the vital connections between democracy, the humanities, journalism, and an informed citizenry. The Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities thanks The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation for their