Highlights Archive

SOLD OUT! Celebrate 20 years of “Open Tunings with Scott Regan” • October 29 at Rohrbach’s Railroad Street Beer Hall

Since 2004 WRUR and WITH listeners have enjoyed spending the morning with Scott Regan on his three-hour weekday radio show Open Tunings (and his Best of Open Tunings on Saturdays from 10AM-12PM). In the last two decades, Scott has invited hundreds of local musicians and bands traveling through Rochester and the Finger Lakes area to the studio to perform and share their stories.

Scott loves all kinds of music and artists (Okay, Dylan is his absolute favorite), strongly supports the local music scene, and has an uncanny ability to beautifully string a group of songs together that just seems to make your day brighter. This is why Open Tunings is such a treasure.

Join us Tuesday, October 29 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. at Rohrbach’s Railroad Street Beer Hall to celebrate 20 years of Open Tunings with Scott Regan.

THIS EVENT IS NOW SOLD OUT!

Your $25 ticket includes:
• The Route pint glass – and one pint of your choice to fill it! (Cash bar thereafter),
• Live music with Big Blue House,
• Delicious appetizers from the Rohrbach kitchen,
• The opportunity to meet and mingle with Scott Regan and Route hosts,
• Route swag giveaways, and more.

Scott is also a musician and released his first solo album Autumn Moon in 2013. He is a member of Watkins and the Rapiers, an Americana music band with a folk beat. They mostly play original music written by the band’s four songwriters – of which Scott is one. In the band Scott plays guitar and percussion, and sings. He’s also an artist and released a book of sketches and haiku with retired arts reporter and friend Jeff Spevak called Jazz Lines. In 2012 Open Tunings was voted best radio program by CITY Magazine.

Mysteries of Mental Illness • On-Demand

Mysteries of Mental Illness explores the story of mental illness in science and society. The four-part series traces the evolution of this complex topic from its earliest days to present times. It explores dramatic attempts across generations to unravel the mysteries of mental illness and gives voice to contemporary Americans across a spectrum of experiences.

Watch Video Shorts

Decolonizing Mental Health • On-Demand

The Decolonizing Mental Health series dismantles the racism that underscores the mental healthcare industry. By focusing its gaze on the transformative work of therapists and individuals of color, it calls for redressal of the ways in which we define psychiatric illness and health.

Shawna Murray-Browne | Decolonizing Mental Health: Before Shawna Murray-Browne’s brother was murdered, she dreamt about it. It was a residue from the trauma of seeing so many Black men being killed around her. This turning point in her career as an integrated psychotherapist made her focus on empowering communities of color to access ways of nurture, care, and healing, that the racist-capitalist society keeps away from them.

Lloyd Hale | Part 1 | Decolonizing Mental Health: Lloyd Hale was 13 when his first symptoms of schizophrenia appeared. He was smoking too much weed, he was told. Growing up in the projects, the intersecting matrices of race, poverty and incarceration prevented appropriate treatment while the larger society willfully ignored his welfare. Here’s his story of recovery, resilience and refusal to “sleep it off.”

Lloyd Hale | Part 2 | Decolonizing Mental Health: Lloyd Hale was 16 when undiagnosed schizophrenia led him to commit a crime that put him in prison. This is where he heard an overworked correction officer say the words that changed his life: “You don’t have to do this alone.” Now, a peer support specialist living in recovery, Lloyd spends his time making sure no one around him feels alone in their struggle against the voices in their heads.

Idris Mitchell | Decolonizing Mental Health:Idris Mitchell did everything there was to do on the Yale campus, until a diagnosis of bipolar disorder made him miss his finals, lose the perfect 4.0 and feel invisible. What does success mean to a Black queer man who had to be kept away from his pens? How does he turn around and adapt to a constant process of grieving for his previous self, while always being in pursuit of beauty and joy?

Growing Up Latina

Being a young Latina means living within a vibrant and varied global culture. It also means navigating identity and intersectionality. Rosanna discovers that friendship can cross all borders; Ana describes her last night at home before leaving Cuba forever; and Michele turns lemons into lemonade when she gets busted moonlighting. Three storytellers, three interpretations of GROWING UP LATINA from Stories from the Stage.

First Hand: Segregation • On-Demand

In Chicago, segregation has a profound impact on the city’s residents, touching every aspect of daily life. From disparities in housing, education and healthcare to economic inequality, FIRSTHAND: SEGREGATION illustrates the high cost of segregation, not just in dollars, but in lives lost and unrealized potential.

In the episode, the urgent need to address these deep-seated divisions in one of America’s most segregated cities is uncovered. And through personal stories, we also witness the power of individuals to effect positive change as residents strive for a more integrated and equitable community.

Produced by WTTW, FIRSTHAND goes beyond the headlines to approach this topic differently than most media outlets that report on Chicago crime. This multi-platform initiative focuses on the perspectives – the firsthand perspectives – of people and communities with lived experience.

Available through 12/31/24.

Segregation Scholarships • On-Demand

The untold story of Black Americans in pursuit of higher education in the North when Southern graduate schools were white-only.

The academics – teachers, administrators, lawyers, doctors, and other professionals, who left the South during the Great Migration, returned to the Jim Crow South to apply their knowledge towards strengthening southern Black communities and to help end segregation in the United States. SEGREGATION SCHOLARSHIPS highlights these largely unsung trailblazers and civil rights foot soldiers while illustrating the key role of education in transforming social conditions in the U.S., past and present.

Available through 9/15/29.

American Problems-Trans Solutions • On-Demand

In the United States, Black trans people are among the most marginalized of marginalized Americans. But those closest to the nation’s most pressing problems are often able to craft innovative solutions.

Award-winning journalist Imara Jones travels across the country to meet and share the stories of leaders on the frontlines of change: housing advocate Kayla Gore; Breonna McCree, a champion for economic empowerment; and Oluchi Omeoga, who fights for the rights of migrants. Despite the record-breaking number of anti-trans bills passed in 2023, these three Black trans people are addressing critical issues surrounding economic empowerment and human dignity with heart and vision.

Available through 6/23/29.

Silence in Sikeston • On-Demand

The story of how the 1942 lynching of Cleo Wright – and the subsequent failure of the first federal attempt to prosecute a lynching – continues to haunt the small city of Sikeston, Missouri. Then, in 2020, the community is faced with the police killing of a young Black father. The film SILENCE IN SIKESTON explores the necessary questions about history, trauma, silence and resilience over 78 years. Available through 9/15/31.