- Important News
Closing a Chapter, Honoring a Legacy: Sunsetting FoC Media/International Media Project
Apr 7
For 30 years, Frequencies of Change Media — legally known as International Media Project — has been dedicated to broadcasting audio stories that honor the rich wisdom and lived experience of historically oppressed and marginalized...
"Making Contact" is an award-winning radio show and podcast that digs into the story beneath the story. We examine the most urgent issues of our time and the people on the ground, building a more just world, featuring narrative storytelling and thought-provoking interviews.
Flemmie Kittrell and the Preschool Experiment from Lost Women of Science (Encore)
Dec 10
Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed...
Disability Visibility: Celebrating the Voice of Alice Wong
Dec 3
This episode honors the life and legacy of Alice Wong (Mar 27, 1974 – Nov 14, 2025). We start the show with the Making Contact segment she produced in 2015, exploring the complex relationships between caregivers and care receivers: the...
Exposed Part Two: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point from SF Public Press
Nov 26
The military exposed thousands of servicemen to radioactivity when it called them to participate in nuclear weapons tests, including Operation Teapot in 1955. One was Eldridge Jones, who later deployed to exercises in the Bay Area to try...
Exposed Part One: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunter’s Point from SF Public Press
Nov 19
Today we present the first half of a two-part radio documentary from our friends at the San Francisco Public Press, "Exposed," opening a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned...
Kev Choice: Love, Growth, and the Power of Music (Encore)
Nov 12
We sit down with Kev Choice, a classically trained pianist, rapper, composer, and educator, who has reshaped the Bay Area music scene. Raised in Oakland with San Francisco roots, Kev blends hip-hop, jazz, soul, and classical music into a...
The Way Home (Encore)
Nov 5
We visit two distinct projects working with food to revitalize identity and ancestry: Part one: In many Indigenous communities, there’s a gap in knowledge about growing and cooking traditional foods. On the Blackfeet Nation in rural...
When Survival is Criminalized (Encore)
Oct 29
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so we are revisiting a show from our archives about criminalized survival, the criminal justice system’s long practice of imprisoning survivors of intimate partner violence when...
How the Legacy of Colonialism Keeps Puerto Rico’s Healthcare System in Shambles (Encore)
Oct 22
Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack...
The City Displaced
Oct 15
We return to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels threaten residents, and the climate plan for the city could perpetuate harmful patterns of segregation and environmental racism. With the help of the podcast Wading...
Port City, from Generation to Generation
Oct 8
In this episode, we’ll head to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels are disproportionately threatening Black residents, while the city is also also weathering a housing crisis. We’ll hear about how sea-level...
- Blog
- By Amy Gastelum
- By Anita Johnson
- By Lucy Kang
- By Salima Hamirani
Closing a Chapter, Honoring a Legacy: Sunsetting FoC Media/International Media Project
Apr 7
For 30 years, Frequencies of Change Media — legally known as International Media Project — has been dedicated to broadcasting audio stories that honor the rich wisdom and lived experience of historically oppressed and marginalized...
Gaza: Reflections on a Year of Reporting
Oct 7
Producer Lucy Kang reported Making Contact’s first story on Israel’s invasion on Gaza last November. One year later, the conflict continues to mercilessly destroy families and lives in Palestine and beyond. It’s been reported...
Introducing Frequencies of Change Media (FoC Media)
Aug 13
Hi friends, We’re thrilled to share some exciting news with you: National Radio Project (International Media Project) is evolving into Frequencies of Change Media (FoC Media)! Why the change? Well, it’s simple: We’ve outgrown our...
An Interview with Summer Intern Alex Corey
Jul 26
This was an exciting and eventful summer at Making Contact, especially as we had Alex Corey join us as our summer intern! Like the journalists we are, we had to interview him about his time at Making Contact. Be sure to check out his...
Help Us Support Journalism from Gaza
Apr 3
Click here to donate to our Gaza Reporting Fund! Over the next few weeks, we are running a special campaign to fundraise for our Palestinian colleague Rami Almeghari. He is currently in Gaza with his family as Israeli...
The Way Home (Encore)
Nov 5
We visit two distinct projects working with food to revitalize identity and ancestry: Part one: In many Indigenous communities, there’s a gap in knowledge about growing and cooking traditional foods. On the Blackfeet Nation in rural...
When Survival is Criminalized (Encore)
Oct 29
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness Month, so we are revisiting a show from our archives about criminalized survival, the criminal justice system’s long practice of imprisoning survivors of intimate partner violence when...
Indigenous Intervention: Using Culture in Indigenous Substance Abuse Treatment
Aug 20
This episode was originally published as Culture & Spirituality As Substance Use Treatment in Indigenous Communities. In the late 1990s, psychologist Dr. Joseph Gone, a professor and member of the Aaniiih Gros Ventre tribe, returned...
Mothers, Markets, and Migration: How South Korea Became a Major Source for International Adoptions (Encore)
Jun 18
In this week’s episode, we take a look at how over six decades after the Korean War, South Korea processed the most international adoptions in history and how the demand for a “domestic supply of (adoptable) infants”...
Mabuhay: Welcome to Little Manila in Queens (Encore)
May 7
This episode was originally published on May 24, 2023 as “Queens Memory Podcast: Seeing Signs“ Mapapakinggan din itong episode sa Tagalog (This episode is also available in Tagalog): Today’s episode debuts our...
Kev Choice: Love, Growth, and the Power of Music (Encore)
Nov 12
We sit down with Kev Choice, a classically trained pianist, rapper, composer, and educator, who has reshaped the Bay Area music scene. Raised in Oakland with San Francisco roots, Kev blends hip-hop, jazz, soul, and classical music into a...
Saltwater Soundwalk: Indigenous Audio Tour of Seattle (Encore)
Oct 2
In this special encore episode of Making Contact, we present "Saltwater Soundwalk": Indigenous Audio Tour of Seattle. Produced by Jenny Asarnow and Rachel Lam, this rhythmic, watery audio experience, streams of stories that ebb and...
The Black Panthers in Algeria (Encore)
Sep 3
This story is brought to us by the podcast Kerning Cultures. "Black Panthers in Algeria” tells the story of Elaine Mokhtefi as she landed in newly independent Algeria in the early 1960s and found herself at the center of a...
How Public Schools Are Failing Black Students with Dyslexia (Encore)
Jul 30
Featuring: Geraldine Robinson, Oakland matriarch raising her grandkids Cheryl Theis, Education Advocate, Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund Megan Potente, Educational Therapist and Co-State Director, Decoding Dyslexia...
Why Policing Our Schools Backfires with 70 Million (Encore)
Jul 23
School resource officers are often called upon in middle and high schools to help with routine discipline. But for many children, especially those with disabilities, a law enforcement response to their behavior can lead to the...
The City Displaced
Oct 15
We return to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels threaten residents, and the climate plan for the city could perpetuate harmful patterns of segregation and environmental racism. With the help of the podcast Wading...
Port City, from Generation to Generation
Oct 8
In this episode, we’ll head to Norfolk, Virginia, where flooding and rising sea levels are disproportionately threatening Black residents, while the city is also also weathering a housing crisis. We’ll hear about how sea-level...
El Béisbol Is Where We Shine
Sep 24
On this week’s Making Contact, we talk about baseball with the help of some Venezuelan players living in Peru. In a story brought to us by the podcast In Confianza, with Pulso, we hear about how their hopes and dreams of making it...
Beyond the Glass Wall: Immigrant Rights Post-9/11
Aug 27
The Department of Homeland Security, which includes Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), was created in the aftermath of 9/11. To contextualize what’s happening with immigration today under Trump 2.0, we bring you one...
Crosswinds: Change
Aug 13
On this week’s show, we’ll continue with the podcast mini-series Crosswinds from the University of Virginia’s Repair Lab and producer Adrian Wood. The show looks at the impact of coal dust pollution on Black neighborhoods in...
Flemmie Kittrell and the Preschool Experiment from Lost Women of Science (Encore)
Dec 10
Dr. Flemmie Kittrell was a Black home economist whose research in the field of early childhood education shaped the way we think about child development today. She became the first Black woman to earn a Ph.D. in nutrition and contributed...
Exposed Part Two: the Human Radiation Experiments at Hunters Point from SF Public Press
Nov 26
The military exposed thousands of servicemen to radioactivity when it called them to participate in nuclear weapons tests, including Operation Teapot in 1955. One was Eldridge Jones, who later deployed to exercises in the Bay Area to try...
Exposed Part One: The Human Radiation Experiments at Hunter’s Point from SF Public Press
Nov 19
Today we present the first half of a two-part radio documentary from our friends at the San Francisco Public Press, "Exposed," opening a window into the little-known history of the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The sprawling abandoned...
The Way Home (Encore)
Nov 5
We visit two distinct projects working with food to revitalize identity and ancestry: Part one: In many Indigenous communities, there’s a gap in knowledge about growing and cooking traditional foods. On the Blackfeet Nation in rural...
How the Legacy of Colonialism Keeps Puerto Rico’s Healthcare System in Shambles (Encore)
Oct 22
Almost half of Puerto Rico’s doctors have fled the island over the past decade, leading to a lack of specialists and treatment and incredibly long wait times. And this isn’t just an inconvenience. People are dying from lack...