Old Mole Variety Hour

Coming Soon

Airs at: Mon, 03/16/2026 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Hosted by:

Patricia Kullberg, Denise Morris, Frann Michel, Laurie Mercier, Joe Clement, Jan Haaken, Jon Nelson, OldMoleVarietyHour

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

Portland Student Union activist, Kate Barnes, on PPS/PAT struggle

Airs at: Mon, 02/24/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Bill talks with Kate Barnes, a student at Cleveland High School and activist with the Portland Student Union. They talk about what's ailing Portland's schools from the student perspective (something the mainstream media does not cover) and how they are struggling alongsi... Read more

Radical Musicology: the politics and music of Pete Seeger

Airs at: Mon, 02/24/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Joe Clement talks with Brad Duncan about Pete Seeger's life growing up as a "red diaper baby", his own communist politics, and vision of a liberatory praxis driven by music. This online version of their conversation contains extra material not aired live because of time ... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour February 24 2014

Airs at: Mon, 02/24/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Tom Becker hosts this Old Mole and we hear a double report from Portland Public School teachers and student activists, a review of the fiction of Anita Brookner, as well as a discussion about the politics of Pete Seeger and his music. Bill Resnick talks with Eliz... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour on 02/17/14

Airs at: Mon, 02/17/2014 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Well-read Red: Neoliberalism and Education, Portland State Edition

Airs at: Mon, 02/17/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

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Well-read Red Frann Michel reads from Henry Giroux about neoliberalism, connecting the more unsustainable than usual mode of capitalist ideology and worldmaking to the defunding and alround attack on universities. In the latter half, she focuses on class struggle at Port... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour February 17 2014

Airs at: Mon, 02/17/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Bill Resnick hosts this membership-drive special and we hear: Bill talk with Barbara Garson about how the 99% experience capitalism today. Movie Moles, Joe Clement & Jan Haaken, review the PBS documentary "Pete Seeger: the power of song". Well-read Red Fran... Read more

Old Mole Variety Hour January 10 2014

Airs at: Mon, 02/10/2014 at 9:00am - 10:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

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Joe Clement hosts this membership-drive special and we hear: Biill Resnick interviews Frances Moore Lappe, coauthor of Diet for a Small Planet. They discuss democracy in every day life, what it means, and its place in broader politics. Norm Diamond interviews l... Read more

Unions and Class Struggle

Airs at: Mon, 02/10/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

KBOO

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Steve Early is the author, most recently, of Save Our Unions: Dispatches from a Movement in Distress, in addition to many other books and articles. He has been active as a labor journalist, lawyer, organizer, or union representative since 1972. Here he talks with Old Mo... Read more

Frances Moore Lappé and Democracy in Everyday Life

Airs at: Mon, 02/10/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

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Frances Moore Lappé, famously the author of Diet for a Small Planet, has been writing and speaking about ecology, democracy, and the way we live for many years. Her most recent book is EcoMind: Changing the Way We Think to Create the World We Want, and she talks here wi... Read more

Marxism inside the Onion

Airs at: Mon, 02/10/2014 at 12:00am

Produced for: Old Mole Variety Hour

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The satirical newspaper The Onion is the purveyor of insights from Marx in such articles as “Laid Off Man Finally Achieves Perfect Work-Life Balance”. This is the claim of Emmett Rensin in a recent article in The New Republic, "The Onion Has Become America's Finest Mar... Read more