The Latest Proposal To End The Actor’s Strike – Good Enough Or No Deal?

SAG-AFTRA, the union representing actors, meets with the alliance representing major studios again Thursday for the second time this week. The groups were scheduled to meet Wednesday, but postponed to give SAG more time to weigh the latest proposal from the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP). According to Deadline, the new offer focused on increased minimum rates bonuses connected to streaming success. Are we inching closer to a deal? Joining to discuss is Meg James, senior entertainment industry writer for the Los Angeles Times, and Dominic Patten, senior editor for Deadline. Share your thoughts by calling 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com

The Story Of The Zoellner Quartet, Trailblazing Chamber Musicians Of The Early 20th Century, And Their Close Ties To California

When musician Joseph Zoellner, Sr. founded The Zoellner Quartet with his three children in the early 1900s, his goal was to perform “the highest class of chamber music.” As the quartet would go on to find out, they were not the only ones who could see the quality of their music. Over the following decades, the group would perform thousands of times across Europe, Canada, and the United States, and though they got their start in Brussels, they would eventually settle in Southern California and found the Zoellner Conservatory of Music, which was originally located at 3839 Wilshire Blvd., which is now part of Metro’s Purple Line Extension Project, and eventually expanded and opened branches in Hollywood and Burbank. The quartet is the subject of an upcoming talk at USC, which will be given by Alexandra Foley, the great granddaughter of Joseph Zoellner, Sr., who along with a close childhood friend recently discovered a massive trove of archived photos, music and more in the Special Collections Department of UCLA’s Charles E. Young Library.

Today on AirTalk, Alexandra Foley joins us to tell the story of the Zoellner Quartet and its connection to California, talk about how she came across the archive of her family’s history and share some of the historical blanks she filled in along the way.

Alexandra Foley will be speaking at USC on Monday, October 30th from 3-6 p.m. at the Friends of the USC Libraries Lecture Hall in the Doheny Memorial Library, Room 240. Students from USC’s Thornton School of Music will also perform pieces from the quartet’s original repertoire. 

What The 1968 Presidential Election Can Teach Us About The Upcoming 2024 Race

It might seem odd to think about a sitting president working behind the scenes to help elect a candidate from the opposing party, but as Chapman University History Professor Luke Nichter explains in his new book "The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968.” Nichter draws on interviews with key sources along with the private journal entries of the evangelist Billy Graham -- Nichter was among the first researchers to read them after Graham died in 2018 -- to uncover the story of how and why President Johnson went to bat for his longtime political rival Richard Nixon, who would go on to win the election, outpacing Johnson’s then-vice president, Hubert H. Humphrey, and former Alabama Governor George Wallace. Graham was a spiritual advisor and confidant to President Johnson and Richard Nixon, and Graham told Johnson that if Nixon were elected, he would not only refrain from criticizing him about U.S. involvement in the ongoing Vietnam War, which had deeply divided the Democratic Party at the time, but would even credit Johnson with helping to end it, when it finally ended.. As Nichter explains in the book, Johnson felt that because of this, Nixon was the better person to preserve his own legacy as president.

Today on AirTalk, Nichter joins Larry Mantle to talk about what he discovered during his research of the book, the role President Johnson played in helping to nudge Richard Nixon into the Oval Office and the similarities he sees between the 1968 election and the upcoming 2024 presidential race.

How People Are Reacting To California's New DEI Recommendations For Community Colleges

There are new Diversity, Equity and Inclusion recommendations for California's community college system, which enrolls nearly two million students. The criteria notes that colleges and employees would be evaluated on these antiracist and DEI standards. Not everyone is reacting favorably. Some professors argue the rules violate their First Amendment rights. Others are focused on crafting "equity-minded" interventions that improve the lives of minority students and say reform is necessary. Conor Friedersdorf, staff writer at The Atlantic and the founding editor of The Best of Journalism newsletter, joins to discuss his recent piece on the new criteria, along with Estela Bensimon, retired University Professor at USC where she founded the Center for Urban Education and director of the consulting agency Bensimon and Associates. What are your thoughts? Call 866-893-5722 or email atcomments@laist.com.

World Series Opens Friday With Texas Rangers v. Arizona Diamondbacks

A Rangers-Diamondbacks matchup had 1,750 to 1 odds when wagering opened last fall. But in an era when 12 teams make the playoffs, sustained excellence over the six-month regular season has become a boarding pass, not the journey, leading to a long shot Series that opens Friday night at Globe Life Field. All the glamor teams are watching at home: the Los Angeles Dodgers and Atlanta Braves stumbled in the Division Series, defending champion Houston was ousted by Texas, and the New York Yankees didn’t even make it to the postseason. Instead, Major League Baseball has its third all-wild card meeting, a Grand Canyon vs. Lone Star finale of second-place teams played in air-conditioned ballparks under retractable roofs — potentially the first all-indoor Fall Classic. Texas and the Diamondbacks are both two years removed from last-place finishes and 100-loss seasons. Arizona is a No. 6 seed and Texas a No. 5. Joining us today to help us get excited is Molly Knight, author of “The Long Game” baseball newsletter on Substack. 

TV-Talk: 4 Shows To Watch Including ‘Fellow Travelers,’ ‘The Gilded Age,’ And ‘Neon’

Have you felt completely overwhelmed when deciding what new show to watch these days? Us too. There’s just so much content out there between network tv and numerous streaming platforms. Each week, we’re going to try to break through the noise with TV watchers who can point us to the must-sees and steer us clear of the shows that maybe don’t live up to the hype. This week, listeners will get the latest scoop on what’s worth watching with Kristen Baldwin, television critic for Entertainment Weekly, and Angie Han, television critic for The Hollywood Reporter.

Today’s shows include:

• Fellow Travelers (Showtime & Paramount+)
• The Gilded Age [Season 2] (Max)
• Neon (Netflix)
• All the Light We Cannot See (Netflix)