Minnesota civic radio with a wider lens.
Connections Radio brings local and global issues into patient, values-driven conversation. Its episodes move from St. Paul arts projects to Israeli democracy, Black and Jewish history, women’s leadership, and education pathways in Liberia.
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Connections Radio is a Minnesota-rooted interview show built around civic attention. Laurie Fitz hosts conversations that connect personal stories, public issues, and concrete community work. The show’s center of gravity is action, but its method is conversation. Recent episodes move from the St. Paul Art Collective’s community coloring book and spring Art Crawl to the Great American Think-Off in New York Mills. Arts coverage is treated as civic infrastructure, not just culture-page decoration. A theater episode on Abuelita brings Nathan Youngerberg and Shea Cage into a discussion of family, place, music, and belonging. The show also makes room for professional leadership and mentorship, including women leaders from PRSA Minnesota discussing imposter syndrome, accreditation, career transitions, and the next wave of changemakers. Its social-issues episodes are direct without turning combative. The Jewish Voices series looks at democracy, human rights, authoritarianism, and the relationship between Black and Jewish communities in America. Those conversations are careful with history and plain about conflict. Other episodes reach beyond Minnesota, including Liberia Career Pathways and the link between education, workforce development, health, and economic possibility. The format is traditional radio, but the editorial shape is broader than a public-affairs hour. Guests often arrive with organizations, websites, events, or community projects attached, giving the discussion a practical endpoint. The tone is warm, earnest, and sometimes ceremonial. It can linger over thanks, introductions, and community recognition. That rhythm suits a show more interested in relationship than speed. Connections Radio stands out by treating local arts, democracy, public history, nonprofit work, and neighborhood care as parts of the same civic fabric.
Made for: Connections Radio suits listeners who care about community life, public history, arts, democracy, and practical civic action. It is especially aligned with Minnesota listeners who prefer reflective interviews over debate-show heat.
What sets it apart: The show links local projects to larger public questions without losing the people doing the work. Its range is unusual: art crawls, PR leadership, Israeli democracy, Black and Jewish history, Liberia workforce development, and Minnesota mutual care all fit within the same civic frame.
Connections gives us the chance to examine a wider perspective that may just inspire us to DO something! Engaging conversations will explore both the celebrations of living as well as the challenges we face—stories of who Twin Citians are, what we think about, and what we get out and “do” is the heart of our show. Woven into these stories may be possible innovative solutions, we may address our disconnects, find new ways of looking at our questions, or we may just take time to enjoy who we are and the wonderful ways we are connected. Our show is mostly Twin Cities based, although we do occasionally host national and international guests. Thought leaders, artists, educators, nonprofit advocat…
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Connections Radio turns issue-driven television into thoughtful civic conversation, connecting what appears onscreen with history, institutions and community life.
Connections Radio builds measured, guest-led conversations around civic questions, with host Lori Fitz moving from historical context to lived experience and practical action.
From a St. Paul art crawl to Black and Jewish history, your civic curiosity gets quite a workout.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
Draw Together and the spring Art Crawl bring St. Paul artists into the conversation.
Laurie Fitz welcomes St. Paul Art Collective executive director Marius Kuyawski to talk about Draw Together, a Minnesota community coloring book made by 100 local artists and students. Fitz shows the book, thanks its contributors, and says she owns a copy.
Greta's account of imposter syndrome gives this conversation about women's leadership its clearest moment.
For Women's History Month, host Lori Fitz brings together the past president, current president, and president-elect of Minnesota PRSA to talk about leadership and passing knowledge on.
Education, job skills and family livelihoods meet in a conversation about Liberia's young people.
Liberia Career Pathways asks how education can help young people find work and support their families. Host Laurie Fitz connects higher education with vocational opportunities, and a university professor agrees that both matter.
A Minnesota love letter told through neighbors' acts of care.
Connections Radio calls this episode a love letter to Minnesota, but the stories are about what neighbors do for one another. Lori Fitz and Rick Bernardo introduce people standing up for others, while a song about neighbors being hauled away lends urgency to the question of…
A Black History Month conversation about solidarity, discrimination, and the tensions between Black and Jewish Americans.
Host Lori Fitz opens this Black History Month conversation with the PBS series Black and Jewish in America: An Interwoven History. The discussion takes up a relationship marked by solidarity and division, then gets specific about how discrimination differed for Black and Jewish…
A Black History Month conversation considers cultural collaboration and access to business and education.
For Black History Month, Connections Radio Show brings host Lori Fitz, co-host Sheree Curry and guest Robin together to discuss truth, freedom and justice in Black and Jewish communities. They talk about collaboration and common ground, but also points of tension.
Connections Radio's April 4, 2026 episode centers on the St.
Connections Radio Show frames this March 2026 hour around Women's History Month and the theme Leading the Change.
This episode of Connections Radio Show features Israeli expats and activists discussing their movement to save democracy and human rights in Israel.
Lori Fitz interviews playwright Nathan Youngerberg and director Shea Cage about their world premiere play 'Abuelita' at the Capri Theater.
Host Lori Fitz explores the Great American Think-Off, a civil engagement debate competition, with guests from the New York Mills Cultural Center.
Laurie Fitz, Kennedy Gee, Judy Posse, Dr.
Danielle says Minnesotans can help by "showing up" through rides, food, and home visits.
Connections Radio Show with Lori Fitz centers the PBS series Black and Jewish in America, and Henry Louis Gates Jr.’s four-part project is used to frame Black-Jewish history through Black History Month.
Robin Washington explains why his mother was admitted as one of two Jews and two Black students at Middlebury.
Laurie Fitz and Rick Bernardo interview musician Libby McLaren about the choral connection in building community, joy, and change.
Host Laurie Fitz interviews black director Jeffrey Morris about his positive realist perspective on sci-fi as a mirror for imagining a better future, ahead of his appearance at the Twin Cities Film Festival.
Hosts Laurie Fitz and Rick Bernardo discuss a passion for just peace with guests Joan Deming and Jess Allmeyer, focusing on their visits to Palestine and building bridges between people and the land.
This episode of Connections Radio Show discusses teen events and resources at Metro Public Libraries during Teen-tober, featuring guest Alyssa Stavinski, Teen Services Coordinator for Ramsey County Library.
Host Laurie Fitz interviews climate scientist and author Anna Farrow Henderson about using storytelling to accelerate action on climate change.