The Capitol Steps are stopping in Oklahoma City Aug. 23 on their "Make America Grin Again" charm offensive. Oklahoma City Community College is partnering with KGOU to bring the Steps back with an all-new musical revue parodying news events on both sides of the aisle. Tickets will be on sale beginning Monday, July 16, at this link:

Tickets

Phoenix broils under late afternoon sun

Heat waves are happening more frequently, and average nighttime temperatures are rising even faster than daytime. NPR and local stations are working together to explore what happens when people, animals and plants can't cool down in a summer series, HEAT. Listen next Monday morning, July 16 for the next scheduled report from NPR's Science Desk on heat's effects on the human body and specifically, the brain. The series will continue through the summer on the newsmagazine shows.

HEAT part 1

AP photo

Just months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor  President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, forcing some 120,000 people of Japanese ancestry into "relocation" camps, where they were imprisoned for the length of the war. Two-thirds of them were American citizens.

APM Reports brings us some of their stories in a 3-part series of specials which KGOU will air as our Sunday Radio Matinee over the next three weeks. Actors Pat Suzuki and Sab Shimono -- both incarcerated in a camp as children -- serve as hosts, sharing personal narratives, archival audio and historical context. Tune in Sundays at 12 noon through the end of the month.

Sunday Radio Matinee

What elevates a mere song to the status of anthem is its ability to tap into the collective emotions that listeners and performers have around an issue, whether it's joyful patriotism or rage over injustice.

The stories behind these musical manifestos -- why they are written and how they are embraced -- can reveal much about the cultural pulse of the societies that create, share and celebrate them. Over the next year NPR will zero in on 50 different anthems across a range of themes: patriotic, civil rights, anti-war, female empowerment, sports, mental health and more, in a series named American Anthem. And we want your input too:

What's your anthem?