WAMU 88.5FM American University Radio

Affinity Lab

There's something inspiring about entrepreneurs - always coming up with new ideas and struggling against the odds to bring them to life. But where do THEY go for inspiration? It's not easy to stay motivated when you're working out of a bedroom at mom's house or a cramped apartment. Robbe Richmond, Berret Osky and Charles Plank know this from personal experience. So they knew they were on to something when they came up with the idea for "Affinity Lab" in DC's Adam's Morgan neighborhood. They say it's more than a center for your computer, faxing and copying needs. It's a co-operative for young entrepreneurs. WAMU's Vince Pearson stopped in for a visit and came back with this profile.

Call Box Art

If you live in DC you probably pass an old police and fire "call box" everyday. There are 15-hundred of them on streets around the city. Police officers walking the beat used the telephones in these structures to call headquarters and pedestrians could signal the fire department to report a fire. But modern technology - two-way car radios and walkie-talkies - rendered them useless. They were officially retired in 1976 and then they sat on the sidewalks, their skeletal remains deteriorating over the years. But many neighborhoods in DC are turning these skeletons from yesteryear into expressions of history and art. Jacquie Gales Webb reports.

D-Day

It was one of the most significant moments of the 20th Century. On the morning of June 6th, 1944, Allied troops landed on the beaches of Normandy in German-occupied France. During World War II, WAMU's Fred Fiske served as an aerial gunner and a radio operator in the 8th Air Force. Fred flew 30 missions over France and Germany as part of a B-24 crew and brought home a Distinguished Flying Cross and four Air Medals. His squadron leader was Jimmy Stewart.

Sunday is the 60th anniversary of D-Day. And today Fred joins us to remember the invasion and to share some of his memories of World War II.

Nature with Mark Garland

We've been hearing PLENTY about those 17-year cicadas over the past month...but what about the other bugs and animals that make the Washington region such a fascinating place to live? I met naturalist Mark Garland at the National Zoo this week where he introduced me to a group of feathered residents that have formed their own informal exhibit space on the zoo grounds.

Commentary by Jim Helein

Although he hasn't stepped into a classroom in over 20 years, Commentator Jim Helein is very glad that the school year is coming to an end. His daughter is finishing kindergarten this year and Jim says he’s more than ready for summer vacation.

Commentator Jim Helein lives in Northern Virginia where he will spend the summer trying NOT to think about how his youngest daughter starts pre-school in September and will need to show up clean and fully dressed.