WILL-AM

The 21st Show

The 21st Show

He's a Normal, Illinois native who went to U. of I. and ended up writing music for Sesame Street.

She's the puppeteer behind Abby Cadabby — and she just won an Emmy for it.

They also happen to be married.

Composer Paul Rudolph and puppeteer Leslie Carrara-Rudolph joined The 21st Show to talk about what makes Abby special, how to write music for Muppets, making instruments from found objects, and how puppetry can reach children who've been through tough times.

The 21st Show

Prediction markets such as Kalshi and Polymarket allow people to bet on … pretty much anything … from the future of the Iran war to more offbeat topics, such as whether the government would confirm aliens exist. Today, we discuss their rising significance and the fight to regulate them in Illinois and beyond.

The 21st Show

Walter Braud had a long career in law spanning 50 years- most of it in Rock Island. Beyond his legal work, Braud's life also included teaching, a business proposition in Ghana, a cab ride with members of the Chicago mafia and singing in a doo-wop group. Today, he joins the 21st to discuss his memoir, Bessie's Prayer. 

The 21st Show

Champaign's Ebertfest is coming to an end at least in its current form. The co-founder and the director of the famous local film festival discuss its history, this weekend’s festivities, and the future of the event. 

The 21st Show

For the longest time, Los Angeles has been the capital of the filmmaking industry in America. But that’s been changing in recent years. In Illinois, more than 700 million dollars were spent on film production just last year. Central Illinois has had a share of that.

The 21st Show

It’s been 10 days since faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield went on strike. At issue are pay raises, salary minimums, protections against the use of artificial intelligence in the classroom, and more.

Weather Realness

AI is an increasingly present part of our lives from using ChatGPT to Google Gemini. But, it also has very high energy and water demands that we often don’t think about. 

Weather Realness

AI has the power to make tasks efficient for experts. Learn how scientists are using AI to make weather and climate predictions in minutes.

The 21st Show

Sheryl Weikal’s parents were deeply conservative, and for many years she and her sisters were homeschooled. At eight years old, she had never heard the word “transgender,” but she understood that there was a disconnect between who she was and what she saw in the mirror. She tried to come out to her family as a child. In the years that followed, her parents reacted negatively — and often violently. She writes about that experience and more in her memoir, “I Was An Abomination: A Story of Trans Survival in Conservative America."