Topic: Recreation

Do gory and graphic video games really affect behavior? How did games get to be so violent in the first place? This hour on Focus, host Craig Cohen talks with Craig Anderson, a professor at Iowa State University and the Director of the Center for Study of Violence about what the research shows us about the connection between violence and video games.

Did video kill the radio star? If so, it was with a lot of help from MTV. It's hard to remember that the initials MTV, now better known for reality programming, actually stand for "Music Television." In its first decade, MTV lived up to its name - it played music videos all day, the way a radio station played records. Though music videos had been played on television since the 1960s, MTV was the first outlet specifically programmed around music videos. We'll talk with Craig Marks and Rob Tannenbaum, authors of "I Want My MTV: The Uncensored Story of the Music Video Revolution" about the tumultuous first decade of MTV and the videos that made the 1980s and early 1990s memorable.

Independence Daze: A History of July 4th

In the early days of our nation, July Fourth wasn’t an official holiday at all. In fact, it wasn’t until 1938 that it became a paid day-off. So how did the Fourth become the holiest day on our secular calendar? Historian Pauline Maier offers some answers, and explains how radically the meaning of the Declaration has changed since 1776. James Heintze chronicles early Independence Day Bacchanalia. And historian David Blight reflects on Frederick Douglass arresting 1852 Independence Day speech.

In order to accommodate the Secret Service scandal and the requests of many public radio stations, the Capitol Steps July 4th edition of “Politics Takes a Holiday” will be a full hour. Packed with new songs and more fun than a GSA party in Vegas, the Capitol Steps hope to remind you that if this special influences your vote for President ... yikes, we’re in worse shape than we thought.

With Gary Cziko, Ph.D. (Chair, Champaign County Bikes; Professor Emeritus, Education Psychology, University of Illinois),  and Cynthia Hoyle (Transportation Planning Consultant)

With Michael R. Jeffords, Ph.D. (Entomologist; Free-Lance Photographer and Writer; Retired Education/Outreach Director, Illinois Natural History Survey; Co-Director, the Illinois of Wilds Institute for Nature), and Susan L. Post (Retired Research Scientist, Illinois Natural History Survey; Photographer and Free-Lance Writer; Co-Director, the Illinois Wilds Institute for Nature)

With Decka Beem (Program Coordinator, Champaign Park District), and , and Sonya Lynch (Program Director of Prevention Services, the Don Moyers Boys and Girls Club), and , and Judy Miller (Environmental Program Manager, Urbana Park District), and , and Lynn Peisker (Volunteer Connections Coordinator, United Way of Champaign County)

With John Epifanio, Ph.D. (Molecular Ecologist with the Illinois State Natural History Survey at the University of Illinois, and Research Coordinator, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant), and Patrice Charlebois, M.S. (Aquatic Invasives Specialist, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant)

With Vicki Mayes (Urbana Park District Executive Director), and Michael Walker (Urbana Park District Board President)

David Roberts, writer specializing in mountaineering, adventure and the history of the American Southwest