Coming up on Get the Funk Out September 30th at 9:30am pst: Madeline Halperin Robinson, the Director of Digital Communications at the Center for Reproductive Rights, returns to KUCI 88.9fm

I’m excited to welcome Madeline Halperin Robinson of the Center for Reproductive Rights back to Get the Funk Out. Madeline joined me during the Daisy Chain Festival, but our conversation was brief, so I’m thrilled to have her back for a deeper conversation.

We’ll talk about what it was like for Madeline and her team to be part of Daisy Chain, the response they received from people who came out to meet them, the conversations that stayed with her, and the impact of bringing people together around community, advocacy, and change.

We’ll also learn more about the Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization that uses law and advocacy to advance reproductive rights around the world. The Center has been involved in major reproductive rights cases in courts around the world, including every major U.S. Supreme Court abortion case.

Tune in as we continue our conversation about connection, community, advocacy, and the people doing meaningful work to create change.

Madeline Halperin Robinson joins me on Get the Funk Out — don’t miss it!


Madeline Halperin Robinson
Center for Reproductive Rights

Madeline Halperin Robinson of the Center for Reproductive Rights, an organization that uses law and advocacy to advance reproductive rights around the world.

The Center has been involved in major reproductive-rights cases in courts around the world, including every major U.S. Supreme Court abortion case.

Learn more:
Center for Reproductive Rights


The Center for Reproductive Rights is a legal advocacy organization that uses the power of law around the globe to protect reproductive health, self-determination, and dignity as basic human rights. The Center has worked since 1992 to transform how reproductive rights are understood by courts, governments, and human rights bodies. This organization fights in the courts and in legislatures to ensure that patients have access to life-saving and essential maternal health care, from contraception to abortion. The Center has also fought to put an end to other harmful policies and practices seen across the globe, including forced sterilization and child marriage.


Since Roe v. Wade was overturned in the U.S., the Center has taken 11 states to court for passing abortion bans and have challenged additional abortion restrictions in states where abortion is legal. Abortion is an essential part of health care and we know families suffer physically, emotionally, and financially when they can't access it. It's why most Americans support abortion access. They understand just how important it is that every patient has the right to make medical decisions about their bodies.

Coming up September 30th at 9:15am - The Power of Second Chances: Linda Freund on Storytelling, Resilience, and The Window on Death Row

What if a death sentence gave you a second chance at life? The story of Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard exonerated from U.S. death row, challenges our beliefs about justice, faith, and forgiveness.


Synopsis:

“I would have been dead today if I hadn’t gone to death row.”

Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard ever exonerated from U.S. death row, was once a supporter of capital punishment until, at 24, he was convicted of a double murder in Florida. He spent more than five years behind bars, three on death row. Two decades after he was exonerated, Joaquín transforms his trauma into advocacy.

The Window on Death Row explores urgent questions: What happens when we almost execute an innocent man? Is closure possible for the victims’ families? And how do we reconcile the contradiction that facing a death sentence, even an unjust one, can paradoxically lead to a second chance at life?

Director: Linda Catherine Freund
Executive Producer: Mike Farrell (Actor & Activist)

Watch the Trailer

Joining us at 9:15am is award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist Linda Freund, director of The Window on Death Row, a powerful, documentary that explores wrongful conviction, faith, forgiveness, and the extraordinary capacity of the human spirit to find meaning after unimaginable trauma.

The film tells the story of Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard ever exonerated from U.S. death row. Convicted of a double murder in Florida at the age of 24, Martínez spent more than five years behind bars, including three years on death row, before being acquitted in 2001. More than two decades later, he reflects on his experience and transforms his personal trauma into public advocacy.

Rather than following a traditional true-crime narrative, Freund takes a deeply human approach, examining the psychological and spiritual aftermath of incarceration and raising profound questions about justice, redemption, forgiveness, and the possibility of beginning again.

Freund's impressive career spans documentary filmmaking and international journalism. She most recently served as a senior video journalist at The Wall Street Journal and was a journalism fellow at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture and Brandeis University's Chaplaincy Innovation Lab. Earlier in her career, she reported from conflict zones across South Asia and East Africa.

Her previous documentary, The Migrant Priest (2022), was filmed in Italy and explores the experiences of a priest working with migrants.

For The Window on Death Row (2025), Freund served as director, writer, producer, and editor. The film also features actor and activist Mike Farrell (MASH*) as executive producer.

The documentary has received recognition at several international festivals, including the Grand Prize Audience Choice Award for Best Short Documentary at the 2025 Rhode Island International Film Festival, the Immaculate Heart Community Filmmaker Award at LA Shorts International Film Festival, and Best Documentary at the 2025 LA Femme International Film Festival.

Join us for a conversation with Linda about the power of storytelling, the complexities of the human experience, and how we find hope, purpose, and humanity even in the darkest of circumstances.

Details on the event in LA: 

https://stcamilluscenter.org/events/the-window-on-death-row-film-screening-and-dialogue

 

More information on the San Quentin Film Festival via Instagram: 

https://www.instagram.com/p/DdjI0ZbFZMU/?stkn=MWd1dWcyY2o2M2Npcw==

PRESS RELEASE
Renowned actor, producer and human rights advocate Mike Farrell, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on “M*A*S*H*,” has joined the Oscar-qualifying documentary “The Window on Death Row” as executive producer. A leading voice against capital punishment, Farrell has championed human rights for more than three decades. He has been president of the non-profit advocacy organization Death Penalty Focus since 1994.

Written, directed and produced by Linda Freund, “The Window on Death Row" is campaigning for best documentary short at the Academy Awards. The film tells the story of Joaquín José Martínez, the first Spaniard exonerated from the U.S. death row who was once a supporter of capital punishment until, at age 24, he was convicted of a double murder in Florida. He spent more than five years behind bars, three on death row. The case pitted U.S. policy against that of the European Union, which bans the death penalty. Nearly 20 years after his exoneration, Martínez transforms his personal trauma into public advocacy. His Catholic faith and relationship he built with his death row chaplain Dale Recinella are central to his healing. Yet even in freedom, redemption proves complex. “I would have been dead today if I hadn’t gone to death row, the way that I was living,” Martínez says.

Farrell calls the film “unusual, touching and very inspiring,” praising its powerful, life affirming approach. “The possibility of someone rising out of the depths of despair to become not only a thoughtful but a caring, gentle and humane human being is one of the beauties of this film,” he says. "This film is really a prayer—one those who watch it will profit from.” 

According to Freund, “The Window on Death Row” resists the true crime formula that saturates streaming platforms and podcasts. “That approach turns viewers into the judge and jury, and in doing so, reduces prisoners or exonerees to an ‘it.’ Guilty until proven innocent. This is a story about faith, second chances and what it means to hold onto love, forgiveness and humanity in a place built to extinguish all three.”

Linda Freund is an award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalist based in Barcelona. Prior to “The Window on Death Row” (2025, Spain), she directed the documentary “The Migrant Priest” (2022, Italy). Most recently, she was a senior video journalist at The Wall Street Journal. Previously, she reported from conflict zones across South Asia and East Africa. Mike Farrell has been an active figure in the U.S. movement to abolish the death penalty for decades and serves as president of the board of Death Penalty Focus. When challenging the death penalty, he says the real question “isn’t whether death row inmates deserve to live, but do we deserve to kill?”

In 2025, more than 40 people have been executed in the United States, the highest number in a decade, even as public support for capital punishment declines. “The Window on Death Row” provokes the question: If even one innocent person can be condemned to death, what does that say about the integrity of the justice system itself? “The Window on Death Row” had its world premiere in August 2025 at the Flickers’ Rhode Island International Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prize Audience Award for Best Documentary. The film also received the Best Documentary Award at the La Femme International Film Festival and the Immaculate Heart Community Filmmaker Award at the LA Shorts International Film Festival.

There will be a special FYC screening of “The Window on Death Row” on Tuesday, November 18th at the New York Film Academy Screening Room, 3300 W. Riverside Drive, Burbank, CA 91505. The screening will begin at 7:30PM with a Q&A to follow, with Freund and Farrell, moderated by radio and television commentator Mr. Mo’Kelly (“The Mo’Kelly Experience”).  

From the NFL to the Opera Stage: Ta’u Pupu’a and Mark Harris on Reinvention, Resilience, and The Platform | September 30 at 9 AM

The former Cleveland Browns defensive lineman and Juilliard-trained opera tenor joins Janeane to discuss his extraordinary journey, the award-winning short film The Platform, and the courage to begin again when life takes an unexpected turn.

From the NFL to the Opera Stage: Ta’u Pupu’a and Mark Harris on Reinvention, Resilience, and Finding Your Voice

What happens when the future you’ve worked your entire life to achieve suddenly disappears? For Ta’u Pupu’a, a devastating injury ended his professional football career before it truly began. Drafted by the Cleveland Browns in 1995, the former NFL defensive lineman faced an unexpected crossroads that would ultimately lead him from the gridiron to the world’s opera stages.

In this episode of Get the Funk Out, I sit down with Ta’u and filmmaker Mark Harris to explore the extraordinary story behind The Platform, an award-winning 10-minute narrative short inspired by Ta’u’s life and directed by Mark.

Born in Tonga and raised in a working-class family in Utah, Ta’u eventually moved to New York, where he pursued a long-buried passion for singing. With determination, discipline, and encouragement from legendary soprano Dame Kiri Te Kanawa, he earned a full scholarship to The Juilliard School and went on to build an international career as an opera tenor.

Now, Ta’u revisits that pivotal chapter of his life in his first-ever acting role, portraying his younger self in a film that explores identity, faith, loss, and the courage to begin again.

Mark shares the inspiration behind bringing Ta’u’s story to the screen, the creative journey of making The Platform, and how the film reflects his own return to narrative filmmaking. Together, we discuss the parallels between their experiences, the unexpected turns that shape our lives, and the power of redefining success when the path ahead looks nothing like the one we imagined.

We also talk about the film’s growing festival recognition, including its Best Drama win at the LA Shorts International Film Festival and its selection for the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Pacific Rim program.

Because sometimes the end of one dream is simply the beginning of another.

Ta’u Pupu’a - a former NFL defensive lineman whose career ended before it really began, prompting him to reinvent himself as a Juilliard-trained opera singer with an international career. He is now the subject of The Platform, an award-winning short film from Southern California writer-director Mark Harris, which has been selected for the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Pacific Rim program. I’d love to get your thoughts on setting up an interview with Ta’u and/or Mark around the festival.

Ta’u’s story is pretty remarkable. A Tongan immigrant who reached the NFL before a devastating injury ended his football career in his first game with the Cleveland Browns, he was forced to rebuild his life from scratch and ultimately found an entirely new voice as an opera singer. In the film, Ta’u portrays his younger self in his first-ever acting role, bringing unusual authenticity to a story he actually lived.

There’s also a strong Southern California connection behind the film. Writer-director Mark Harris earned his MFA from USC’s School of Cinematic Arts, and The Platform was produced by an LA-based creative team. After years building a successful career in unscripted television, Mark returned to narrative filmmaking with this project, creating a personal parallel with Ta’u’s own second act.

The Newport Beach selection continues a strong run for the film. The Platform made its world premiere at the Cleveland International Film Festival before returning to Southern California for LA Shorts, where it won Best Drama at the festival’s 30th anniversary edition. Its selection for NBFF’s Pacific Rim program feels particularly fitting given Ta’u’s Tongan roots and the cultural identity woven through his story.

Mark and producer/co-writer Monica Foley plan to be in Newport Beach for the festival, and Ta’u is also available for interviews. Ta’u’s story has already connected with audiences well beyond the festival circuit, with recent features and interviews from Access Hollywood, KTLA, KCAL, and more.

HOPE IS ALWAYS IN THE AIR: KUCI Hosts Share What Gives Them Hope on World College Radio Day Friday October 2nd

World College Radio Day is October 2!

LISTEN=>: Hope Is Always in the Air —
“What Brings You Hope?” Featuring KUCI Hosts

College radio is more than music. It’s a place where voices are heard, new artists are discovered, unexpected conversations happen, and communities come together.

At KUCI 88.9 FM, we believe in the power of radio to connect us — to music, ideas, artists, storytellers, and most importantly, to each other.

For me, hope is always in the air. I feel it every time a new host comes into the station, a listener calls or sends a message, an artist or guest shares their story, or a song creates a connection between people who may never meet.

On World College Radio Day, we’re celebrating the power of college radio and the people who make it possible — our DJs, producers, guests, artists, volunteers, and listeners.

Tune in. Turn it up. Find something new.
And remember: connection is always on the air.

KUCI 88.9 FM | Irvine, CA
#WorldCollegeRadioDay #CollegeRadio #KUCI #KUCI889 #SupportCollegeRadio #CollegeRadioDay #RadioConnectsUs #HopeIsInTheAir

Tune in Wednesday, September 23rd 9:30am for an inspiring conversation with Kris Evans, an award-winning makeup artist and designer. We’ll talk about her creative journey, the art behind her work, the stories and experiences that have shaped her career, and what inspires her today.

LISTEN to today's show 
featuring Kris Evans.  

 

Kris Evans is an award-winning makeup artist and designer whose distinguished career began in New York City. She quickly rose to prominence, traveling the world alongside Barbara Walters working with presidents, world leaders, A-list celebrities, and top-tier entertainers. 

Her artistry has graced the runways and editorial pages through collaborations with some of fashion’s most iconic designers, including Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein, Sonia Rykiel, Norma Kamali, Thierry Mugler, Azzedine Alaïa, and Halston. Her work has been featured in publications such as Vogue, French Vogue, Vanity Fair, L’Officiel, and Elle. 

Kris has an extensive background in film and television. Her film credits include Megalopolis (with Francis Ford Coppola), The Hunger Games, Pirates of the Caribbean I, II & III, Free State of Jones, The Rum Diary, The Postman, National Treasure, Coyote Ugly, Con Air, Dr. Dolittle 2, and X-Men: The Last Stand, for which she received a Hollywood Film Festival Award for Best Makeup of the Year. 

Her television work includes Saturday Night Live, Big Sky, Generations, Once Upon a Time, The Bridge, Dirty Sexy Money and Sneaky Pete. She was the personal stylist for Bob Costas during Olympic coverage from the 2002 Salt Lake City Games through Rio de Janeiro in 2016. Kris has also contributed to music videos for artists Elton John and Brandi Carlile, Keith Richards, Rage Against the Machine, Smash Mouth, and Creed, along with high-profile commercials, including Uber Eats featuring Cher.

Kris was also the makeup consultant for the American production of Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon on Broadway. Kris has been featured in and quoted by numerous publications, including Vogue, InStyle, The New York Times (as a StyleMaker), Secrets of Six-Figure Women by Barbara Stanny, and The Art of Beauty by Linda Mason. 

Having earned a master’s degree in design from Syracuse University, she taught fashion design at the University of Cincinnati’s School of Design, Art & Architecture, as well as Parsons School of Design in New York. 

A longtime member of The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (Oscars) —where she has served on the executive board of her branch—Kris is also affiliated with the Television Academy (Emmys) and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts.

Abby Savell, Founder and CEO of LA Percussion Rentals joins Janeane 9/23 at 9:00am. HOLLYWOOD’S ULTIMATE SOUND WAREHOUSE EXPANDS AS LA PERCUSSION RENTALS & RECORDING LAUNCHES IN-HOUSE RECORDING STUDIO FOR MEDIA COMPOSERS

 LAPR Opens Its Renowned Archives to Create a Live, 
Experimental Tracking Space for Film, TV, and Game Scoring

 Abby Savell, Founder and CEO of LA Percussion Rentals 
joins Janeane live on KUCI 88.9FM

LISTEN to today's show featuring Abby Savell 

 

LOS ANGELES, CA — LA Percussion Rentals & Recording (LAPR), the premier source for elite instruments in the entertainment industry, has officially announced the launch of its new in-house recording studio services.

 

Designed specifically for film, television, video game, and professional media composers, LAPR is the first of its kind, a large-scale, percussion-focused service that delivers exploration and recording in one location. It offers a fully equipped, live tracking space that gives composers a greater array of services from solo player multi-tracking to intimate ensemble sessions, providing an agile, budget-friendly alternative to traditional Hollywood scoring stages.

 

"We wanted to remove the barriers between a composer's imagination and the final recording," says Abby Savell, Founder and CEO of LA Percussion Rentals. "Instead of staring at an empty room waiting for a truck to arrive, creators can walk directly onto our warehouse floor. It is a massive sonic playground!"

 

LAPR’s vast inventory of premier orchestral gear, rare world instruments, and the historic Emil Richards collection of legendary sound artifacts has been heard on iconic Hollywood soundtracks. 

Most recently award-winning writer and composer Daniel Pemberton used LAPR resources in the summer blockbuster hit "Project Hail Mary” creating an other-worldly score with an eclectic variety of wooden instruments and some metals in key sequences.

 

LAPR In-House Recording Features include:

●      Zero Cartage Fees: Complete elimination of instrument transport, trucking coordination, and packing logistics.

●      The World's Instrument Depot: Instant access to thousands of pro symphonic percussion instruments, sound effects, and rare cultural instruments.

●      Sonic Exploration: The unique freedom to audition, swap, and experiment with rare timbres live in the room, followed by a tracking session

●      Professional Percussionists:

LAPRR staff are available to help composers logistically and creatively, helping with selection and suggesting ways to explore the instruments more deeply for sounds.

 

About LA Percussion Rentals and Recording

Founded in 2004 by professional percussionists Abby Savell and her late husband, Dan, LA Percussion Rentals & Recording is a cornerstone of the Southern California music and film industry. Housing an unparalleled collection of world, orchestral, and custom sound-effects instruments, LAPR supplies elite gear to major scoring stages, world tours, and premium recording sessions across the globe. With the addition of its in-house recording studio, LAPRR continues to innovate by providing one-stop tracking solutions for the modern media composer.

 

To set up an interview with Abby Savell about LAPR, please contact Deborah Gilels of LA Media Consultants at gilelsdeborah@gmail.com or call 818-648-9513