The Fifth Floor

Schedule
88.5-3
Friday
7:00 am

In any given week the language services across the BBC World Service are producing hours of radio and television and streams of web output: a truly global picture of the world.

And now there is a place where you can tap into that talent.

The Fifth Floor brings you an authentic perspective on the week's global news.

From Russia to Rwanda and Burma to Brazil, Presenter David Amanor takes a sometimes playful look at the big issues and surprising stories that emerge in a week of global news.

This is an insider's view on the heart of the world service looking at how pieces are made, and the stories that enrich and add colour to our understanding of world reporting.

The Fifth Floor

Arts & Culture

WAMU 88.5

Art Beat With Lauren Landau, October 7

You can explore one calligrapher's modern take on Korean handwriting, or see two shows that require a little help from the audience.

Food

NPR

Labor-Starved Pear Farmers Buckle Under Bumper Crop

The Pacific Northwest grows the majority of the nation's pears, and this year's harvest is predicted to be the third-largest in history. But farmers are facing a shortfall that's been plaguing many agricultural industries: not enough workers to pick the fruit.

Politics

NPR

No End In Sight: Shutdown Showdown Enters Week Two

Hundreds of thousands of Defense Department civilian employees will go back to work on Monday, but many government operations remain suspended.

Technology

NPR

Wanted: A New Generation Of High-Tech Aviation Workers

Millions of U.S. factory jobs have been lost in the past decade. Now, in North Carolina, high school students are being encouraged to think about taking manufacturing jobs. But this isn't the furniture-making or textile labor of generations past — it's a new kind of highly technical work in aviation.