; Credit: Mirko/Flickr

The FCC is putting pressure on phone companies to do more to stop Robocalls. It has been illegal in the U.S. for over two decades.

In 2003 the government implemented a national Do Not Call List, which was designed to protect consumers from rogue dialers. Despite this measure, The Federal Trade Commission says it still receives about 150,000 robocall complaints a month.

Stamping out companies who violate Do Not Call  laws is difficult. The FTC files hundreds of lawsuits against violators, but to no avail. “For every company we can shut down, there are probably 10 to 100 companies that can pop up in its place,” the FTC’s Patty Hsue tells the L.A. Times.

Tim Marvin with the Consumer Union tells KPCC that the problem is the technology. Robocall software is simply developing faster than lawmakers can counteract it. Making matters more complicated, telemarketers often shield their number using a fake phone number. Because digital dialers operate through broadband internet, a marketer’s true identity and information is nearly impossible to trace.

Ahead of the tax deadline, many consumers have received calls from scammers claiming to be with the IRS, demanding payment and making threats. People who lose money to scammers rarely see their money again.

Should carriers do more to combat robocalls? When was the last time you received a call from a telemarketer? Have you ever been the target of a scammer?

Guests:

Tim Marvin, grass roots coordinator, Consumers Union

Jeff Kagan, telecom industry analyst

U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) speaks during the NRA-ILA Leadership Forum at the 2015 NRA Annual Meeting & Exhibits on April 10, 2015 in Nashville, Tennessee. The annual NRA meeting and exhibit runs through Sunday. ; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Yet another GOP candidate is tossing his hat into the ring for the 2016 presidential race.

Florida Senator Marco Rubio is planning an announcement for 6 p.m. EST Monday that he will run for president in 2016, capping off months of speculation that the Miami-born lawmaker would be making a run for the presidency. In a conference call Monday morning, Rubio informed his donors of his plans to run.

What is Rubio's path to the nomination, if there is one? What does he have to do in order to win the GOP establishment vote? What about the Latino vote?

Guests:

Michael Grunwald, senior writer for POLITICO magazine. He’s also the author of “The New New Deal: The Hidden Story of Change in the Obama Era.” He co-wrote a piece on Rubio's entrance into the 2016 race for POLITICO today.

Rory Cooper, GOP strategist and managing director at Purple Strategies, a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. He was also the communications director for former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor.

Stickers are handed out to supporters of Hillary Rodham Clinton's yet to be announced presidential campaign at a rally in Manhattan on April 11, 2015 in New York City.; Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty Images

A first-generation immigrant whose parents fled Cuba, Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) could make history as the nation's first Hispanic president [as could Senator Ted Cruz(R-TX)].

However, polling suggests Rubio would have to engage in substantial Latino-specific outreach to motivate those voters. Polling firm Latino Decisions asked 4,200 Latinos who voted in the 2014 midterm about their view of Rubio: 36 percent held an unfavorable opinion of him, 31 percent held a favorable, and the remainder had either no opinion or no knowledge of the presumptive Republican candidate. (Full poll results and analysis).

Official candidate for the Democratic ticket, Hillary Rodham Clinton, kicked off her campaign with a video featuring her strongest supporters: American women. Recent polling by Gallup showed "all major female demographic groups view Clinton more positively than do their male counterparts, including by age, education, race, marital status and partisanship." (Full poll results and analysis).  

How will Marco Rubio reach out to Latino Americans? How much will identity politics play into the 2016 presidential campaign?

Guests:

Lynn Vavreck, Professor of Political Science, UCLA

Matt Barreto, Co-Founder of Latino Decisions, a polling company specializing in Latino Americans; Professor of Political Science & Professor of Chicano/a Studies, UCLA

A parking enforcement officer gives a citation to a driver who stopped in the wrong place to pick up arriving travelers at Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) on November 23, 2004 in Los Angeles, California. ; Credit: David McNew/Getty Images

A parking reform group tapped by the Mayor's office has released a series of recommendations. One suggestion is to start most parking tickets at $23 and gradually raise the fines on subsequently offenses within a year. 

In addition, the proposal also calls for the city to embrace advanced technology -- smart parking meters, the ability for drivers feed meters with their smartphones -- to address parking issues.

The working group is made up of members from business groups, neighborhood councils, and members of Parking Freedom Initiative, which had vowed last year to put the $23 ticket proposal on the ballot.

Guest:

Jay Beeber, co-chair of the Los Angeles Parking Reform Working Group and executive director of Safer Streets Los Angeles blog

Aram I (R), head of the Catholicosate of the Great House of Cilicia speaks with Pope Francis during an Armenian-Rite Mass marking 100 years since the mass killings of Armenians under the Ottoman Empire, on April 12, 2015 at St Peter's basilica in Vatican. ; Credit: ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP/Getty Images

Over the weekend, Pope Francis ignited a diplomatic row with Turkey after he described the massacre of over a million Armenians as “the first genocide of the 20th century.”

While his predecessor Pope John Paul II had also identified the mass killing of Armenians during World War I and beyond as a genocide, Pope Francis’s statement caused officials in Turkey to recall their ambassador to the Roman Catholic Church and summon the Vatican envoy. The pope’s remarks were intended to connect the killings of Christians early in the last century with killings of Christians by the self-styled Islamic State in the present.

The topic is fraught with controversy for heads of state and diplomats as Turkey denies allegations that a genocide against the Armenian people had occurred and that Turkey itself had engaged in the genocide. Officially, the United States has yet to recognize the Armenian Genocide.

What geopolitical consequences could ripple out from the pontiff's remarks? Will the United States feel renewed pressure to change its official stance? What is the nature of the connection between killings of Armenian Christians in the early 20th century and Arab Christians in the early 21st?

Guests:

Jason Berry, religion reporter for the GlobalPost and the author of “Render unto Rome: The Secret Life of Money in the Catholic Church” (Broadway Books, 2012).

Josh Lockman, International Law Professor and expert on U.S. Foreign Policy at the USC Gould School of Law.

Motoring West Volume 1: Automobile Pioneers, 1900-1909, edited by Peter J. Blodgett.; Credit:

The relationship today between the car and Los Angeles could be described as tortured. Of course, it wasn’t always that way.

The advent of the automobile brought mobility, new experiences and a sense of adventure to the open West. For “Motoring West,” the first of a multi-volume  series on the history of the automobile, editor and Huntington Library historian Peter Blodgett has put together a scores of articles, pamphlets and book excerpts to give readers a sense of what it was like to explore this part of the country during the early days of the automobile, when traveling by car was a novelty and not a drag.

Guests:

Peter Blodgett, Editor of “Motoring West Volume 1: Automobile Pioneers, 1900-1909” and Curator of Western American Manuscripts collection at the Huntington Library

A Rinspeed Budii autonomous car concept is shown during the 85th International Motor Show on March 3, 2015 in Geneva, Switzerland. ; Credit: Harold Cunningham/Getty Images

Two major trends in automotive transportation could transform the industry in the coming years.

In a recent report to investors, Morgan Stanley auto analyst Adam Jonas wrote that autonomous cars and the sharing economy could soon give rise to robot taxi services. Graphing his research data, Jonas says that people may soon start thinking of cars as a shared assets.

Companies like Uber pioneered the shared economy by allowing people to make money by using their car as a taxi. As autonomous technology advances, however, humans may be squeezed out of the game entirely.

According to Jonas’ research, the average car is only used for about an hour a day. Cars spend the rest of the day sitting in parking lots and garages. Jonas says that we may be ignoring an important industry. “The car, on our estimates, is the world’s most underutilized asset,” Jonas wrote.“ We believe it is the most disreputable business on earth.” When autonomous cars become the norm, cars could make their owners money while they’re at home or at work. Eventually, you might not even need a car.

How do you feel about the “sharing economy?” Would you be comfortable getting picked up by a robot driver?

Guest:

Adam Jonas, lead auto analyst at Morgan Stanley Research and author of the new report, “Shared Autonomy”

Environmentalists decry harm to fish and fowl due to drought. (Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty); Credit: Robyn Beck/AFP/Getty Images

How would Don Draper have tackled the drought? It’s something Governor Jerry Brown would probably like to know because, despite many iterations of messaging, Californians still aren’t saving enough water.

The latest heavy public ad campaign to“Save the Drop” implores residents to save every drop of water they can, but is that the most effective messaging when headlines are taking down almond farmers for using a gallon per nut? And then there’s the “Don’t Be a LawnSoaker Larry” ads running around Los Angeles and the social media blitz #dirtyforthedrought, one shaming, one championing frugality.

What have you seen that’s effective? What’s not?

Guests:

Chuck Husak, partner at the Maryland-based advertising firm August, Lang & Husak, a firm that works with nonprofits and focuses on public advocacy messages

Jonathan Parfrey, executive director of the nonprofit Climate Resolve;  former commissioner with LADWP, 2008-2013, and  Senior Fellow at the USC Marshall School of Business

In this June 1983 photo provided by NASA, astronaut Sally Ride, a specialist on shuttle mission STS-7, monitors control panels from the pilot's chair on the shuttle Columbia flight deck.; Credit: NASA/Via AP

California’s State Senate has approved narrowly a proposal that would replace a statue at the U.S. Capitol of Father Junipero Serra with one of the late Sally Ride, but not without some controversy.

Each state is allowed two statues in the Capitol’s Statuary Hall, and California currently has Father Serra and former President Ronald Reagan. Serra, an 18th century Franciscan monk who established the mission system in California, has had his likeness placed in the hall since 1931.

His would-be statuary replacement, Sally Ride, was America’s first and youngest woman astronaut. Ride, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 2012, would have the distinction of being the first woman from California in the hall as well as its first member from the LGBT community.

Critics in the California Senate have fought the proposal on a number of grounds, including its lack of “mandatory” funding from private sources and the fact that Pope Francis, who has recently discussed canonizing Father Serra, would be visiting Washington D.C. in September. Proponents of the bill contend that it would take years for the statute replacement to occur. The proposal still needs to be passed by the Assembly and signed by Governor Brown.

How do you feel about California’s statuary representatives in the nation’s capitol?

Click Here for more on the story

Guest:

Chris Nichols, Sacramento reporter, U-T San Diego

Democratic Caucus Chair Becerra updates reporters on status of "Gang of Seven" immigration bill; Credit: Kitty Felde/KPCC

Tomorrow is the deadline for potential federal candidates such as Rep. Xavier Becerra (D - CA) to file quarterly campaign finance statements, and it's anticipated Becerra has enough in the bank to be a viable candidate for California's junior Senate seat being vacated by Barbara Boxer (D).

The field could be crowded by California AG Kamala Harris, Asm. Rocky Chavez, and prospective candidates including Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D - CA) and Rep. Adam Schiff (D - CA). As a member of the powerful Ways and Means Committee, this week the Los Angeles-area Congressman is lobbying against a Republican proposal to repeal the estate tax and lobbying for updates to the Equal Pay Act. Additionally, Larry Mantle will ask for Becerra's thoughts on the latest presidential contenders, Hillary Rodham Clinton and Senator Marco Rubio.

Guest:

Rep. Xavier Becerra, Congressman for California’s 34th District including Downtown LA, Boyle Heights and more; Chairman of the House Democratic Caucus; Committee assignments include Ways and Means, Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Social Security.

His Holiness The Dalai Lama; Credit: Christopher Prentiss Michel via Flickr

As the Dalai Lama turns 80 this July, the question of who will succeed him has taken on renewed political relevance.

The Dalai Lama, the longest-living incumbent, recently intimated that he might not reincarnate. It’s a possibility that is fraught with implications for Tibetan Buddhism and for China, which hopes to have a hand in the process to ensure its continual influence over Tibet.

The Dalai Lama will be in Orange County to celebrate his 80th birthday in July. AirTalk looks at the politics of Tibetan reincarnation and its impact.

Guests:

Robert Barnett,  Director, Modern Tibet Studies Program and Adjunct Professor of Contemporary Tibetan Studies at Columbia University

Rongdao Lai, Assistant Professor of Chinese religion at USC, whose research focuses on Buddhism. She is a Buddhist nun

Tulsa County Sheriff (old style); Credit: Dave Conner via Flickr

The Tulsa County reserve deputy who shot and killed a man after saying he was going to use his taser is facing manslaughter charges.

On Monday the Tulsa County District Attorney charged the 73-year-old Robert Bates with second-degree manslaughter involving culpable negligence for the April 2nd shooting of Eric Courtney Harris. Tulsa Police Sergeant Jim Clark says Bates was the victim of “slip and capture” when he announced he was going to tase Harris but then fired his gun.

The case is reminding some of the 2009 fatal shooting of Oscar Grant by BART officer Johannes Mehserle, who also warned he was going to tase Grant before shooting him. Mehserle was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter but not guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter. The bar for criminal charges against officers is complicated. What chance does this case have?

Guests:

Tim Williams, founder of TT Williams Investigations, a private investigation firm in Los Angeles; Retired LAPD Senior Detective Supervisor (Robbery-Homicide Division), 1974-2003; Expert on police procedure and use-of-force for state and federal court

Bill Lewinski, Executive Director of the Force Science Institute

Mike Rains, criminal defense attorney and founding member of the San Francisco-based law firm Rains Lucia Stern. He represented BART officer Johannes Mehserle  who was found not guilty of second-degree murder and voluntary manslaughter in the 2009 shooting of Oscar Grant

Jeff Philips, Executive Director of the Reserve Officers Association

Eugene O’Donnell, Professor of law and police science at John Jay College of Criminal Justice; former NYPD officer; former prosecutor in Kings County (Brooklyn)

Sleeping; Credit: Pedro Ribeiro Simoes via Flickr

We all know that colleague who is lively and chipper first thing in the morning while the rest of the office is still bleary-eyed and sleepy. Conversely, we also probably all know someone who can stay up late into the evening and still function the next day. At some point, most of us have probably stopped to wonder what their secret is.

Are you a morning person or a night owl? What makes certain people function better in the morning and others function better at night? What are the benefits and drawbacks to falling into one of these categories?

Are you a morning lark or a night owl? Take our quiz and add up your score to find out!
 

1. How alert do you feel during the first half hour after you wake up in the morning?

a) Not at all alert [1 point]

b) Slightly alert [2 points]

c) Fairly alert [3 points]

d) Very alert [4 points]

2. How hungry do you feel during the first half hour after you wake up?

a) Not at all hungry [1 point]

b) Slightly hungry [2 points]

c) Fairly hungry [3 points]

d) Very hungry [4 points]

3.  A friend wants to exercise with you during the week, and the best time for him is between 6 to 7 a.m. Bearing in mind nothing but your own internal "clock," how do you think you would perform?

a) Very poorly [1 point]

b) Poorly [2 points]

c) Reasonably [3 points]

d) Well [4 points]

4.  You want to be at your peak performance for a test that you know is going to be mentally exhausting and will last two hours. You are entirely free to plan your day. Considering only your internal "clock," which one of the four testing times would you choose?

a) 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. [1 point]

b) 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. [2 points]

c) 3 p.m. to 5 p.m. [3 points]

d) 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. [4 points]

5.  If you went to bed at 10 p.m. how tired would you be?

a) Not at all tired [1 point]

b) A little tired [2 points]

c) Fairly tired [3 points]

d) Very tired [4 points]

6. If there is a specific time at which you have to get up in the morning, to what extent are you dependent on being woken up by an alarm clock?

a) Very dependent [1 point]

b) Fairly dependent [2 points]

c) Slightly dependent [3 points]

d) Not at all dependent [4 points]

7.  For some reason you have gone to bed several hours later than usual, but there is no need to get up at any particular time the next morning. Which one of the following events are you most likely to experience?

a) Wake up later than usual [1 point]

b) Wake up at the usual time and go back to sleep [2 points]

c) Wake up at the usual time and doze [3 points]

d) Wake up at the usual time and not go back to sleep [4 points]

8. Do you consider yourself to be a "morning" or "evening" type of person?

a) Evening [1 point]

b) More evening than morning [2 points]

c) More morning than evening [3 points]

d) Morning [4 points]

You're done! Now, add up your score!

4-9 points: YOU'RE AN EXTREME OWL
True Owls love to sleep late into the morning and have no trouble staying up late into the night. They’re most alert a few hours later than other people.

10-14 points: YOU'RE A SEMI-OWL. 
You love the night life, and enjoy staying up late and sleeping late into the morning. But you can also be flexible and adapt when your sleep pattern is disrupted

15-22 points: YOU HAVE NO PARTICULAR SLEEPING TENDENCY. 
On the whole you’re likely to be happy getting up between 6:00 and 7:00am and dropping off to sleep between 10:00pm and 11 p.m. You’re likely to be most alert in the morning and early evening and have a period of low alertness in the afternoon.

23-28 points: RISE AND SHINE.
You tend to be a morning person and like to rise relatively early and not stay up too late. You don’t cope very well when your sleep pattern is disrupted.

29-32 points: YOU'RE AN EXTREME LARK. 
True Larks tend to jump out of bed as early as 4:00 or 5:00am and drop off to sleep by 9:00pm. They’re likely to be at their best in the morning, and do poorly when their sleep pattern is disrupted.

Source: “Sleepfaring: A Journey into the Science of Sleep,” (Oxford University Press) by Jim Horne, Loughborough University Sleep Research Center.

Guests:

Mareike Weith, associate professor of psychology at Albion College in Michigan. Her work focuses on how factors like time of day and incentives influence the cognitive process.

Dr. Jeffrey Ellenbogen, M.D, assistant professor of neurology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine and a researcher at Johns Hopkins’ Sleep Disorder Center

Pupils at at King Edward VI High School for Girls take part in a maths lesson on October 4, 2006, Birmingham, England. ; Credit: Christopher Furlong/Getty Images

The nation's second-largest school district has greenlighted two new single-sex schools focused on science and technology.

The Los Angeles Unified school board voted unanimously Tuesday to grant conditional approval for two all-girls schools to open in the fall. The Girls Academic Leadership Academy will be housed at Los Angeles High School and start with grades 6-9, eventually expanding to grades 6-12. LAUSD will oversee the school The Girls Athletic Leadership School will be a district-approved charter school and serve grades 6 to 8. Charter leaders are still searching for a location.

For the full story, click here.

Guests:

Annie Gilbertson, KPCC education reporter who was at yesterday’s LAUSD vote.

Christina Hoff Sommers, resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute.

Janet Hyde, professor of psychology and gender and women’s studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She co-authored a 2014 study comparing student performance in single-sex schools to that of students in co-ed schools.

Los Angeles Police Chief Charlie Beck in the KPCC Studios.; Credit: Lily Mihalik/KPCC

As videos of police shootings ricochet across the national news, the LAPD has received its first delivery of body cameras and plans to start using them this summer.

The department is still working on policy issues — everything from how video will be reviewed, stored and used in investigations. How secure is the “cloud” storage? Should police officers review video before filing reports? What else should the policy incorporate?

A risky incident caught on television cameras last week was the pursuit of an armed carjacking suspect through South L.A. Metro officers were able to use armored vehicles to block in and arrest the man safely with relatively little incident. How do officers navigate pursuits through rush hour traffic when streets are filled with bystanders? Larry will also ask Chief Beck about relations with Skid Row residents, next month’s gun buyback program, policing Dodgers Stadium, and take questions from listeners.

Guest:

Charlie Beck, Chief, Los Angeles Police Department

Caleb (Domhnall Gleeson) examines Nathan's A.I. wares in "Ex Machina."; Credit: A24

Sci-fi thriller "Ex Machina" surpassed expectations during its opening weekend making it the top Speciality debut of 2015 and expanding into relatively wide release this weekend.

The film co-stars Irish actor Domhnall Gleeson (son of actor Brendan Gleeson) as a young programmer selected to participate in a breakthrough experiment in artificial intelligence by evaluating the human qualities of a breathtaking female A.I.

A gripping and frustrating position to be in, Gleeson played the role with restraint and grace. While science fiction lovers are fawning over this new release, the real attention is on Gleeson's next sci-fi release, Star Wars: Episode VII. Mum is the word on Gleeson's role in the beloved franchise, but it could guarantee he becomes a household name in the U.S.

With such terrific parts on offer, how is Gleeson making his choices? How much weight does he give to the fellow players (such as repeat projects with Oscar Isaac and Alicia Vikander) versus the script and director?

Guest:

Domhnall Gleeson, Actor whose filmography includes the new release "Ex Machina," "Anna Karenina" (starring Keira Knightley), "Unbroken" and the forthcoming "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens" and Alejandro Iñárritu's "The Revenant"

A snapshot of Santa Monica taken on June 11, 2011. ; Credit: Chris Yunker/Flickr

Today the Santa Monica City Council will publicly discuss controversial Zoning Ordinance Update (ZOU) that would allow for more dense housing - meant to increase the supply of housing the city.

It’s the first comprehensive change to the city’s zoning in more than three decades, and local no-growth activists are rallying against it. They say it'll change the character of their "beach town,"and are demanding an overall height reduction of all zoning standards and a ban childcare in single-family neighborhoods. But supporters say the reality is that Southern California needs to build more homes.

Is there a way to preserve the feel of Santa Monica while still sustainably planning for more housing? And of not, how should the city proceed? The final ordinance will come up for a vote on May 5.

Guests:

Jason Islas, editor of Santa Monica Next, a group that’s in favor of the zoning updates. He grew up in Santa Monica but currently lives in Korea Town (he says he can’t afford to move back)

Lorraine Sanchez, board member of the Pico Neighborhood Association (PNA), which opposes the zoning updates

Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling, right, and V. Stiviano, left, watch the Clippers play the Sacramento Kings during the first half of an NBA basketball game in Los Angeles. The NBA is investigating a report of an audio recording in which a man purported to be Sterling makes racist remarks while speaking to Stiviano. NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement Saturday, April 26, 2014, that the league is in the process of authenticating the validity of the recording posted on TMZ's website. Bass called the comments "disturbing and offensive." ; Credit: Mark J. Terrill/AP

A judge has ordered V. Stiviano, former companion of Donald Sterling, to return $2.6 million in gifts and cash from the billionaire to his wife, Shelly.

Shelly Sterling took Stiviano to court, claiming that the younger woman seduced and hoodwinked her husband into giving her a luxury duplex, expensive cars and some $800,000 in cash.

Stiviano’s lawyer argued that the gifts were given when the Sterlings were separated, and the case should be dismissed.

The ruling is tentative. Stiviano’s lawyer says she plans to appeal the decision.

How common is such a ruling? Does it set any precedent in family law? What are the implications of the ruling?

Guest:

Donald Schweitzer, certified family law lawyer and managing partner at the law firm Donald P Schweitzer in Pasadena

An illustration of connections in a human brain.; Credit: Illustration by Holly Wilder/USC.

As you lie still under the scanner, your head on the cool surface of the table, the researchers show you a picture of the newest piece of technology - you think it's cool, and your brain lights up hot.

That's just part of the new research from CalTech's Steven Quartz, who studied the connections between the brain, self-image, and their nexus with the world. Our identities and choices are shaped by how our perceptions of the world, and these have profound effects on our happiness. For example, in a New York Times op-ed, Quartz and his co-author Anette Asp discuss how conspicuous consumption and the advent of cool products and technology have raised our happiness, even in a world that has become increasingly economically unequal.

How do you view "cool," and what's "cool" to you?

Guest:

Steven R. Quartz, Caltech Professor of Philosophy and leader of the Brain, Mind and Society PhD Program at Caltech. Co-author of the new book "COOL: How the Brain's Quest for Cool Drives Our Economy and Shapes Our World"

Music fans attend day 3 of the 2015 Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival (Weekend 1) at The Empire Polo Club on April 12, 2015 in Indio, California.; Credit: Frazer Harrison

While Coachella 2015 includes standard bearers of rock such as AC/DC, for fresher, innovative sounds the tents offer artists influenced by, rather than just derivative of, the bigger genres.

Freak folk, chillwave, grime, and trap step are part of a large batch of new musical subgenres invented during the new millennium.

In the last decade, electronic dance music (EDM) and hip hop have spurred the new trends akin to the way rock and the blues helped inspire punk, grunge, R&B, and hip-hop in the late 20th century. A leading taxonomist of musical genres, Glenn McDonald, pegs the number of subgenres at 1, 358. Take a listen.

Which subgenres are hugely popular in your world of late? Why have those been better at catching on? What influence does the Net/social media have? Are dance trends still influential on music? How does one create a new subgenre?

Check out some examples of the emerging music subgenres we discussed on the show:

Trap Music (or Trap Step) - "Original Don (Remix)" by Flosstradamus

Freak Folk - "Two Weeks" by Grizzly Bear

Chillwave - "New Theory" by Washed Out

Footwork, a.k.a. Chicago Juke - "Bangs and Works" by DJ Trouble

Future Garage - "Sleep Sound" by Jamie xx

Djent - Periphery by Alpha

Guest:

Robert Fink, Professor of Musicology, UCLA