Dear On Point

"Dear On Point" is On Point's radio diary series. Pitch your own story about life during the pandemic at onpoint@wbur.org.

Times Square area near 42nd Street in New York City. This photo is circa 1920s. (AP Photo)

'People Will Bounce Back': How COVID-19 Parallels Past Pandemics

Clinical psychologist Steven Taylor discusses his book "The Psychology of Pandemics" and shares how the COVID-19 pandemic parallels past pandemics.

On Point

05:21Feb 12, 2021

How This Photojournalist Captured Barack Obama's Favorite Election 2008 Photo

On election night 2008, photojournalist Matt Mendelsohn went to the Lincoln Memorial and took a picture of the people gathered there. It became Barack Obama's favorite photo from the inauguration....

On Point

07:43Jan 19, 2021

Albert Maghbouleh, far left, and Miles Santamour, 89, with Amigos de Jaibalito Foundation (ADJ) share lunch outdoors guarding social distancing, overlooking the skyline of Los Angeles Monday, Jan. 11. (AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes)

Radio Diary: How One Cafe Maintains Community Amid LA's COVID Surge

"I think everyone knows someone who has COVID, or is one degree away from someone who is going through COVID."

On Point

05:12Jan 18, 2021

Collage from some of our favorite radio diaries this year. (Courtesy: Mahir, Screenshot of Red Dead Redemption 2, ©Amy Gulick/amygulick.com, Ahmed Al-Zubaidi)

On Point's Year In Radio Diaries

Across 2020, we heard your stories: from health care workers to an unemployed mom to a journalist who was tear-gassed. We listen back to some of our favorite radio diaries.

On Point

47:24Jan 1, 2021

Radio Diary: The Kindness Of A Phone Call

In this radio diary, hear the story of the kindness of a phone call.

On Point

05:40Dec 17, 2020

Ohio State employee Cory Coffey, right, administers a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Monday, Dec. 14, 2020, in Columbus, Ohio. (Jay LaPrete/AP)

'Did I Do The Right Thing?': An ER Doctor On Ethics Of The Pandemic

In this radio diary, we discuss the ethical complications of the COVID-19 pandemic.

On Point

03:27Dec 15, 2020

A graphic from Navajo Nation's “Stay Home, Stay Local, Stay Safe” campaign. (Courtesy)

Radio Diary: Navajo Nation's Coronavirus Surge

The president of the Navajo Nation speaks with us about the current coronavirus wave in Navajo Nation and why it's much more dire than the first COVID outbreak this spring.

On Point

05:30Dec 11, 2020

Megan and Craig Bates and their two sons. (Courtesy)

Radio Diary: A Family's Lessons From Australia's Coronavirus Lockdown

We speak with an Australian family about their experiences in lockdown, and why it was worth it.

On Point

09:19Dec 9, 2020

Radio Diary: A Doctor's Mission To End COVID-19 Racial Health Inequities

At the start of the pandemic, Dr. Ala Stanford heard from her Black friends that they were not able to get coronavirus tests. She decided to change that.

On Point

05:11Dec 2, 2020

A nurse administers care to a patient in the acute care COVID unit at Harborview Medical Center on May 7, 2020 in Seattle, Washington. (Karen Ducey/Getty Images)

Radio Diary: On The Frontlines

A nursing assistant and a nurse practitioner share how they're experiencing the coronavirus surge.

On Point

08:43Dec 1, 2020

Clinicians care for a COVID-19 patient in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) at El Centro Regional Medical Center in hard-hit Imperial County on July 21, 2020 in El Centro, California. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)

Coronavirus Surge: What It Means For Health Care Workers

For many health care workers, a new coronavirus spike means they’ve barely had a moment to step back fully from the first massive wave of cases this spring.

On Point

06:12Oct 30, 2020

A sign announces the status of a closed burger eatery in Dallas, Sept. 2, 2020. (LM Otero/AP)

Faces Of The Coronavirus Economy

Faces of the pandemic's economic impact.

On Point

08:36Oct 27, 2020

Voting booths set up and ready to receive voters inside a polling station in Florida in 2016. (Gregg Newton/AFP/Getty Images)

Extended Cut: A Look Inside A Russian Disinformation Campaign

Dmytro Kuleba, Ukraine’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, walks us through why democracies are particularly vulnerable to election interference.

On Point

31:34Oct 26, 2020

Fresh Pond Reservoir in Cambridge, Massachusetts. (Photo via Shutterstock)

Radio Diary: In Troubled Times, Finding Peace In A Simple Routine

Remembering David Pettee, a Unitarian Universalist minister from Cambridge, Massachusetts.

On Point

07:08Oct 23, 2020

Hundreds of unemployed Kentucky residents wait in long lines outside the Kentucky Career Center for help with their unemployment claims on June 19, 2020 in Frankfort, Kentucky. (John Sommers II/Getty Images)

Faces Of The 'Shecession'

We hear from three women from around the country about what this 'shecession' means for their future.

On Point

13:10Oct 22, 2020

Presidential candidates Sen. John Kennedy, left, and Vice President Richard Nixon face each other in a Chicago television studio during the first-ever televised presidential debate on Sept. 26, 1960. In center is moderator Howard K. Smith. (AP)

Radio Diary: JFK, Nixon And The 1960 Presidential Election

With the help of two historians, we take a look back at the 1960 presidential race between Senator John F. Kennedy and Vice President Richard Nixon.

On Point

08:30Oct 14, 2020

US Ambassador J. Cofer Black, Coordinator for Counterterrorism, speaks at a press conference on 22 June, 2004, about the corrected version of an inaccurate terrorism report issued by the US Government. The original annual "Patterns of Global Terrorism" report purposefully misstated, some have accused, the number of attacks in 2003 in an election-year effort to show that US President George W. Bush's hardline anti-terrorist policies were working. (Luke Frazza/AFP via Getty Images)

Radio Diary: The CIA's Former Counterterrorism Chief On The Lead Up To 9/11

Cofer Black, the CIA's counterterrorism chief from 1999 to 2002, talks about the months leading up to 9/11, and the Bush administration's failure to act on an 'unprecedented' amount of...

On Point

16:21Oct 13, 2020

Cozy Etta Bryant. (Courtesy Adrienne Gibbs)

Radio Diary: A Beloved Grandmother's Gift Of A Better Life

Cozy Etta Bryant weathered breast cancer and decades of racism before passing away from COVID-19 this year. Her granddaughter remembers her life and legacy.