Off-Ramp listeners, introducing The Big Disaster: The Big Burn from LAist Studios. As the world enters a new age of wildfires, science reporter Jacob Margolis dives deep into personal stories that illuminate the history of how we got here, why we keep screwing things up, and what we can do to survive and maybe even thrive while the world around us burns. 

Listen to this episode and catch all the others here. 

Preppi is giving a free emergency kit with any purchase over $100. Go to preppi.com/thebigburn for more information.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Give online therapy a try at betterhelp.com/bigburn and get on your way to being your best self.

This piece from the vast Off-Ramp archive is from the very first Off-Ramp - August 5, 2006 - and it's still one of my favorites because it answers a very simple question. What's it like to ride a motorcycle in LA?

The obvious person to answer that question was Susan Carpenter, then the motorcycle columnist for the LA Times (now at Spectrum News 1), who put a little microphone into her helmet and then took off down the streets, roads, and freeways of LA.

Support for this podcast comes from Gordon and Dona Crawford, who believe that quality journalism makes Los Angeles a better place to live; and bythe Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.

Off-Ramp theme music by Fesliyan Studios.

Voices from today and yesterday as Off-Ramp marks the 20th anniversary of the Rodney King Riots - which started April 29, 1992 - with a special hour-long program.

KPCC reporters on Driving While Black, be happy in downtown LA with kids, Getty Foundation director assesses Pacific Standard Time, and why restaurants are so damn noisy.

OC man marries a Filippina he met online, raising ire & eyebrows; new online incarnation of LA-based Cracked Magazine; a Grilled Cheese Invitational judge prepares

Alina Szapocznikow's work got more intimate when she got cancer ... why did James Kim lose his ability to speak his native Korean? ... AirSplat and hiring vets ... LA's only known superhero.

Off-Ramp special documentary "Airborne: A Life in Radio with Orson Welles," from R.H. Greene.

During KPCC's Spring member drive, hear the best of Off-Ramp both on air and online: South Bay student poems, Tom Jones, "Columbo" and more!

A Pogues founder explains why Shane MacGowan had to go - The Negro Problem couple's very public breakup - What does that graffiti mean? - GeoCache with Zorro

Off-Ramp's John Rabe goes in-depth with James Fearnley, founding member of the Celtic/Punk band The Pogues, which turns 30 this year.