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WCBE's Offices will be closed on 7/3 in observance of Independence Day.
Columbus Metropolitan Club
Saturday mornings at 10, Podcast
Hosted by WCBE Podcast Experience

With a mission to connect people and ideas through community conversation, the Columbus Metropolitan Club presents weekly town hall-style forums where engaged citizens hear from speakers and panelists on a variety of newsworthy, current, and relevant topics of community interest. CMC has almost 1,400 members of various ages, professions, races, and beliefs. WCBE is proud to partner with CMC to deliver audio of the forums on-air and through this podcast. 

Latest Episodes
  • Life After Cars: Reimagining Cities for People
    If you’re a longtime urbanist or just beginning to consider the role of cars in daily life, join us for this CMC conversation to challenge assumptions, spark new ideas, and offer a compelling vision for a future built around people — not just vehicles.
  • Ohio’s Data Center Debate
    At this CMC forum, we’ll welcome experts to help us understand the broader implications of large-scale data center growth in Central Ohio.
  • Older Adults Are Aging Right Into Homelessness
    This CMC forum unpacks the scope and causes of growing housing insecurity among older adults in Central Ohio and explores promising solutions that could make a difference nationwide.
  • Primal Intelligence: The Human Edge in an AI World
    With Angus Fletcher and Suraj Hinduja, this CMC forum explores what primal intelligence is and how its new findings and theories are transforming leadership, innovation, and adaptability in business and nonprofit sectors.
  • The War Within a War: Wil Haygood on Race, Vietnam, and America’s Reckoning
    This CMC forum featuring Wil Haygood, Author, Journalist, Professor, with moderator Algenon L. Marbley, U.S. District Judge, U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio.
  • The Power of the Arts in a Changing City: A Conversation with GCAC's Mitch Menchaca
    This CMC forum features a candid conversation with Mitch Menchaca, the newly appointed CEO of the Greater Columbus Arts Council,
  • When Staying in School Takes More Than School
    This CMC forum features a powerful conversation with education leaders and community advocates as we explore innovative partnerships, hear success stories from school-based initiatives, and learn how pioneering districts are reducing dropout rates, improving graduation outcomes, and creating pathways for the region’s students to thrive in a changing America.
  • The Ambition Gap: Why Women Are Advancing Less—And What Leaders Can Do About It
    This CMC forum examines why so many women are stepping back from advancement, how the “broken rung” at the first step into management continues to block progress, and whether hybrid and remote work policies—designed to offer flexibility—are instead quietly reshaping career trajectories in harmful ways. We’ll spotlight effective strategies to strengthen sponsorship and create fairer pathways to leadership.
  • Braids, Business, and Belonging: Black Hair and Identity in Columbus
    This CMC forum features salon owners, cultural leaders, and voices from the production for a dynamic conversation about beauty, business, and belonging—where creative expression meets identity and community. We examine how these spaces shape social cohesion and celebrate the artistry that connects us all.
  • What We Get Right—and Wrong—About Women’s Health
    From gaps in public understanding of perimenopause and menopause to inequities in maternal care, the need for clarity and access in women’s healthcare is great. This powerful CMC conversation with healthcare leaders explores these challenges, what they mean for women at every stage of life, and the solutions taking shape in Central Ohio to strengthen women’s healthcare.