Saturday Mornings

🌍MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with Maureen Fan, CEO and co‑founder of Baobab Studios about how the 10X Emmy‑winning, Oscar‑nominated powerhouse is redefining storytelling at the intersection of animation, gaming, and AI. Maureen shares how Baobab blends top Hollywood creative talent (who were responsible for all four Madagascar movies, ANTZ, Moana, and other major franchises) with cutting‑edge machine learning to build immersive worlds for Gen Z and Gen Alpha. These audiences expect interactivity, emotional depth, and constant evolution. We explore Maureen's leadership journey from overseeing 40% of Zynga’s revenue and helping take the company public, to building Baobab into one of the most influential studios in next‑gen entertainment. She breaks down the convergence of Hollywood and gaming, why AI is transforming narrative design, and why Singapore is emerging as a strategic hub for AI‑driven creativity.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On this F1 Weekend in Singapore MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with Kabir Anurag, the 19 year-old Singaporean Formula Regional racing driver and Alpine Academy talent. This extraordinary young man shares what life is really like behind the paddock gates, on the race track at 300km/per hour, the brutal training, the dangers, and the sacrifices. We explore how young drivers navigate pressure, funding, performance expectations, and the mental resilience required to compete at the highest levels of junior formula racing. He also reflects on what it means to represent Singapore in a sport where Southeast Asian drivers are still rare, and how the Alpine Academy is shaping the next generation of global motorsport talent.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On World Health Day, MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with  mental health advocate and author, Andrea McKenna Brankin with her practical, deeply local guide to improving your mental wellbeing in Singapore. We explore six powerful, accessible practices: Meditating at the Buddha Tooth Relic Temple; slowing down through forest bathing on the Botanic Gardens’ certified Nature Immersion Trail; experiencing sound therapy or barefoot grounding in NParks’ Therapeutic Gardens; decompressing at Sembawang Hot Spring Park; taking device‑free coastal walks along East Coast, Pasir Ris or Changi; and engaging in horticultural therapy or mindful crafting to calm an overstimulated mind. Andrea explains why these practices work from lowering cortisol to improving immune function and why Singapore’s unique blend of nature, culture, and community spaces makes it one of the best cities in the world for mental wellness, if we choose to use it.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On World Health Day, MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with SCWO CEO Koh Yan Pin and Dr Sherry Aw from James Cook University Singapore, co‑authors of a new landmark study examining the mental wellbeing of midlife women. Surveying nearly 500 women, the study reveals a stark reality: workplace stress, family conflict, relationship challenges, and caregiving responsibilities form a cumulative pressure cooker that significantly increases symptoms of anxiety and depression. Many respondents reported mental health struggles that have gone unaddressed for years often because they are too busy supporting everyone else. We explore why midlife women are the backbone of Singapore’s workforce and families, yet rarely the focus of mental health policy. What does this mean for an ageing population? For employers? For national wellbeing?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On MoneyFM 89.3’s International News Review, Steve Okun  joins Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen and begin with Singapore’s hazardous haze, now thick enough to threaten Formula One weekend plans and spark fresh debate about climate catastrophe, regional accountability, and whether Southeast Asia is prepared for a future of permanent smoke seasons. Then to Riyadh, where three Saudis were killed at the airport in a Houthi attack just as Pakistan sends troops to support Saudi security. Steve explains how this escalates the Yemen conflict, reshapes Gulf alliances, and raises questions about regional stability. Next: a political firestorm in the U.S., after Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth pushed to live stream the execution of Nidal Hasan by firing squad on live TV. Debates about extremism, media responsibility, and the boundaries of public discourse are in focus. And finally, Singapore’s own cultural whiplash: Five Guys closes its ION Orchard outlet, while Luckin Coffee continues its explosive expansion with 100 stores. What does this say about consumer trends and soft power?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with Asian Civilisations Museum’s Curator Louise Lui to look at one of the  most ambitious exhibitions yet: Sacred Caves: Dunhuang, Buddhism, and the Silk Road. Dunhuang was the desert oasis that became one of the world’s most important crossroads of art, religion, and trade. The exhibition explores how Dunhuang’s cave temples became a living archive of Buddhist devotion and cultural exchange, with murals, manuscripts, sculptures, and ritual objects that reveal how ideas travelled across Asia long before globalisation had a name. Louise walks us through the curatorial process, the archaeological discoveries that shaped the exhibition, and why Dunhuang remains one of humanity’s greatest artistic achievements. For Singapore audiences, this is more than an art show, it’s a window into how Asia’s spiritual and commercial networks shaped the world we live in today. Expect insights on Buddhist iconography, Silk Road trade routes, and the conservation challenges of preserving 1,500‑year‑old cave art.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with Wall Street Journal senior reporter Jon Emon about one of the most astonishing business‑and‑geopolitics stories of the year: how Driscoll’s brought blueberries to China and China copied the entire playbook. Fifteen years ago, Driscoll’s entered Yunnan with elite genetics, high‑tech growing systems, and a vision to turn blueberries into China’s next big consumer trend. It worked. By 2020, the company was producing thousands of tons for Chinese supermarkets. But success came with a cost: widespread IP theft, copycat nurseries, and undercover investigators discovering that China’s agricultural sector had reverse‑engineered Driscoll’s proprietary varieties. Jon breaks down how this happened, why agricultural IP is becoming a frontline in global trade tensions, and what this means for food security, supply chains, and Western companies operating in China. His reporting shows how geopolitics now extends into orchards, genetics labs, and supermarket shelves.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On MoneyFM 89.3’s Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen talks with Prof. Yucheng Lin, Assistant Professor of Energy and Environment at City University of Hong Kong about recent reports that Swiss glaciers have lost more than 5% of their ice after a record heatwave, and new research shows that Antarctica’s ice loss is now locked in. Extra snowfall won’t save it. Prof. Lin's recent paper explains why the world’s largest ice sheet has entered a phase of irreversible decline. His work shows that even optimistic climate scenarios cannot restore Antarctica’s lost mass, meaning that sea‑level rise is now a structural reality for coastal cities everywhere. We explore what this means for Singapore and SEA at large; why glacier loss is accelerating faster than models predicted and how heatwaves in Europe connect to long‑term ocean warming in the Southern Hemisphere. Prof. Lin also explains the science behind “locked‑in” ice loss, why mitigation alone won’t be enough, and what adaptation strategies coastal nations must consider now, not in 2050.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On MoneyFM 89.3’s International News Review, Steve Okun  joins Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen to begin with the extraordinary account of Flydubai captain Smit Machchhar, who fought through stab wounds to unlock the cockpit door and help save 174 passengers during an attempted mid‑air sabotage. His words “I couldn’t let everybody else die” have become a global rallying cry for courage under pressure. Then to Washington, where the U.S. State Department’s Hall of Flags has undergone a dramatic makeover. The removal of dozens of foreign flags in favour of a red‑white‑and‑blue display has sparked debate about diplomacy, identity, and what America chooses to signal to the world. And in Singapore, GovTech has launched a pilot that nobody saw coming: a dating‑match system for young, single public officers raising questions about innovation, workplace culture, and whether government‑built romance is the next frontier in civil‑service well‑being. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

🌍On MoneyFM 89.3 James Thoo, writer‑director of The Sandbox, and Peps Goh, the film’s co‑lead and stunt supervisor. join Saturday Mornings Show host Glenn van Zutphen takes you inside one of Singapore’s most anticipated films of 2026: "The Sandbox," an irreverent, laugh‑out‑loud mockumentary about small businesses, big dreams, and the communities that fight to survive. The film follows a struggling stunt training school on the brink of shutting down until rumours spread that an international superhero production is scouting talent in Singapore. Suddenly, the school is flooded with eccentric hopefuls chasing their shot at fame. The cast includes Benjamin Kheng, Nathan Hartono, Oon Shu An, Estelle Fly and more, The Sandbox premiered at SGIFF and MIFFest and opens nationwide on 8 October. James and Peps share why the film is a love letter to dreamers, how comedy can reveal the truth about survival, and why Singaporeans deserve stories that feel unmistakably local.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.