Podcasts
Enjoy our library of podcasts, including conversations from our Uncharted Festival of Ideas and stories produced by Berkeleyside and The Oaklandside.
- Oaklandside contributor Corey Antonio Rose spoke to participants at a California Reparations Task Force listening session in Oakland on May 28, 2022, about why reparations matter to them, and interviewed task force chairperson Kamilah Moore about what reparations might entail, who stands to benefit, and what comes next.
- The '91 "Tunnel Fire" was one of the most destructive fires in U.S. history. To mark the 30th anniversary, The Oaklandside and Berkeleyside co-produced a 30-minute podcast looking back at the blaze that forever changed how the East Bay looks at wildfires.
- "Outta pocket." "Bootsy." "On mamas." The East Bay has always been a laboratory for creative slang. Berkeley High School in particular is known for having its own language of sorts — documented in the late 90s and early 2000s in the Berkeley High Slang Dictionary. As students head back to school, we take a look at whether this unique way of speaking is still thriving in the age of gentrification and social media — and what new words are in use today.
- Berkeleyside's Tracey Taylor talks about falcons and the Cal falcon webcam —which is keeping a watchful eye on Annie and Grinnell, two peregrines who made their nest in the clock tower of the Campanile on the UC Berkeley campus — with raptor mavens Allen Fish, director of the Golden Gate Raptor Observatory, and Douglas Bell, wildlife program manager at the East Bay Regional Park District (who shows off his splendid falcon imitations). What makes wildlife webcams so mesmerizing, what happens after falcon eggs hatch and what is a pipping party? https://www.berkeleyside.com/2019/03/19/first-peregrine-falcon-egg-laid-at-uc-berkeley-watch-nest-live
- What’s the script for black manhood? Mychal Denzel Smith unapologetically upends assumptions about black masculinity, rewriting the script for black men so that depression and anxiety aren’t considered taboo, and feminism and LGBTQ rights become part of the fight. Denzel Smith, author of of Invisible Man, Got the Whole World Watching, talked with Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas Co-Curator Helena Brantley about black manhood today and the heightened awareness of racism in Trump’s America.
- Most of us are familiar with public defenders from TV shows, but do we really understand the crucial role they play in the justice system? In fact, they represent 80% of people charged in the system and provide legal representation to defendants who cannot afford private attorneys. However, they are often so overwhelmed by crushing caseloads that they’re unable to provide their clients with the bare minimum representation required by the Constitution. Jon Rapping founded Gideon’s Promise in 2007 to change the public defense landscape across America. His goal is to groom a generation of public defenders to rise up […]
- Jessica Zitter describes herself as an “accidental evangelist.” As a doctor, she set out to save lives, not to focus on death. But her work has led her to a commitment to change the current paradigm of end-of-life medical decision-making. In October 2017, Zitter, an ICU and palliative care physician at Highland Hospital, sat down with Amy Tobin, CEO of the JCC East Bay, at the Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas in Berkeley. Uncharted is a production of Berkeleyside, Berkeley's award-winning independent news site. The two talked about why we have to address the “End-of-Life Conveyor Belt” where the dying are […]
- When he was an insecure teenager, Christian Picciolini was part of a group of violent, skinhead neo-Nazis. Fast forward to today, and Picciolini spends his days helping people disengage from hate and violent extremism through his nonprofit, Life After Hate. In October 2017, Picciolini, author of the book Romantic Violence: Memoirs of an American Skinhead, sat down with Mother Jones senior editor and writer Wes Enzinna at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to talk about his personal journey and what it takes to de-radicalize a hate-filled extremist.
- America is sometimes described as a class-free society — a view not shared by UC Hastings law professor Joan Williams. Williams, author of White Working Class: Overcoming Class Cluelessness in America, argues that misconceptions about class — in particular how the “professional elite” class misunderstands and condescends to the middle, working class — explains much that is wrong with the country. In October 2017, Williams sat down with media innovator Peter Leyden at Berkeleyside's fifth annual Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to deliver some hard truths about class bias and friction, and how it relates to our current political landscape.
- Political messages gain added strength when they’re delivered in a way that matches how our brains process information. Pioneering cognitive linguist George Lakoff says that America’s leading progressive politicians have ignored the science, while Donald Trump and the right wing have connected with voters with dangerous effectiveness. In October 2017, Lakoff, a former distinguished professor at UC Berkeley, sat down with journalist Daphne White at the fifth annual Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas in Berkeley, to discuss how so many people underestimated the man who became the 45th president of the United States.
- Rick Wilson is a Republican political strategist and media consultant with 30 years of experience. He has helped to elect Governors, U.S. Senators, statewide Cabinet officers and state legislators. He is also a vehement critic of the 45th President of the United States and is working on a film project titled ‘Everything Trump Touches Dies.’ In October 2017, at the fifth annual Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas, produced by independent news site Berkeleyside, Wilson talked with media innovator Peter Leyden about his views on the present-day Republican party, how he has received death threats for his views on Trump, and […]
- The shortcomings of traditional political journalism have been visible for some time. But the unprecedented presidency of Donald Trump has graphically exposed journalism’s weaknesses. In 2016, before the November election, Jay Rosen, Professor of Journalism at New York University, sat down with journalist Kathy Kiely at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to talk about the right frame for interpreting press coverage of the presidential campaign. Their conclusions hold just as true for journalists after the election, when the stakes have proven so much higher. Every year in Berkeley, Uncharted draws together some of the world’s leading thinkers for […]
- Scott Budnick is best known as the executive producer of the Hangover movies, the highest grossing, R-rated comedies in history. But unknown to many, Budnick’s mission is to reform the criminal justice system. In October 2016 Budnick sat down with Lance Knobel, founder and curator of the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley, to talk about why he founded the Anti Recidivism Coalition in 2013, an organization of very high-achieving, formerly incarcerated young adults who work to support one another while stopping the flow of men and women into the criminal justice system. Every year in Berkeley, Uncharted draws together […]
- With the conservative turn of the Supreme Court, overturning Citizens United looks unlikely. But Daniel Newman believes there are reforms that can be implemented even in the current political climate. In 2016, before the November election, Newman, co-founder and president of Maplight, sat down with journalist Kathy Kiely at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley, to talk about reforming the place of money in our political system. Every year in Berkeley, Uncharted draws together some of the world’s leading thinkers for conversations that provoke, entertain, and attempt to shift the needle towards a better future. Uncharted is produced by […]
- What do you think about when you hear about African-American Republicans? Are they heroes fighting against the expectation that all Blacks must vote democratic? Or are they sell-outs, letting down their race? In 2016, before the November election, Corey Fields, Assistant Professor of Sociology at Stanford University, published a book titled Black Elephants in the Room: The Unexpected Politics of African American Republicans. In October 2016 Fields sat down with media innovator Peter Leyden at Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to talk about what it’s really like to be a Black person in the Republican Party. Every year in Berkeley, Uncharted draws together […]
- When Aaron James sat down to write a popular philosophy book about assholes, he didn’t anticipate the candidacy — then the presidency — of Donald Trump. But then James found he had the perfect framework to explain the seemingly inexplicable. In October 2016, before the November election, James, a professor of philosophy at the University of California Irvine, sat down with writer Dan Schifrin at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to talk about his book, Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump, and attempt to explains the now President's behavior.
- As healthcare has gone digital, Bob Wachter, Chairman of the Department of Medicine at UCSF, noticed plenty of problems. Why were doctors no longer making eye contact with their patients? How could one of America's leading hospitals give a teenager a 39-fold overdose of a common antibiotic, despite a state-of-the-art computerized prescribing system? How can we make sure doctors and the digital world make things better for patients?
- Ruth Whippman, the author of "America The Anxious: How our Pursuit of Happiness is Making us a Nation of Nervous Wrecks," talks with Lauren Schiller, host of the Inflection Point radio show and podcast, about America's happiness industry and why we're not getting our money's worth.
- Jamelle Bouie is the Chief Political Correspondent of Slate. In October 2015 he sat down with Lance Knobel at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas in Berkeley to talk about the 2016 election. Rather than delve into the horse race of candidate nominations, Knobel asked Bouie to offer a framework for understanding this election — does the party actually decide who the nominees should be, how does campaigning and financing impact outcomes?
- Nicholas Dirks is the Chancellor of the University of California Berkeley. He spoke with Quentin Hardy, deputy technology editor of the New York Times, about how UC Berkeley is planning to cement its position as one of the top public universities in the world with the launch of a global campus.
- Elñora Tena Webb is president of Laney College, a community college in Oakland, California. Every day, Webb grapples with the issues of how to get young, often disenfranchised, people into colleges and universities. She spoke with bestselling author Julia Flynn Siler about how her personal journey informs how she tackles the job, and has given her a strong faith in the power of education.
- Described by Rolling Stone as “the real drug czar,” Ethan Nadelmann, the founder and executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance, is widely regarded as the outstanding proponent of drug policy reform globally. He spoke with bestselling author and Berkeleyside co-founder Frances Dinkelspiel about viable alternatives to the war on drugs.
- Wherever he’s worked, Robin Sloan, author of “Mr Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore," has been figuring out the future of media. Sloan and media innovator Peter Leyden here explore the difference between online writing — which, he says, can sometimes feel like consuming sugar — to publishing a book, which he compares to eating protein-heavy leafy greens.
- Vivienne Ming is a theoretical neuroscientist, a technologist, and an entrepreneur, and the scope of her work is more than impressive. In October 2015, she sat down with Quentin Hardy, the deputy technology editor of the New York Times at the Uncharted Ideas Festival. Whether talking about research on lie-detection or face recognition to help refugee children, Ming’s studies of the brain are eye-opening.
- Masha Gessen calls Vladimir Putin a ‘playground bully’ and a ‘thug.’ She should know: Russian herself, she is one of the world’s leading experts on Putin and his regime. A journalist who writes for the New Yorker and the New York Times among others, and the author of several books, including The Man Without a Face: The Unlikely Rise of Vladimir Putin, Gessen spoke at Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas, which took place in Berkeley, California in October 2015.
- Malo André Hutson is the Associate Director of the Institute of Urban and Regional Planning at UC Berkeley. His work focuses on neighborhood change, or, to use the more loaded term, gentrification. In October 2015, Hutson sat down with John King, the San Francisco Chronicle’s urban design critic, at the Uncharted Festival of Ideas to unpack what gentrification really means: is it economic progress or the death of thriving, diverse communities — or both?
- How are technology, artificial intelligence, robots and drones impacting our society and our economy? Brad DeLong says the disruptions and dislocations they prompt are nothing new. Think about Andrew Carnegie’s father in the 19th century being forced to abandon his Scottish handloom and move to America to work a telegraph operator — what was then the ‘high-tech’ sector. DeLong is a professor of economics at UC Berkeley. He spoke with media innovator Peter Leyden at Uncharted: The Berkeley Festival of Ideas in October 2015.
- Alice Dreger is an historian of medicine and science, a sex researcher, a mainstream writer, and an (im)patient advocate. Her most recent book is Galileo’s Middle Finger: Heretics, Activists, and the Search for Justice in Science. She also made headlines in 2015 when she resigned from her position at Northwestern University for what she said was a lack of academic independence. In October 2015, Dreger sat down with Lance Knobel, curator of the Uncharted Berkeley Festival of Ideas, for a spell-binding conversation.
- In December 2012, Berkeleyside brought together three bestselling Berkeley-based writers, all named Michael — Michael Chabon, Michael Lewis and Michael Pollan — for a conversation about their writing and the city they call home. Their conversation was a riot!
- For his latest book, “Is Gwyneth Paltrow Wrong About Everything? How the Famous Sell Us Elixirs of Health, Beauty & Happiness,” health-science expert Timothy Caulfield of the University of Alberta set out to answer a simple question: why do we believe in the health and beauty treatments that celebrities tell us will transform our lives, when they have no scientific foundation? Caulfield is in conversation with the Uncharted Festival curator, Lance Knobel, at the 2015 Uncharted Festival of Ideas.
- Chris Anderson was Editor in Chief of Wired Magazine for 12 years, but he gave all that up to devote himself to drones after an epiphany brought on by playing with a Lego Mindstorms robotic kit one Friday afternoon with his kids. As the founder of 3D Robotics, a drone manufacturer based in the Bay Area, he sees exciting possibilities for how drones can be put to work to solve some of our most pressing problems, in areas like agriculture and climate change. He talked about them with journalist and media innovator Peter Leyden at the 2015 Uncharted Festival of […]
- Shannon Brownlee is a national leader in highlighting the scope and consequences of overuse in healthcare, and she explores many of these worrying issues in her book, “Overtreated: Why too much Medicine is Making us Sicker and Poorer.” Millions of people in the U.S. are being harmed — and are even dying — by having unnecessary health interventions, as she discusses with KQED Health Editor Lisa Aliferis. Recorded at the 2015 Uncharted Festival of Ideas.
- Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, arguably the most outspoken judge on the federal bench, believes our criminal justice system is broken. He says we often rely on guesswork to convict people and suggests the firing squad is a more honest way of putting people to death than lethal injection. At the 2015 Uncharted Ideas Festival, Judge Kozinski is in conversation with William Turner, a first-amendment expert who teaches at UC Berkeley.
- Shortly after Michael Brown was shot dead in Ferguson, Missouri, Pastor Michael McBride, a church and community leader in the Bay Area, went to Ferguson. He has since emerged as a spokesperson on gun violence prevention, boys and men of color and police-community relationships. At the 2015 Uncharted Ideas Festival, McBride spoke to KQED news anchor Joshua Johnson about the roots of the Black Lives Matter movement, and where it goes from here.
