Bay Curious listener Dave Ellis lives in the South Bay city of Saratoga. When he was a kid growing up there, he remembers loud tree frogs chorusing almost all the time. But now, even in spring when they should be loudest, he says it's eerily quiet. What's going on?

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This story was reported by Dana Cronin. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Bay Curious listener Grant Strother has been visiting San Francisco's North Beach neighborhood his whole life. He loves to get a caprese sandwich at Molinari's Deli, which has been there since the late 1800s. But he wondered, apart from the restaurants, how Italian is North Beach these days? Do Italians still live here? Or, is it all just for tourists?

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This story was reported by Pauline Bartolone. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Commuting from East Bay cities like Berkeley and Oakland into San Francisco can be dismal. So when people learn there used to be an extensive streetcar system that crisscrossed the East Bay they want to know, what happened to it? The Key System, as it was known, could get a person from Berkeley or Oakland into San Francisco in 35-40 minutes and was a popular way to travel in the early part of the 20th century. What happened to it and were there nefarious forces contributing to its demise?

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This story was reported by Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Christopher Beale and Olivia Allen-Price. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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While you might not recognize the name, there’s a good chance you’ve heard the haunting, almost otherworldly sound the duduk makes. This humble shepherd’s flute wandered out of the Armenian countryside and into Hollywood, making cameos on the scores of movies and shows like The Gladiator and The Last Temptation of Christ. The duduk was even recently synthesized on both Dune soundtracks. Audiences in the Bay Area don’t get many chances to hear the instrument live — unless they’re able to catch a performance by Santa Rosa-based Khatchadour Khatchadourian -- the duduk whisperer.

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This story was reported by Elize Manoukian. This story first aired on the California Report Magazine and was produced by Victoria Mauleon, Suzie Racho, Brendan Willard, Katherine Monahan, Srishti Prabha and Sasha Khokha. 

Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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There's a blue house in San Francisco's Castro neighborhood that is constantly mobbed by French tour groups. Bay Curious listener Helen Walker wants to know, "why?" This episode first aired in 2023.

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This story was reported by Chloe Veltman. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Amanda Font, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Recently, several listeners have written to us wondering about the large flocks of crows they see darkening the skies over the Bay Area at sunset each night. The crows are like clockwork, swarming to the same locations night after night, often hundreds of them at a time. What's going on? We get answers and along the way explore why we're seeing more crows in the Bay Area in recent years and if they are having a negative impact on other bird species.

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This story was reported by Dan Brekke. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsay and everyone on Team KQED.

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The 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan start tomorrow and there are a lot of Bay Area athletes representing our region at the games. We sit down with other Olympics super fans to get you amped up about who to root for and hear from some of the athletes themselves.

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This story was reported by Natalia Navarro and Sarah Wright. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsay and everyone on Team KQED.

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High in the Hayward Hills, Ukraina marks the farm and grave of Ukrainian dissident priest Agapius Honcharenko, who fled Russian authorities and settled here with his wife, Albina. These days, his farmstead is marked by a historical placard that caught the eye of our question asker, Tony. Today on the show, we explore the thrilling and noble life of Honcharenko, who life is still celebrated with an annual ceremony.

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This story was reported by Rachael Myrow. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Olivia Allen-Price and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Gabriela Glueck, Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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There's a church in San Francisco where John Coltrane's music is more than jazz -- it's doctrine. The Coltrane Church, as it’s often called, is the oldest Black jazz organization in San Francisco now. We talk to its founders about the "sound baptism" that jumpstarted the church and learn how it has adapted to a changing San Francisco.

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This story was reported by Asal Ehsanipour. Bay Curious is made by Olivia Allen-Price, Katrina Schwartz and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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Henry Lie grew up in Pacifica and thought he knew everything there was to know about his hometown, just a few minutes south of San Francisco. So he was shocked to learn about a police raid in the 1950s that targeted LGBTQ+ identifying people. He had never heard of the bar, Hazel's Inn, or that Pacifica had a moment when it was a safe gathering spot for the queer community. He wanted to know more.

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This story was reported by Ana De Almeida Amaral. Bay Curious is made by Katrina Schwartz, Olivia Allen-Price and Christopher Beale. Additional support from Jen Chien, Katie Sprenger, Maha Sanad, Ethan Toven-Lindsey and everyone on Team KQED.

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