Bay Current

You've seen driverless cars cruising around San Francisco, but would you actually ride in a car without a human being behind the wheel? Bay Current host Matt Pitman did just that, in a Waymo SUV, cruising around SF's Haight Ashbury neighborhood.

In early December, our KCBS Radio reporter and Berkeley-ite Jim Taylor brought us a story that proves that it pays to be kind.

After a KCBS Radio listener heard Taylor's story on the air about a special needs teacher from Berkeley winning the inaugural Chris Kindness Award, they made a generous donation to keep the generosity going. 

In this episode of Bay Current, producer Mallory Somera spoke with the founder of the program, Alan Ross, who’s also a professor at the Haas School of Business at UC Berkeley. 

Conversations with two KCBS Radio reporters from Humboldt County after Tuesday's 6.4 magnitude earthquake. KCBS Radio reporter Megan Goldsby grew up in the area and is no stranger to big quakes, and KCBS Radio producer Sydney Fishman was there when it happened, adding some unexpected excitement to her holiday vacation.

KCBS Radio's Natalia Gurevich explores a traditional Hanukkah delicacy and the Jewish bakery in San Francisco that is serving up some 3,000 of them a day this time of year!

When you live in the Bay Area, and you own a car, you’re almost certainly familiar with the constant anxiety of possible car break-ins. 

But nothing can prepare you for the grinding sound you hear when a certain part is stolen from underneath your vehicle. Today, we talk about catalytic converter thefts. 

According to data from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, converter thefts have heightened in the last few years across the country, from 1,298 reported thefts in 2018 to 52,206 in 2021. 

And according to data from a 2021 report by the Bureau of Automotive Repair, there are about 16,000 converter thefts in California each month. The theft of a catalytic converter usually takes minutes using tools like a pipe wrench or Sawzalls, making it easy for thefts to happen quickly and without interference. 

In this episode of “Bay Current," KCBS Radio’s Sydney Fishman spoke with her mother, Ann Edwards, who had a traumatic incident with a converter theft in Oakland last summer. She also speaks with Danny, the owner of Bay Area Auto Repair in Oakland, and Lieutenant Ray Kelly, the Chief of Staff of Public Information at Alameda County Sheriff's Office.

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Bay Current is on YouTube, on the KCBS Radio YouTube page.

The 40-acre plot just south of the San Jose airport has held one of the largest encampments of unhoused persons in the Bay Area. But the more than 200 who reside there are having to move.  The process of relocating has not been easy for the residents or the city.

KCBS Radio South Bay reporter Keith Menconi spent part of the week at the site in San Jose and joins Matt Pitman for a look inside the move.

As we journey through the holiday season, many of us will think of cheer, comfort, and spending time with our families. It’s a time of celebration, and appreciating the ones you love. But for houseless communities in the Bay Area, the holidays can be a grim time of year, where many of those living on the street won’t have homes to return to for the holidays. 

In this episode of “Bay Current," KCBS Radio’s Mallory Somera and Sydney Fishman spoke with reporter Jeffrey Schaub about his recent radio story on St. Vincent de Paul Society, a nonprofit that helps houseless and other vulnerable communities. His radio broadcast brought an outstanding number of turkey donations on Thanksgiving Day to the Marin County nonprofit, as well as other kinds of donations from the community. To make a donation to St. Vincent’s, or to volunteer, you can send an email to [email protected].

Subscribe to Bay Current on the Audacy app, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and Stitcher.

Bay Current is on YouTube, on the KCBS Radio YouTube page.

With more than 370 thousand followers, the Overheard San Francisco Instagram account has become a must-follow for many living in the city - from its hilarious (sometimes cringey) 'overheard' posts, or its popular and increasingly successful missed connections.  Natalia Gurevich introduces us to the woman who runs Overheard SF and Natalia shares her own missed connections story!

Musicians from the Bay Area are no strangers to paving their own lanes and breaking the rules. From the evolution of Mobb Music in the 1980s to the revolutionary Hyphy Movement of the late 1990s and early 2000s, rappers from the Bay are always finding unique ways to create their own sound, and give back to their communities. 

In this episode of “Bay Current," KCBS Radio’s Mallory Somera and Sydney Fishman spoke with LaRussell, a rapper and entrepreneur from Vallejo who is redefining the rules of throwing concerts in the Bay Area. You’ll also hear from hip-hop radio legend Chuy Gomez about what makes the Bay Area music scene different from the rest of the country. 

Subscribe to Bay Current on the Audacy app, Apple podcasts, Google podcasts, and Stitcher.

Bay Current is on YouTube, on the KCBS Radio YouTube page.

Did you know there are actually no cemeteries in San Francisco? It's because even back at the turn of the 20th century, in 1900, city leaders realized they were running out of room for its living residents. So the dead were relocated to the City of Colma. Matt Pitman takes a walk through the graveyard and hears some pretty remarkable stories, in this Halloween edition of Bay Current.

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