KQED's Forum

True crime. Gossip. Niche sports. Deep-dive history. The podcasts that have critics and podcasters hooked in 2022 vary. But what makes a good podcast in today’s saturated and corporate-shaped landscape? We’ll hear from a panel of podcast lovers about the shows that made them turn on episode notifications. And we want to hear from you: Whether your Spotify Wrapped called it your top podcast of 2022 or it’s what you play when you can’t sleep, we hear about your favorite podcasts this year.

Guests:

Wil Williams, CEO, Hughouse Productions.

Ronald Young Jr. , audio producer and storyteller, Senior Producer/Owner, ohitsBigRon studios; host, "Leaving the Theater" podcast.

Skye Pillsbury, author, The Squeeze newsletter which reports on the podcast industry

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Remember the playground chants, the jump rope songs, the weird little games you played as a kid that were part of your secret kid world? Scholars have a name for it: childlore. You might imagine, given all the differences between kids—country, culture, class, race, media consumption—that this childlore might be vastly different from place to place. But the strange thing is, many of the little things kids say and do, or draw in their notebooks, are remarkably similar across time and place. We’ll talk about the things kids do across cultures and how they spread and evolve.

Guests:

Julie Beck, senior editor, The Atlantic; author of the article, “Why Did We All Have the Same Childhood?”

Rebekah Willett, professor at the Information School, University of Wisconsin at Madison

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In a remarkable display of discontent not seen since the 1989 Tiananmen Square demonstrations, protesters across China have taken to the streets demanding an end to the country’s stringent zero-Covid policy. At the outset of the pandemic, China adopted a policy of quarantining and locking down its citizens to prevent the spread of Covid. But while most of the world has moved on to treat Covid as endemic, China’s president Xi Jinping, who was confirmed in October for an unprecedented third term, has stuck to its zero-Covid policy. Demonstrators argue that the policy has placed an extraordinary burden on citizens, and they are demanding not just the end to the restrictions, but also Xi’s resignation, a call that is politically sensitive in a nation where dissent is regularly quashed. We’ll talk about the protests and what impact they might have in changing China’s Covid policy and its future.

Guests:

Kerry Allen, China media analyst, BBC.

Victor Shih, chair in China and Pacific Relations, University of California, San Diego.

Nancy Qian, James J. O’Connor professor of Economics, Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management; founder, Kellogg’s China Research Lab and China Econ Lab, an independent international organization that promotes research about the Chinese economy.

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“This brutalization of Ukraine's people is barbaric." Those were Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s words Wednesday for Russian President Vladimir Putin, a day after the United States announced a new round of aid to rebuild Ukraine’s decimated energy infrastructure. Guardian foreign correspondent Luke Harding, who’s been reporting from inside Ukraine since last December, has written what he hopes is a “first draft of history” -- a recounting of the origins and human toll of Russia’s now nine-month-old assault. His new book is “Invasion: The Inside Story of Russia’s Bloody War and Ukraine’s Fight for Survival.”

Guests:

Luke Harding, foreign correspondent, The Guardian; author, "Invasion: The inside Story of Russia's Bloody War and Ukraine's Fight for Survival."

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Daniel Aston, Kelly Loving, Derrick Rump, Ashley Paugh and Raymond Green Vance. They were the five people gunned down when a shooter entered an LGBTQ+ nightclub in Colorado last weekend and opened fire, in a terrifying massacre that also injured 22. LGBTQ advocates had been warning that a mass killing would follow the Pulse nightclub shooting six years ago, citing alarming increases in violence against transgender and non-binary people and rising anti-trans and anti-queer legislation and rhetoric. We’ll hear how LGBTQ+ communities in Colorado Springs, nationwide and here in California are responding and coping in the aftermath.

Guests:

Jo Yurcaba, reporter, NBC Out, the LGBTQ section of NBC News.

Elizabeth Pixie, friend of Daniel Aston, who was killed in the Colorado Springs Club Q shooting.

Nick Vargas, director of development and strategy, The Source LGBT+ Center in Visalia, CA.

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Chef Tanya Holland’s new cookbook – like her family – is rooted in the people and the food of the historical migration from the South to the West. Holland, legendary for her former West Oakland soul food restaurant Brown Sugar Kitchen, weaves recipes with stories of California’s Black culinary pioneers and food industry entrepreneurs in her new cookbook, “California Soul: Recipes from a Culinary Journey West”. We talk with her about the stories that food holds and her California Soul.

Guests:

Tanya Holland, author, "California Soul" and "Brown Sugar Kitchen: New-Style, Down-Home Recipes from Sweet West Oakland;" host, "Tanya's Kitchen Table" on the Opra.

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Twitter's volatile new owner Elon Musk accused Apple of censorship on Monday, claiming it had threatened to "withhold" the social media platform from its App Store. The apparent feud comes as Twitter reels from an advertiser exodus and mass layoffs that have gutted content moderation and other key teams. We take stock of Twitter in the month since Musk gained control.

Guests:

Mike Isaac, technology correspondent, New York Times; author, “Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber”

Shira Ovide, author of the Tech Friend newsletter, The Washington Post

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The San Francisco Bay is the largest estuary in Western North America and a key link in the 4,000-mile Pacific Flyway, one of the primary migratory routes used by birds to move north and south across the continent. It’s a place where birds come to rest and refuel for their long trip, or breed and nest the next generation. But in the span of a few human generations, 90% of California’s wetlands have disappeared to development and agriculture, endangering migrating and local birds. Now drought and sea level rise are further diminishing important bird habitats. As climate change becomes a bigger threat to the Bay Area’s local and migratory birds, scientists and conservationists work to help habitats adapt to climate change to ensure bird’s futures. We’ll talk to bird and conservation experts about how the Bay Area’s bird population has changed, what it means for the environment, for us, and what can be done about it.

Guests:

Steven Beissinger, Professor of Conservation Biology, UC Berkeley

Andrea Jones, Director of Bird Conservation, Audubon California

Jenny Odell, author of "How to Do Nothing: Resisting the Attention Economy"

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If you’ve seen a 3-year old wielding a quarter-size violin and sawing at its strings to play Mozart, chances are you witnessed a student of the Suzuki Method. Created by Japanese educator, Shinichi Suzuki, the Suzuki Method is how many young American children learn to play classical music on the violin, cello and piano, among other instruments. But the Suzuki Method isn’t just about teaching children to master Bach or a vehicle for Tiger Parents to cultivate exceptional children. Rather, it’s an approach to education that believes talent is a muscle to be developed and that all children should be measured against their own abilities. We’ll talk about Suzuki and why he believed that little children could do great things.

Guests:

Eri Hotta, author, Suzuki: The Man and His Dream to Teach The Children of the World

Cathy Lee, Suzuki Method educator, Lee studied directly with Shinichi Suzuki, and has taught violin for over 40 years. She has also trained dozens of teachers in the Suzuki Method.

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In less than a month, crypto-billionaire Sam Bankman-Fried went from industry leader to pariah. His cryptocurrency exchange FTX has filed for bankruptcy, with the filings listing more than one million creditors impacted. The formerly $32 billion dollar company is now the target of investigations by the Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department; Bankman-Fried is facing public scrutiny amid allegations of fraud. We’ll talk about the allegations against Bankman-Fried, where the crypto market stands and what we can learn from this moment.

Guests:

Margaret O'Mara, historian of the modern United States, University of Washington

Hilary Allen, professor of law, American University

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