Sound Effect

This show originally aired on December 2, 2017. This week on Sound Effect, our theme is "In Traffic." Host Gabriel Spitzer checks out the winning entry for the “ Sorriest Bus Stop in America ,” which happens to be in Seattle. We meet a quadriplegic with a seriously tricked-out wheelchair . Also, the detective who worked to stop local animal trafficking . Sound Effect is your weekly tour of ideas, inspired by the place we live. The show is hosted by KNKX's Gabriel Spitzer . To hear the full

When it comes to scientific arguments nowadays, there’s a good chance sooner or later someone will be compared to people who believe the earth is flat. Most would consider that an insult, but not Mark Sargent. The Whidbey Island resident spends much of his time promoting the belief that the earth is not round or spherical but actually, definitely flat. He’s not joking. And he claims that there is plenty of proof out there to prove him right. That is why Sargent created Flat Earth Clues, a series

This show originally aired on November 18, 2017. This week on Sound Effect, our theme is "Can’t Let Go." KNKX newsies Ariel Van Cleave and Ed Ronco reminisce about their obscure instruments. Then we talk to Jillian Venters, who gives advice to people of the gothic subculture , including those who are aging within it. Next, we head to Tacoma where a man is making an effort to celebrate author Frank Herbert. Then we take a ride in one of the oddest vehicles you’ll ever see: a hearse, decked out in

In the Fall of 2016, Greg Beckelhymer died after a year-long struggle with metastatic kidney cancer. He was 47 years old. In this story, his widow, Seattle-based writer Michelle Goodman and her sister, Naomi Goodman, talk about how acute grief is often accompanied by strong denial. “I had to remind myself that he wouldn’t be walking through the front door to make dinner with me and to take the dog to the nearby park afterward. I had to remind myself because grief is sneaky. It fools you into

This show originally aired on October 28, 2017. This week on Sound Effect, our theme is "ghosts." We open with host Gabriel Spitzer having his son taste-test a ghost pepper. Next, Gabriel meets up with a Seattle writer who discovered a ghost from her family in her own neighborhood. Sound Effect’s Jennifer Wing heads to Eastern Washington to meet a man who is on the search for apple varieties thought to be lost. And finally, Sound Effect’s Kevin Kniestedt talks to singer Lydia Ramsey about how

Washington State is, of course, named after founding father George Washington. But there’s another George Washington, also a founding father, who settled in a little corner of the territory with his wife Mary Jane nearly 150 years ago. There he founded a town called Centerville, later changed to Centralia. What makes Washington an unusual pioneer-type is that he was African-American, born in Virginia to a white woman and a black slave. Now, some 200 years later, George Washington has become a

This show originally aired on October 7, 2017. This week on Sound Effect, stories of better late than never. We open the show by meeting a man who started teaching Pilates in his late seventies. Next, we talk to a woman who has decided to freeze her eggs in an effort to be able to have kids down the road. Then 88-5’s Ashley Gross introduces us to a woman who overcame her fear of the water later in life. Also, Sound Effect’s Jennifer Wing profiles a man who saved some very special boats from a

This story originally aired on September 30, 2017. Seattle Attorney Bill Marler is often thought of as a bug. An agitator. An annoyance to the beef and poultry industries, and even the companies that grow leafy greens. He’s the guy you call if you are unfortunate enough to fall victim to E. coli, salmonella, listeria or any other bacteria that somehow works their way into mass food production and into your stomach. In this midweed installment of Sound Effect's podcast, come listen to Bill Marler

This show originally aired on September 30, 2017. This week on Sound Effect, stories of bugs in the system. We first head to the Burke Museum where baby beetles eat away at the flesh of dead animals, down to the bone, so scientists can have a clean specimen. Then we hear from a cyber-security expert about what went wrong in a huge disaster in Bellingham. Also, you may not have known that flea circuses are “real”, but we’ll visit one that exists in the Wallingford neighborhood. We’ll also talk to

This story originally aired on Jan. 14, 2017 “The streets start really showing their personality after dark,” said Seattle photographer Tim Durkan, on one of the coldest nights of 2016. He’s talking about the neighborhood where he lives, and where he grew up: Capitol Hill. “The commuters have gone home; all the yoga stores have closed; you know, the PCC and the Whole Foods — everybody's got their freaking quinoa. Everybody's home behind their little closed doors. But not Rick, not Jessie, not