KQED's Forum

Starting in 2020, the newsletter Blackbird Spy Plane has served readers what’s billed as “unbeatable recon” on style and culture. Journalist Jonah Weiner and design scout Erin Wylie have amassed a cult following for their takes on everything from why you should “Tuck All Tops” to what “Democratizing” fashion really means. The duo provides recommendations on apparel, housewares and even art that celebrates beauty, singularity and unapologetic swagger. We talk with the creators about the newsletter, whether there is a Bay Area style, and how to create your own fashion mindset.Guests:Jonah Weiner, co-founder, "Blackbird Spyplane," a newsletter about Bay Area style and cultureErin Wylie, design scout; co-founder, "Blackbird Spyplane" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

More than 82 million Americans listen to AM radio monthly, and most do so in their cars, according to recent Nielsen data. But many automakers have been phasing out the AM band in electric vehicles, citing interference with the cars’ batteries. That’s sparked bipartisan pushback, as AM radio is both dominated by conservative talk shows and home to non-English-language and local content that can’t be found on the FM band. We’ll talk with some of California’s AM stations about the communities they serve and we’ll hear from you: What do you tune in to AM radio for? Or, if you have an EV that can’t access AM radio: Do you miss it?Guests:Katie Thornton, freelance print and audio journalist; host of the Peabody-winning podcast series “The Divided Dial,” made with WNYC’s “On the Media” about how the right came to dominate U-S talk radio. She also wrote the recent Guardian piece, “New electric cars won’t have AM radio. Rightwingers claim political sabotage”Lilia Galindo, host and producer of the radio talk show “Cafe Con Leche” on KUTY Hermosa 1470 AMIrene Tsan Fong, operations director, In-Language Radio, which represents stations including the 24-hour Bay Area Cantonese-language station KVTO-AM 1400 (93.7 FM San Francisco) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

For many of us, the internet has two faces. It can be a place where we’re bombarded by disinformation and polarized viewpoints, subjected to rage and frustration. But it can also be where people with different interests, ideas, and life experiences come together to find common ground. Share jokes. Build things together. This hopeful version of the internet is the focus of a new digital community that Forum’s creating on the platform Discord. We’ll talk about what our new community is, what we hope it will become, how to escape social media’s nasty decline, and how to foster conversations on the internet that aren’t awful.Guests:Eli Pariser, author, "The Filter Bubble: What the internet is hiding from you;" founder, New PublicMarina Gorbis, executive director, Institute for the FutureGrace Ling, founder, Design Buddies, Discord communityFrancesca Fenzi, digital community manager, KQED's Forum Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Last year, UCLA and USC announced their coming departure from the historic college sports conference of the West Coast: the Pac-12. Last week, the Pac-12 further disintegrated, with Oregon, Washington, Arizona, Arizona State, Colorado and Utah all announcing that they are moving to other conferences. TV money drove this consolidation, and it has left Cal and Stanford fans, alumni and athletes wondering about their schools’ future. We talk about the history of the conference and what comes next for California’s college sports.Guests:Joel Anderson, staff writer, Slate - where he also hosts the Slow Burn and Hang Up and Listen podcasts. Former reporter on sports, culture, and politics for ESPN and BuzzFeed News.Marisa Ingemi, sports writer, San Francisco ChronicleRay Ratto, staff writer, The Defector - Former sportswriter and columnist, San Francisco Chronicle and San Francisco Examiner Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Podcast discusses the significance of coffee shops in shaping a city's experience, reflects on memories of a special coffee shop, and explores the challenges of creating inclusive and welcoming cafe spaces. The hosts highlight popular Bay Area cafes and express sadness over the scarcity of affordable hangout spaces for young people.

This podcast explores the decline of public swimming pools in the US, the historical issue of pool segregation, disparities in public investment, swimming proficiency rates, the importance of public pools during a drought, breaking barriers for water safety, and the role of public pools in community-building.

The crack epidemic of the 1980s and 90s had a devastating and lasting effect on black communities and the criminal justice system. But Donovan X Ramsey writes that those who survived the era will hardly ever talk about it and when they do it’s, “like a trauma long accepted in hushed voices, with thousand yard stares.” In his book, When Crack Was King, Ramsey is on a quest to understand the crack era through portraits of a user, a kid of an addict, a dealer, and a politician pushing for treating the epidemic as a public health problem. We talk to Ramsey about his book, the myths that permeate our flawed understanding of the crack era and the resilience of communities that lived through it.Guests:Donovan X. Ramsey, author, "When Crack Was King" - Ramsey is a former senior reporter with the LA Times. He is currently a senior editor with the Marshall Project. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“It is remarkable,” writes the Atlantic’s Jennifer Senior, “how many Americans have relations who were, at some point during the past century, sequestered from public view… warehoused, disappeared, roughly shorn from the family tree.” Senior’s aunt Adele was institutionalized as a toddler in the 1950s, and it wasn’t until 40 years later that Senior’s mother — Adele’s sister — saw her again. We talk to Jennifer Senior about her new essay “The Ones We Sent Away.”Guests:Jennifer Senior, staff writer, The Atlantic - author of the September cover story "The Ones We Sent Away" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A perfect recipe of summer weather, climate-warmed waters and excess nutrient pollution has brought the red tide back to the San Francisco Bay shoreline. The same algae bloom that caused a massive fish die-off in Oakland’s Lake Merritt last summer has appeared again, stretching from Emeryville to Richardson Bay. Is this our new normal? We’ll talk with experts about the algae that’s taking over the Bay and what’s being done about it.Guests:Ezra David Romero, climate reporter, KQEDJonathan Rosenfield Ph.D., science director, San Francisco BaykeeperEileen White, executive director, Water Board San Francisco Bay Region Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Democrat Barbara Lee has represented Oakland and the East Bay in Congress since 1998, and she’s now running to replace U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein, who is not seeking another term. Well known as the sole member of Congress to vote against giving the president unlimited war powers after 9/11, Lee is co-chair of the House Policy and Steering Committee and serves on the Budget Committee and the Appropriations Committee. As a member of the California state legislature, Lee drafted California’s first Violence Against Women Act and the California Schools Hate Crimes Reduction Act. We’ll talk to Lee about why she wants to represent California in the Senate and hear about her positions on the environment, the war in Ukraine, the economy and more.Guests:Barbara Lee, U.S. congressmember representing California's 13th district Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices