Podcast
KQED's Forum
Hosted by KQED · EN
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints.
Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love to hear from you! Please dial 866.SF.FORUM or (866) 733-6786 or email forum@kqed.org, tweet, or post on Facebook.
176episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Katherine Dunn on ‘How GPS Shaped the Modern World’
2w ago00:54:42Tap to summarizeWe rely on the Global Positioning System for so much — mapping our commutes, tracking our runs, hailing ride shares, matching with dates and more — that it can be hard to remember life before it. The U.S. military sent the first GPS satellite to space in 1978, and journalist Katherine Dunn says remembering those military roots can help us understand of how enemy actors today are distorting, blocking and threatening GPS around the world. Dunn says it’s time we address our global dependency and rethink how we’ve phased out many GPS alternatives. We’ll talk with Dunn about how GPS works, the types of attacks we’re seeing and what can be done about them. Do you remember a time before GPS? Guests: Katherine Dunn, author, “Little Blue Dot: How GPS Shaped the Modern World"; journalist who specializes in covering the intersection between climate change, the energy transition, and business Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Bay Area Communities Resist Data Center Boom
2w ago00:54:49Tap to summarizeCommunities across the Bay Area, including Gilroy, Oakley and Pittsburg, are pushing back on new data centers in their cities. Data centers, which house the computing equipment and servers that power the internet, have been around for decades, but opposition to them has exploded as tech companies pour hundreds of billions of dollars into building thousands of new centers nationwide. Residents worry the facilities will suck up scarce water and electricity and pollute the environment to power the riches of AI investors. We’ll talk about the data center boom and how it’s playing out in the Bay Area. Guests: Molly Taft, senior climate reporter, WIRED Jonathan Koomey, researcher and scientist, Koomey Analytics; author, "Cold Cash, Cool Climate: Science-Based Advice for Ecological Entrepreneurs" Hema Sivanandam, East Contra Costa reporter, Bay Area News Group Britt Smith, Gilroy resident; activist and co-founder, Stop Gilroy Data Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Forum From The Archives: Ibram X. Kendi Chronicles Impact and Spread of 'Great Replacement Theory'
2w ago00:52:12Tap to summarizeHistorian Ibram X. Kendi says that in order to understand the rise of authoritarianism, we need to understand great replacement theory. It’s the racist idea that “powerful elites are enabling peoples of color to steal the lives, livelihoods, cultures and electoral power and freedoms of white people,” Kendi writes in his new book, “Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age.” We talk to the National Book Award-winning author about how politicians are using great replacement theory to justify authoritarian power and how it has moved from the fringes to the mainstream. Guests: Ibram X. Kendi, professor of history, Howard University and founding director of the Howard University Institute for Advanced Study; author, "Chain of Ideas: The Origins of Our Authoritarian Age"; his previous books include "How to Be an Antiracist" and "Stamped from the Beginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Forum from the Archives: Poet Kevin Young Explores History and Loss in His Newest Collection, "Night Watch"
2w ago00:54:52Tap to summarizeNew Yorker magazine poetry editor Kevin Young has called poetry "the most efficient mode of time travel." In his new volume of poems "Night Watch,” Young, a literary hyphenate who edits, writes and teaches, takes readers on a journey of loss and re-emergence. From his cycle of poems about a conjoined pair of twins born into slavery and kidnapped to a carnival freak show to his meditations on grief set to the phases of the moon, Young’s spare and incisive language provides the reader passage through history and memory. On this Juneteenth holiday we listen back on our conversation with Young about his collection and what it means to be a poet today. Guests: Kevin Young, poet and author; Young's latest poetry collection is "Night Watch"; Young has been the poetry editor for the New Yorker since 2017 and from 2021 to 2025 served as the director of the Smithsonian's National Museum of African American History and Culture Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →A 900-Mile Swim Along California’s Coast
2w ago00:54:43Tap to summarizeUltra-endurance athlete Catherine Breed has accomplished many physical feats — including a record-breaking swim across Lake Tahoe—but her latest challenge may be her most audacious. Beginning in July, she’ll spend several months swimming the entire coastline of California. The 900-mile journey will begin at the top of California, and Breed will swim to the California-Mexico border. She joins us to talk about how she’s preparing to avoid sharks and fatigue to conquer the currents of the Pacific Ocean. Guests: Catherine Breed, ultra-endurance athlete and swimmer; president and founder, Sea Dreamers Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Jonathan Weber’s 'City on the Edge' Chronicles Decades-Long Battles Over Tech, Politics and the Soul of San Francisco
2w ago00:54:49Tap to summarizeJournalist Jonathan Weber has had a front row seat to San Francisco’s many rises and falls as the nation’s tech capital since the early 1990s. His new book, “City on the Edge” offers a sweeping history of the tech industry in San Francisco, chronicling its unprecedented successes as well as its devastating consequences. Drawing on 200 interviews with mayors, CEOs, political leaders, activists, entrepreneurs, and artists, Weber tells the story of a war waged for the heart of San Francisco that has had an impact far beyond the city’s famed Golden Gates. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Climate Change is Unleashing New and Deadly Microbes
2w ago00:54:44Tap to summarizeWe tend to focus on how climate change affects coral reefs, sea turtles and polar bears on melting ice. But we rarely focus on how climate change is affecting microbes — the bacteria, fungi and viruses we can only see with microscopes — which outnumber all other life on earth. So says science writer Shayla Love, who warns that a warming planet might be making those microorganisms mutate in a concerning and even deadly way. And that melting ice may even unleash new, unfamiliar microbes. We talk with Love about her New Yorker article, “Our Warming Planet Is a Petri Dish for New and Deadly Microbes.” Guests: Shayla Love, science writer; her recent New Yorker article is “Our Warming Planet Is a Petri Dish for New and Deadly Microbes” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →Cigarettes Are Cool Again and Health Advocates are Worried
2w ago00:54:50Tap to summarizeCigarettes are cool again…especially with GenZ. Despite decades of anti-smoking campaigns, you’re likely to see more young people smoking in films, at bars, on street corners, and in social media feeds. Researchers tie the trend to Y2K nostalgia, soft nihilism, and a turn away from “clean girl” wellness culture. Actual youth smoking rates are still at historic lows, but we’ll explore how glamorization complicates the public health conversation around nicotine. Guests: Pamela Ling, professor of medicine, UCSF; Ling studies the tobacco industry marketing strategies targeting young adults, women and other high risk populations Kevin Truong, business editor, The San Francisco Standard; Truong co-wrote the piece "They Know It Kills You. Gen Z is Smoking Cigarettes Anyway" Degen Pener, journalist; Pener wrote the piece "Cigarettes Get a Sequel: Hollywood's 'Cool' Habit Is Back" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →In a World Run by Algorithms, Hollywood Fights for Its Soul
2w ago00:52:15Tap to summarizeIt’s no longer news that Hollywood studios are using artificial intelligence in editing, animation, visual effects and more. But last week “Dreams of Violets,” a new film about protests in Iran, became the first fully AI-generated live-action feature to screen at Tribeca and is a project that journalist Steven Zeitchik says the industry is watching nervously. We talk about the rapidly growing use of A.I. in filmmaking and the impacts that’s having on audiences, industry professionals and an artform built on human storytelling. Guests: Steven Zeitchik, senior editor for technology and politics, Hollywood Reporter; author, "Mind and Iron," a humanist newsletter about our AI future Peter Murrieta, executive producer, showrunner and writer; secretary-treasurer, Writers Guild of America West Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Transcribe →In “I Love Boosters,” it’s Boots Riley’s World
2w ago00:52:20Tap to summarizeOakland filmmaker, rapper and activist Boots Riley’s new film ‘I Love Boosters’ is a surreal crime comedy that follows three women who shoplift clothes to make ends meet. Like all of his work, there’s radical pro-worker politics, indictments of industry, and funk-filled absurdism. We’ll talk to Riley about his distinctive storytelling and how it centers his hometown. Guests: Boots Riley, writer and director, "I Love Boosters;" his previous films include "Sorry to Bother You" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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