KALW Speaks

We are living in a hyper-connected age where people are feeling more isolated than ever before, distrustful of their neighbors, and anxious about their futures. National leaders are sowing discord and threatening to deport our friends and family. The chasm between haves and have nots continues to grow. And residents across the Bay Area are asking, “how do we fix this?”

First, we must create connection and community in an age of distraction and division. That’s why KALW continues to produce and invest in local journalism and storytelling that’s rooted in the Bay and accessible across platforms: radio, social media, podcasts. And, it’s why we have gone to great lengths to bolster our in-person events strategy.

KALW knows how crucial it is to have spaces where we can gather outside of the home and workplace. Places we don’t have to be but want to be. Those “third places” are not as abundant as they once were and we need them to combat what U.S. Surgeon General, Vivek Murthy calls “our epidemic of loneliness and isolation.” KALW’s in-person events offer Bay Area residents a way to connect, converse, and consider different points of view.

We are doing our part to fix what’s broken by building a physical and digital community where the Bay Area feels welcome and heard. Our inclusive, hyper-local programming recognizes that each of us has a story to tell and something valuable to share. KALW’s mission is lofty - to help fulfill a basic human need - belonging. Everything we do, from our news programming to our music shows, serves as a reminder that we belong to each other.

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SHEREEN MARISOL MERAJI is a veteran audio producer, KALW board member, and journalist who has been telling stories with sound for more than two decades. Shereen helped create NPR’s groundbreaking and critically acclaimed podcast covering race and identity, Code Switch. During her time as co-host and senior producer, Code Switch won numerous awards and Apple Podcasts named Code Switch its first-ever "show of the year."

If you’re a podcast fan maybe you’ve noticed a shift in your feeds lately. Maybe you’re hearing more ads? Shorter episodes? Simpler productions and just a bit more…fluff?

I’ve been making audio stories as a journalist, producer, editor and host for two decades, and for almost half of that, I’ve been the head of an independent podcast production company called Adonde Media. As creators, we noticed this shift about two years ago, when the looming risk of a recession and huge bets from investors in the podcast industry weren’t turning the profit they had hoped. All of a sudden, there were many fewer opportunities to make audio documentaries with rich sound design or deep journalistic investigation. Conversations with potential clients became about how often we could churn out episodes and if we could do more with fewer resources (i.e. less money).

The budgets creators pitched for new shows started getting slashed left and right, promises to make certain projects went unfulfilled or were just outright canceled, and many independent production companies started to go under. Layoffs started to sweep the biggest players in the industry — Spotify, WNYC, NPR… whole podcast production departments closed overnight, like the ones at Vice News or National Geographic, even as they were preparing to accept prestigious awards for their work.

The commercial, investor driven market that was behind the podcast boom has basically spoken — podcasts deserve to be made when they require little risk, and promise high reward… maximum efficiency, and ideally, with a celebrity attached. But that’s when your purpose is to generate profit.

When your purpose is to give a voice to a diverse community, to be a local public service, in the fullest sense, as is the case for KALW, that calculation changes.

Bethanie Hines

Podcasts are already proven to be a powerful tool for empowerment, education, entertainment and connection. With the expertise and craft that gets honed at KALW everyday, this vehicle for original programs represents a huge opportunity for impact.

We believe that today more than ever, audiences will be looking for shows that will inspire and inform them, that will take risks to tell stories that aren’t as sexy or as easy to produce. KALW has a chance to seize this moment, and fill the vacuum that the for profit podcast industry left behind. Creators and listeners alike are looking for that kind of leadership and partner, and there is no more powerful place to start than at the local level.

If KALW is setting out to give voice to the diverse communities of the Bay Area so they feel heard and connected to the rest of the world, and vice versa, the world can be aware of the amazing people, organizations and initiatives unique to the Bay, there is no better moment than right now for the station to invest in original programs. Until mission driven organizations like KALW provide that outlet and means of connection, I can’t help but wonder what important stories will continue to go untold? What communities will continue to feel ignored or left out? What information will we continue to struggle to understand or even access?

I’m convinced the future of podcasts is not in the hands of the for profit companies and investors who fueled the tremendous growth of this amazing industry I still love. It’s in the hands of the risk takers, the mission driven and local organizations that want to truly make a space their audiences can make their own.

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MARTINA CASTRO is a podcast producer, host, KALW board member, and entrepreneur, with nearly 20 years of experience telling stories in audio. She started her career at NPR and then KALW, where she reported and edited for Crosscurrents, and then as managing editor helped grow the newsroom and create KALW’s Audio Academy.