Joshua Sirotiak | KALW

Joshua Sirotiak

Producer

Joshua Sirotiak is a native of Chicago and Cleveland who moved to San Francisco in 2001. He's a working tuba player, a father, and a self-proclaimed nerd who’s worked as a line cook, general contractor’s apprentice, substitute teacher, camp counselor, bar back and bouncer, and has spent nearly a decade and a half working for one upscale natural foods grocer in particular. 

In 2013, while living in Chicago, Joshua participated in a seven week program run by vocalo.org (an affiliate of WBEZ) where he produced a ten minute piece about Second Line music and culture. Currently primarily employed (musically) in Balkan Brass and Second Line styles, Joshua has toured across the United States and Europe for audiences from all walks of life ranging in size from two to 20,000. He currently lives and works in Sacramento, and his reporting interests include music as a lens into culture, race in the United States, technological solutions to climate change, and environmental sustainability/justice.

Joshua is a fellow in KALW's Audio Academy class of 2020.

What One Soup Kitchen Is Doing During The Coronavirus Shutdown

By • 21 hours ago
Miriam Locke

Walter Parentau and his housemates run an all-volunteer soup kitchen in San Francisco’s Mission District. Their goal is to provide hospitality for anyone who walks through the door, but how are they dealing with the changes that the coronavirus brings? 

California Schools Unlikely To Reopen This School Year

By • Apr 1, 2020
Credit: Andrew Reed/EdSource


According to a letter sent yesterday by California’s Superintendent of Public Instruction, the state’s students should not expect to return to campus this academic year.

Six Bay Area Counties Extend School Closures To May 1

By • Mar 25, 2020
Noise Grunt / Flickr / Creative Commons


Six Bay Area counties announced extending school closures today. They are now tentatively scheduled to remain closed through May 1.

How Did The Farallon Islands Get To Be Part Of San Francisco?

By • Mar 19, 2020
Jan Roletto / Wikimedia Commons

Hey Area is where we find answers to questions you ask. Britt Byrd wanted to know, “Why does San Francisco have the Farallon Islands? They’re thirty miles off the coast, but they’re legally part of San Francisco. What’s up with that?” 

Audio Storytelling And Good Reporting Enhance Empathy And Highlight Stories That Need Telling

By • Jan 22, 2020

An update from KALW's Audio Academy class of 2020:

“Find a job that you love and you’ll never work a day in your life.”

“A person’s work need not define them.”

These two ideas, possibly in conflict with each other, kick around in my head a lot.