City Cast Salt Lake - podcast cover

City Cast Salt Lake

City Cast Salt Lake is Salt Lake City’s daily news podcast. Host Ali Vallarta and a bevy of smart and entertaining locals will bring you conversations about the issues that matter most to SLC. Some days City Cast will make you proud; other days it’ll make you angry. It will celebrate Salt Lake’s triumphs, (try to) solve its mysteries, and explore its history. City Cast will help you feel more connected to the Wasatch Front – whether you’ve lived here for 6 months or 6 generations.
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Episodes

Democratizing Poetry in SLC (and everywhere)

Poet Jai Hamid Bashir is here and talks to Ali about her poetry, this place, and bees. Plus, she reads a poem for us! Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 10, 202219 min

Coming Soon: Saborrrr!

Writer and director Gianfranco Fernandez Ruiz talks with Ali about his new film Saborrrr!, food traditions, and careful casting. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 09, 202217 min

Supporting Salt Lake’s Trans Community

Sue Robbins, a member of Equality Utah's Transgender Advisory Council is here to reflect on the passage and subsequent veto of HB 11, a ban on transgender kids participation in sports, and the lessons we take forward with us. At the end of the show, Ali recommends supporting Gender Bands, Restoring Ancestral Winds, and Project Rainbow Utah. Have you signed up for our daily newsletter? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 08, 202216 min

Ground Rules for a More Inclusive Climbing Gym

Newsletter Editor Madeline McGill talks with Amelia Howe, a Senior Policy Associate at the American Alpine Club and Cody Kaemmerlin, a Board Member for the Salt Lake Climbers Alliance about how to make Salt Lake’s climbing gyms more inclusive spaces. Climb higher with our daily newsletter. Sign up here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 07, 202215 min

20 is Plenty, Drivers Licenses, and Education Bills

It’s Friday, which means we’re looking back on the week with fun and thoughtful Salt Lakers. This week, Ali is joined by Utah Education Association president Heidi Matthews and Building Salt Lake Editor Taylor Anderson. Now that we've looked back on the week, let's look forward to the week ahead. Subscribe to our daily newsletter for all the comings and goings around town. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 04, 202225 min

A Land Back Project on the Bear River

If you follow the Bear River north from the Great Salt Lake up to Preston, Idaho you will reach the site of the Bear River Massacre of Shoshone people of 1863. In 2018, the Shoshone Nation bought the land back and it’s now a site of restorative healing – both ecological and historical. Darren Parry, the former Chairman of Shoshone Nation, joins Ali to tell the story of this project. Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 03, 202218 min

Music is a Cure for the Pandemic Blues

Folk singer Alicia Stockman talks to Ali about writing a pandemic album and the re-opening of Salt Lake music venues. Check out Alicia's new album, These Four Walls. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 02, 202217 min

What We Learned From Free Fare Feb

It’s the end of Free Fare February, but it doesn’t have to be the end of your frontrunner weekends. Ali talks about lessons learned with Connor Dunstan and Alex Fielder, students at the U who host The Red Line Transit Podcast. All Aboard! Sign up for our daily newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Mar 01, 202214 min

Quiet Streets, 3rd Space, and Salt Lake Below

SLC poet RJ Walker contrasts Salt Lake’s manicured streets with Salt Lake below. Our daily newsletter is poetry. Sign up for it here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 28, 202214 min

COVID Testing, Clean Air Bills, and the DABC

It’s Friday, which means we’re looking back on the week with fun and thoughtful Salt Lakers. To do so, Ali is joined by birth-worker and activist Ashley Finley and HEAL Utah’s Policy Associate Alex Veilleux. Want to look forward to the week ahead? Subscribe to our daily, morning newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 25, 202219 min

Let Teachers Teach

Under mounting pressure from state and local governments to legislate race out of their curriculum, how are Salt Lake’s teachers supposed to teach and celebrate Black History Month in peace? Ali connects with Michelle Love-Day, founder of RISE, a virtual academy that teaches Black History to students around the state. City Cast Salt Lake is more than a podcast; it's a daily newsletter, too. Sign up here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 24, 202213 min

The Elephant in the Room

It’s a uniquely Utah phenomenon: Democrats switching their voter affiliation in order to participate in Republican primary elections. Ali talks with lawyer and Strangerville podcast host Eli McCann about why making the switch is growing in popularity. Subscribe to our daily newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 23, 202215 min

Salt Lake’s Secret Garden

Salt Lake art critic, curator, and lawyer Scotti Hill joins to discuss the bizarre beauty of Gilgal Sculpture Garden. Looking for more of Salt Lake's lesser known gems? Subscribe to our daily newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 22, 202215 min

Anti-trans Bills, Education Bills, and the Housing Market

We’re breaking down the stories we can’t let go of this week. Political Commentator Shireen Ghorbani and KUTV’s Education Reporter Chris Jones are here. There's a lot going on in the SLC. Sign up for our daily newsletter to stay on top of it. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 18, 202216 min

Should Salt Lake host the 2030 Olympics? (feat. City Cast Denver)

Bree Davies and Paul Karolyi of City Cast Denver join Ali to discuss whether or not the Olympics are a good idea for Salt Lake and why they were rejected by Denver. Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 17, 202217 min

Hindsight is 2002 (Olympics)

We’re talking about Salt Lake’s favorite brag: the 2002 Winter Olympics. It’s amazing how much about our city today is the result of the Olympics being held here. It’s also amazing how well our collective memory of ’02 includes more of the grand and less of the scandal. At the time, Salt Lake was able to rehash the absurdity of each year through the annual tradition of Saturday’s Voyeur: a satirical play that gave Utahns the space to laugh and bemoan our political circus. And as we celebrate the...

Feb 16, 202216 min

A Little Less Sunshine at the Capitol

Something strange is brewing at the capitol. A resolution was passed last week that would limit press access to legislators. I called up Bryan Schott for the scoop, as one does. And don’t worry, at the end of the show, we’re gonna let a little light in with a poem from Katherine Indermaur, editor of the Sugar House Review, Start your day with a ray of sunshine. Sign up for our daily newsletter! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 15, 202211 min

Salt Lake’s Own Magical Mystery Tour

Mysticism and magic are integral pieces of Salt Lake’s history – though often overlooked. Ali and RJ Walker, SLC poet and host of Mancy, discuss Salt Lake’s unique relationship with magic. Our daily newsletters are magical. Sign up here, if you haven't already. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 14, 202212 min

The Perfect Salt Lake Date

From the symphony, to dive bars, to walks in the park, SLC is a city for love. The City Cast Salt Lake team share our perfect Salt Lake date nights + read your love letters. Do you love Salt Lake? Be sure to subscribe to our newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 11, 202216 min

Insecure Vote Utah

Rebecca Chavez-Houck and Shireen Ghorbani join Ali to make sense of the Secure Vote Utah ballot initiative – a frightening new cause that would erase vote-by-mail in Utah. Want to stay a vocal local? Sign up for our daily newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 10, 202211 min

The Gerda That Remains

At age 61, U of U professor Gerda Saunders was diagnosed with early-onset dementia, and she has spent the last decade documenting her battle with the essence of memory. The latest installment in Gerda’s story is a documentary filmed over 6-years, “The Gerda That Remains.” Ali talks to Gerda and filmmaker Kelsie Moore about the film and Gerda’s legacy. Subscribe to the newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 09, 202216 min

Who is Listening to the Great Salt Lake?

Ali talks to Emily Means of KUER about what action state officials are taking to save the Great Salt Lake. Madeline is reporting Salt Lake Love Stories in the newsletter this week. Submit your story of falling in love with a place, an idea, or a person in SLC at saltlake@citycast.fm and subscribe to the newsletter here. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 08, 202213 min

Ski Joring : The Perfect Utah Sport

Ali went out to the High Star Ranch in Kamas for the 5th Annual Ski Joring Utah competition to chat with the hosts, competitors and spectators of the perfect Utah sport. Quit horsing around: Sign up for our daily newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 07, 202211 min

Land Acknowledgements with Len Necefer

Dr. Len Necefer, an A+ meme-maker and the founder of NativesOutdoors is here to reflect on the emerging tradition of land acknowledgements. The Natives Outdoors reading list for the outdoor industry is on their website, nativesoutdoors.com, we’ve also put the link in our newsletter. Send your worst, most hilarious, or most awkward stories of dating in SLC to saltlake@citycast.fm or text us at 801-203-0137! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 03, 202212 min

Free Menstrual Products, Period.

One in four Utah teens can’t afford period products and Emily Bell McCormick of The Period Project is trying to do something about it. Send us your Salt Lake love stories at saltlake@citycast.fm or by calling or texting them to: (801) 203-0137. Want to learn more about Salt Lake's Vocal Locals? Sign up for our daily newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Feb 01, 202214 min

The State of Pot in Utah

Montana just became the newest western state to legalize recreational marijuana and it has us wondering if Utah, with the recent legalization of medicinal, is crawling towards a similar trend? Ali catches up with two of Salt Lake’s finest public defenders, Grant Miller and Darnell Crandall, about the state of pot in the Utah. Make your voice heard, and take the House GOP Constituent Survey here. And while you're at it, subscribe to our newsletter here, Learn more about your ad choices. Visit meg...

Jan 27, 202217 min

Salt Lake’s Teachers Get an A+

Salt Lake’s teachers are giving more than they’re getting right now. We asked John Arthur, Utah’s 2021 Teacher of the Year, how things are going in his 6th Grade classroom and how Salt Lakers can best show up for teachers right now. Questions, ideas, or concerns for Salt Lake City? Leave us an audio note any time, any day by calling (801) 203-0137. Here's your homework: Subscribe to our daily newsletter, if you haven't already. And some extra credit: Follow us on Twitter! @CityCastSLC Learn more...

Jan 25, 202217 min

What Goes Up Must Come Down(town)

Have you heard the joke that the official bird of Utah is the crane? Just kidding, it’s the California Gull. But seriously, though, downtown Salt Lake is in a massive construction boom. To Building Salt Lake editor Taylor Anderson, that’s mostly a good thing - but not without its complications. Looking to build your Salt Lake knowhow? Subscribe to our daily newsletter. Sign up here. We’re also on Twitter! Follow us at @CityCastSLC Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...

Jan 20, 202213 min

75 Reps + 29 Senators = 45 Days

Buckle up. The Utah Legislature is in session. Some of the hundreds of bills introduced may make you crazy, while others may make you proud. Either way, the legislative session is a lot to keep track of. We asked Robert Gherke of the Salt Lake Tribune and Emily Means of KUER and State Street Podcast for some help making heads and tails of the next 45 days. Want to keep up with the legislative session? Vote yes and sign up for our daily newsletter. We’re also on Twitter! Follow us at @CityCastSLC...

Jan 18, 202223 min

The Great Salt Lake Needs Our Help

The Great Salt Lake is at historically low levels, and that’s a problem for our city’s air quality, economy and ecology. City Cast Salt Lake host Ali Vallarta catches up with Chandler Rosenburg, co-founder of Save our Great Salt Lake, a coalition organizing for statewide action to preserve our city’s namesake. Rosenburg is helping organize a virtual rally Saturday, January 15 aimed to encourage the legislature to take action when it meets next week. Stay afloat on news from around the city, salt...

Jan 13, 202213 min
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