Journalist Josh Molina discusses ways the Santa Barbara Unified School District can improve its public relations and treat the public better, particularly at school board meetings. The District has experienced a near-full turnover of cabinet members since 2020 and lately it is locked in a battle over a new contract with the Santa Barbara Teachers Association. This Top 10 list looks at ways the District can improve the way it comes across to the public.
Jan 15, 2024•20 min
Frank Troise, founder of SoHo Capital, explains his views and policies heading into the March 5 primary. He is focused on raising revenues. In this podcast, Troise talks about his views on the oil, energy, the ExxonMobil pipeline, housing, cannabis, fentanyl, crime and other issues. Troise also boldly predicts that the contest, where he is challenging incumbent Joan Hartmann, will be over by March 5. Lompoc Mayor Jenelle Osborne is also in the contest. Visit Santa Barbara Talks with Josh Molina ...
Jan 07, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Josh Molina wrote 381 stories in 2023! These are some of his favorites. Please hit the subscribe button on YouTube and consider making a contribution to this podcast by visiting www.santabarbaratalks.com. Josh Molina's Top 10 List of Most Memorable Stories of 2023! 10. Paseo Nuevo Demolition to Build Housing 9. Jacob Molina Goes to UC Berkeley 8. Fresco Cafe Closes Abruptly 7. Councilmember Kristen Sneddon Calls For Budget Clarity 6. Metrolink Might Come From Ventura County to Santa Barbara 5. H...
Jan 02, 2024•20 min
Radius Group's Commercial Vice President Austin Herlihy checks in with Santa Barbara Talks to discuss the city of Santa Barbara's housing policies and what he believes are mixed messages. Herlihy says that the council wants to encourage new housing, but yet it punishes housing developers and property owners through restrictive tenant protections. He said that the council is inadvertently making the problem worse by creating tenant protections because it will discourage the building of new housin...
Dec 26, 2023•35 min
Lompoc Mayor Jenelle Osborne challenges 3rd District Santa Barbara County Supervisor Joan Hartman. In this podcast, Osborne outlines all the reasons why she is running, why she did not ask Hartman or the Santa Barbara County Democratic Party's permission to run, and what she plans to do for the mid-county and Santa Barbara County. Osborne outlines her views on housing, homelessness, transportation, broadband and agriculture, in this dynamic podcast. Check it out and please hit subscribe on YouTu...
Dec 18, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Several hundred students marched off campus at San Marcos High School on Monday in support of teachers. The students marched to Tucker's Grove Park. The students want their teachers paid more. The teachers are in a dispute with the Santa Barbara Unified School District. Dos Pueblos High School walked out last week. Santa Barbara High School is next. More than 800 students walked out of San Marcos High School on Monday after first period. They marched to Tucker's Grove Park. Josh Molina is a jour...
Dec 12, 2023•9 min
Dos Pueblos High School Students walk out of class to support Santa Barbara Teachers Association teachers. Several hundred students marched from DP High School to Girsh Park in Goleta. They carried signs, chanted and asked that teachers get paid more. The dispute between teachers and the District was amplified after teachers closed their doors to lunchtime clubs, stopped writing letters of recommendation and one-on-one lunch tutoring. Please subscribe to @santabarbaratalkswithjoshm7112
Dec 01, 2023•6 min
Santa Barbara Barbara Unified School Board Member Virginia Alvarez announces on Monday that is resigning from the school board. Learn why and what this means for the School Board going forward. Also, check out the full story at Noozhawk.com. Watch this podcast on YouTube.
Nov 27, 2023•6 min
Jade Martinez-Pogue, reporter for Law360 and former reporter for Noozhawk assignment editor for KEYT returns for this special holiday episode of @santabarbaratalkswithjoshm7112 Martinez-Pogue talks about life in New York and work at the nation's top legal publication @law360_news Martinez-Pogue explains her role and job and how she approaches her story. She also opens up about the company's current contract dispute. She recently has dabbled again in newspaper journalism through freelance work. F...
Nov 22, 2023•51 min
Fresh out of Cal Poly, Diego Sandoval has arrived as the new sports editor of Noozhawk.com. Diego grew up in Goleta and attended San Marcos High School, where he played four years of baseball, as a second baseman. In this episode, Sandoval explains his vision for sports coverage on Noozhawk and his deep focus on high school sports. Sandoval also explains how to tell stories through social media. Sandoval majored in public relations and communications at Cal Poly talks about experience going to c...
Nov 18, 2023•57 min
Political strategist Wade Cowper, managing partner for Hidden Gems Public Relations talks with journalist Josh Molina about public relations, local journalism and social media. Cowper has advised a variety of elected officials, including Kate Ford, Meagan Harmon, Alejandra Gutierrez, Gabe Escobedo and Virginia Alvarez. He was also managed James Joyce III's campaign that saw him surpass the incumbent mayor and land in second place for the mayoral seat. Cowper earlier this year branched off to for...
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Tapping Into Brian Barnwell’s Brain WRITTEN by Josh Molina Brian Barnwell greeted me with a cup of coffee. “Do you have any Stevia and cream? I asked. (Yes, I am a lightweight and I like my coffee sweet). “We don’t have any Stevia,” he said. “But would you like a scoop of ice cream in it?” Oh yeah, now he was talking my language. “You put ice cream in coffee,” I asked? “Every morning,” Barnwell said confidently. “That’s what we do.” Two cups and probably four scoops later, Barnwell and I had tak...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 34 min
Bobbi McGinnis, chairwoman of the Santa Barbara County Republican Party, opens up about the 2024 election and the party's efforts to gain seats on the South Coast. McGinnis said the effort to unseat Third District Supervisorial incumbent Joan Hartmann is strong and that the party will make a play for the state Assembly seat held by Gregg Hart. McGinnis also talks about the First District Supervisor's seat. She said the party is looking to target no party preference voters and encourage them to j...
Nov 03, 2023•46 min
Dean Wilson, host of Good Life TV, talks about the importance of positive thinking, faith, and dwelling in the good things in life. Wilson, a Westmont graduate, shares his personal story, including overcoming major life challenges, and his recommitment to God and his family. Wilson, the son of pastor, also talks about the importance of being inclusive, and not judging others and believing in the best of people and their potential. Santa Barbara Talks is owned by journalist Josh Molina. Please co...
Sep 22, 2023•54 min
Robin Elander, executive director of the Santa Barbara Downtown Association, offers expert insight into the health of State Street, retail, restaurants and the future of a corridor experiencing major change. Elanders explains how restaurants, retail merchants, bicyclists, pedestrians (and maybe cars) can all work together to create a State Street that works for everybody. We also discus Paseo Nuevo, efforts to expand the organization to the Funk Zone, and the list of exciting upcoming events dow...
Sep 13, 2023•38 min
Sportswriter John Zant is being inducted into the Hall of Fame for the Santa Barbara Athletic Roundtable. In this podcast, hear his amazing stories of covering sports for more than four decades. Zant is the consummate community local journalist. He also covered professional sports and the multiple Olympic games. Zant recalls his illustrious career, what drove him, how he found his stories. He also talks about his final days at the News-Press. Find more than 150 podcasts with Josh Molina on YouTu...
Sep 09, 2023•59 min
Geography professor Geordie Armstrong returns for a conversation with Josh Molina about the hysteria surrounding the epic blockbuster movie Barbie. Armstrong explains the patriarchy and how it hurts women and men. She shares stories about her days playing with Barbie and Skipper and how her mother discouraged her from playing with Barbie because she was too "sexy." Armstrong then talks about why Sinead O'Connor's death hit hard, and why she was a significant figure in popular culture. With a sha...
Aug 12, 2023•1 hr 35 min
Goleta resident Jana Brody wrote "Sit Behind The Nets," a book about how her mother, Linda Goldbloom, was hit by a foul ball at Dodger Stadium in the 9th inning and died later from the blow. Her chronicles the incident, but also Brody's effort to increase the height of nets at baseball stadiums all across Major League Baseball. You can find the book on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Chaucer's and other book sellers. The podcast talks about the incident, the fallout, her attempts to speak to the Los...
Aug 12, 2023•44 min
Harwood "Bendy" White sits down with Josh Molina to talk about Santa Barbara's housing crisis, height limits, outdoor dining, and his memoir about life in Santa Barbara. White also reflects on the end of the Santa Barbara News-Press and what that means to the community. White spent 14 years on the city planning commission, as well as time on the county planning commission and city water commission. Joshua Molina is journalist who currently writes for Noozhawk and teaches journalism at Santa Barb...
Aug 07, 2023•49 min
Los Angeles Times enterprise reporter James Rainey talks about his front page story on the Santa Barbara News-Press, his reporting and what he learned about the end of the daily print newspaper. Rainey shares his views on the media landscape and discusses the importance of journalism and why it matters to our democracy. Rainey shares his experiences covering his biggest stories, including reporting in Iraq. He also explains why the LA Times ended its coverage of box scores in the print edition a...
Aug 01, 2023•56 min
Craig Smith rose to the prominence in media circles in the 2000s with his popular tipster media blog. He was the go-to-source for local media news and saw the popularity of the blog rise amid the News-Press drama. Smith first launched the blog to cover the Michael Jackson trial, but quickly he became a voice for those wanting to tip him information about News-Press stories in and out of the building. From there he covered the Santa Barbara International Film Festival and became instantly recogni...
Jul 24, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Earl Warren Showgrounds CEO Ben Sprague explains the pickleball controversy currently consuming the Showgrounds and his plan to resolve the issue. Sprague opens up about the new mission of the Showgrounds and its attempt to become more financially sustainable through diverse programming. Sprague says Earl Warren is Santa Barbara's events center and he wants everyone to know it's place for them to enjoy entertainment all year. Please watch this podcast on YouTube at Santa Barbara Talks with Josh ...
Jul 08, 2023•42 min
New York Times Best-Selling author and frequent Joe Rogan guest @skepticmagazine founder Michael Shermer chats with Josh Molina about climate change, RFK Jr., doomers, culture wars, vaccines and much more in this hour-long podcast. Shermer, whose Skeptic magazine regularly offers science-based stories that debunk conspiracy theories. Shermer's latest book is Conspiracy: Why the Rational Believe the Irrational. In this podacast, Shermer talks about politics, free-will and logic all through the le...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 1 min
"The time is now," to save the planet says Santa Barbara City Councilwoman Kristen Sneddon, who is also an environmental geology professor at Santa Barbara City City College. Sneddon talks with Josh Molina about "doomerism" and Eliot Jacobson's views on the planet, which he shared in a recent edition of Santa Barbara Talks. Sneddon does not dispute the data, but has a different attitude about how to respond to the rising ocean temperatures and sea level rise. "There's no question these things ar...
Jun 25, 2023•1 hr 4 min
Watch the full video on YouTube. Dr. Eliot Jacobson is a doomer with a website called "Watching the World Go Bye, Eliot Jacobson's Collapse of Everything Blog. In this podcast he talks about three dramatic climate events happening at once: ocean temperature rise in the north Atlantic, diminishing ice near Antarctica and rising global temperatures. "While climate scientists have been talking about North Atlantic sea surface temperatures these last few days, what's going on with sea ice in Antarct...
Jun 15, 2023•54 min
Joshua Molina is a journalist and college instructor who interviews a wide variety of people on the issues of education, housing, politics, culture and business. Molina is a former reporter at the San Jose Mercury News and teaches at Cal State University, Northridge and Santa Barbara City College. Visit SantaBarbaraPodcasts.com or SantaBarbaraTalks.com to sign up for his newsletter and make a contribution to this individually owned podcast.
Jun 05, 2023•11 min
Santa Barbara Restaurant Owner Laura Knight talks about Pascucci, her legendary restaurant on State Street, and the challenges facing downtown and State Street. Knight has owned the restaurant for 30 years. In this podcast she talks about the controversy over outdoor dining, the future of State Street, and the role of cars and bicycles. Knight and Molina also remember Babatunde Folayemi, who held court at Pascucci for years, greeting customers and serving his sweet potato pie. Michael Jackson wa...
Jun 04, 2023•34 min
A candid conversation with California Republican treasurer on politics, COVID battle and being LGBTQ+ Republican. Greg Gandrud is a force in conservative politics. A former Carpinteria City Councilman, Gandrud was came out as gay early in his political tenure. He was a Trump supporter, and now is backing DeSantis for president. In this podcast he talks about nearly dying from COVID-19 complications, his views on Ivermectin as a treatment, as well as topical issues such as housing and the economy...
May 23, 2023•1 hr 1 min
Santa Barbara Historic Landmarks Commission Member Keith Butler talks housing, Trump, Chat GPT State St. De la Guerra Plaza in this fantastic podcast about Santa Barbara. Butler, a marketing expert, brings his views on protecting Santa Barbara's unique charm, while also supporting housing, in this smart podcast about Santa Barbara's policies amid massive state demands to build more housing. He's also popular on social media and frequently lays into former President Trump on a variety of issue. B...
May 13, 2023•54 min
District216.com founder and Chief Dreamer Jacob Tell says "we are in an inflection point for humanity," as he talks about his social club District216.com. "I personally have had incredibly potent experiences," Tell said. Jacob Tell is an entrepreneur who founded e-commerce marketing firm Oniracom and LoDo studios, where he hosts special events. In this podcast, Tell talks about the formation of the District216 club and how it serves as space for people to come together to talk and experience fou...
May 07, 2023•34 min
