Alec Cowan
Senior Podcast Producer
About
Alec Cowan is a senior podcast producer at KUOW, where he works on Booming and other podcast projects.
Alec has worn many hats at KUOW. He helped launch Soundside and brought many eclectic stories to the program, from a late-night patrol with real life superheroes to the sewing machine sounds of an artisanal sail loft. Additionally, he was previously a producer for The Record with Bill Radke and the Primed podcast.
Before joining KUOW, Alec worked in NPR's Story Lab, where he helped pilot the Louder Than a Riot podcast and assisted in producing a story on volunteerism in Iraq for Rough Translation. Originally from Grand Junction, Colorado, his roots in the Northwest begin in Eugene, where he studied English and philosophy at the University of Oregon and worked as a news reporter for NPR member station KLCC. He is likely neglecting his saxophone, growing book collection, and expanding personal project list in favor of boosting his online Xbox ranking.
He's proud to be KUOW's unofficial "boat guy."
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: he/him/his
Podcasts
Stories
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Roads devastated our ecosystems. But they might also save them
There’s something so romantic about roads, if you’re a human. Nature might have something else to say about them. Understanding the interconnected impacts of roads literally drove author Ben Goldfarb across the country as he researched his new book, “Crossings: How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of our Planet.”
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Kelp is on the way: As new Puget Sound aquaculture industry blooms, Vashon locals urge caution
As Puget Sound kelp farms navigate a nascent permitting process, environmental watchdog groups are asking for more scrutiny toward an untested local industry.
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How a hug and a prayer took over Spokane’s mayoral race
Spokane’s mayoral office is technically non-partisan. But controversy surrounding an embrace shared between Mayor Nadine Woodward and disgraced former state Rep. Matt Shea underscores how politics are anything but missing from the race.
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How the early internet defined what it meant to be 'transgender'
Think back to the '90s. As a kid, you might have been catching "Saved by the Bell" before school or stacking up a collection of Nirvana tapes. And who could forget dial up internet? This was the first time that the average household in America could purchase a personal computer, and for a community of users who were questioning the restrictions of gender, it opened a new world.
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Wildfire season in Washington state: How prescribed burns could reduce danger
With wildfire smoke blanketing the entire state, Soundside host Libby Denkmann looks at the state of fires burning near Spokane, and how prescribed burns could help mitigate the issues we face every year.
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Seattle area scientist leads U.S. efforts toward 'holistic picture' of the climate crisis
To understand the widespread effects of climate change on the domestic level, the Biden administration announced in April that it was creating a new study, sold as the most ambitious, all-encompassing review ever of the United States' natural world. The administration tapped conservation scientist and University of Washington professor Phil Levin to lead that research.
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Fires are burning down forests meant for carbon offsets. What happens after?
In 2021 Oregon’s Bootleg fire burned over 400,000 acres in the southern part of the state. A good chunk of that forest area is managed by the Green Diamond timber company. But the Bootleg fire didn’t just mean a reduction in the amount of lumber Green Diamond could harvest; in recent years the company, like many other landowners and forest managers, has begun designating land for carbon offsets.
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'The most dense and consolidated damage I've seen': A WA firefighter's dispatches from Maui
As western Maui begins to heal after deadly wildfires, first responders are searching destroyed homes, assisting displaced people, and distributing supplies. Personnel from Washington state are on the ground for that effort.
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Washington state serves up solidarity, relief for Maui wildfire victims
The Puget Sound region is home to one of the largest populations of Hawaiians outside of the islands, and many more people here have developed a connection with Hawaii while visiting the islands. Over the weekend, networks of Hawaiians and supporters, communicating on social media, sprang into action to organize Seattle-area relief efforts.
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What can the past tell us about the future of the PAC-12?
Pour one out for the PAC-12. Or... the PAC-4. Who knows, by the end of the day it may be the PAC-2. The prestigious west coast college athletics conference imploded last week as two pacific northwest schools jumped ship for bigger rivals and even bigger paychecks. Washington and Oregon will join the Big Ten starting in 2024. But while realignment of this scale is seismic, it isn't unprecedented.