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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Pirates, gentrification, and the future of living aboard on Puget Sound
While many Puget Sound sailors are hobbyists, a lot of them live on their boats. And as prices rise across the region, there's a wave of new mariners looking to find affordable housing options on the water. But life on the Salish Sea is arduous, and not completely free of the problems we run into on land.
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Washington is ripe for solar energy development. But where should it go?
Central and Eastern Washington are the sunniest areas of the state, with several large solar farms already in place. But as the energy grid overgoes a
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As sockeye salmon boom in Alaska, is there a lesson for us in Washington?
This year, more than 78 million sockeye salmon returned to the estuaries of Western Alaska, a record high and a stark contrast with most salmon populations elsewhere as urban infrastructure and rising water temperatures threaten numerous species. University of Washington professor Daniel Schindler told Soundside that sockeye salmon have been climate change winners in recent years, but why is still an answer researchers are seeking an answer to.
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Heart and sole — the legend of the Mariner rally shoe
Improbable? Yes. Impossible? Not for the 2022 Seattle Mariners professional baseball team. On Saturday, the M’s turned an 8-1 deficit in Toronto into a 10-9 victory for the history books. In Seattle, at T-Mobile Park, Mariners fans who gathered for the team’s official watch party were asking for a miracle. And that's when a Birkenstock appeared on a man’s head.
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Hear it again: the seedy side of America's favorite pastime
From sign stealing, to adding just a little bit of extra spit on the ball, professional baseball has created plenty of ways to fool crowds and umpires.But there's a fine line between the written and unwritten rules of the game.It makes you wonder, where is the line between innovation and cheating in baseball?
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How technology is mapping the unheard conversations of our natural world
When you step into a forest, or walk along a beach, there's a lot to take in -- the sound of waves, crashing against the sand, birds chirping to each other in the trees. But there's a lot we don't hear
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Hear It Again: Barriers to Recreation
Soundside talks to Rico Bembry of the Black Washingtonians Workgroup on Recreation, about the challenges faced by communities of color as they enjoy the outdoors.
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Hear It Again: Seattle Mountain Rescue
Soundside talks with David Dunphy of Seattle Mountain Rescue about their mission, and their new headquarters in North Bend.
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Space, our final dumping ground. Can we clean it up?
Last week, U.S. Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA) introduced a new bill calling for the removal of "space junk." The Orbital Sustainability Act, or the ORBITS Act, aims to promote the development of technology and methods to clean up rocket and satellite debris orbiting Earth.
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A national railroad strike was averted, but remains possible as unions vote this week
The Biden administration helped broker a tentative deal that will affect 120,000 rail workers across the country. While many are celebrating the aversion of a potentially disastrous shutdown, some workers have reservations about the new deal. And with a worker vote set for Thursday, rail companies are not out of the tunnel just yet.