Skip to main content

Libby Denkmann

Host, Soundside

About

Libby Denkmann has covered veterans' issues, homelessness, and local politics during her radio journalism career. She became the host of KUOW's Soundside in November 2021. Previously she was a producer, reporter, anchor, and host for stations KIRO, KFI, and KPCC in Seattle and Los Angeles. During a yearlong hiatus from journalism in 2011, she worked as a congressional staffer in Washington, D.C.. Libby was born in Seattle, grew up on the eastside, and graduated from the University of Washington. Her favorite things include soccer, video games, and her dog, Monty.

Location: Seattle

Languages: English, limited Japanese and Portuguese

Pronouns: she/her

Podcasts

Stories

  • caption: King County's West Point sewage treatment plant in Seattle's Discovery Park

    After years of sewage spills, King County settles tribal lawsuit, agrees to plant upgrades

    In 2017, catastrophic failures at the West Point Treatment Plant in Discovery Park turned into one of the worst infrastructure disasters in the region’s history – sending 30 million gallons of untreated sewage into the Sound. The Department of Ecology fined King County and ordered improvements. But smaller spills have continued: In 2018 and 2019 the plant dumped more than six million gallons of untreated or improperly treated sewage into the Puget Sound. So, the Suquamish Tribe took a big step: In 2020, it announced its intent to sue the County.

  • bird watching generic

    Hear it again: How dramatic pandemic shifts affected Northwest birds

    While we were cooped up in Covid lockdowns, birds in the cities and suburbs of the Pacific Northwest were spreading their wings! And in a new University of Washington paper, ornithologists suggest that birds like crows, hummingbirds, finches, and chickadees were using a wider variety of public spaces during the early days of the pandemic. Olivia Sanderfoot was the lead researcher on the study.

  • caption: The Neuroscience of You: How Every Brain is Different and How to Understand Yours

    Hear it again: Understanding how our brains work through 'The Neuroscience of You'

    According to Dr. Chantel Prat, "The point of the brain is to take in as much information in the world around the being that it's driving, and use this information to guide that being through life in a way that maximizes its success." But how individual brains work comes down to a fascinating combination of factors, with each person's experiences changing how they engage with the world.

  • caption: The cast of "Choir Boy" sing acapella in their performance at ACT Theater in Seattle.

    Choir Boy examines intimacy and friendship between Black teenagers

    KUOW Arts and Culture reporter Mike Davis joins Soundside to share his interview with Jamil Jude, director of Choir Boy at ACT Theater. Jude spoke about how he used staging and stylistic choices to shape the way teenagers attending the elite Black male prep academy, Charles R. Drew, were perceived by the audience.
  • caption: A SpaceX rocket launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

    NASA is going back to the moon ... eventually

    First it was a technical issue with the rocket's engines, then Hurricane Ian, but, NASA's Artemis mission will soon begin and eventually put someone on the moon for the first time in 50 years.