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
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Arts & Life
How government hurdles and online protesters changed the shape of Arlington Pride
The city of Arlington was scheduled to have a Pride celebration in early June. But organizers say the city has put up new hurdles that forced the 2023 celebration to be delayed.
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A Seattle housing facility has big dreams for residents. But the path forward can be tumultuous
Supportive housing facilities can be a lifeline for people experiencing homelessness, and those searching for mental health services. Last year, the Downtown Emergency Service Center, a non-profit based in Seattle, opened Hobson Place. It’s a supportive housing building with 177 units and a clinic for residents. But some residents and staff at the facility have faced a tumultuous first year.
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Sports
Major League Baseball brings a magnifying glass to Seattle
Major League Baseball’s All Star Game has returned to Seattle. On Monday, Mariners prodigy Julio Rodriguez broke the home run derby record for most runs in a single round. And outside the T-Mobile Park, Seattle’s Sodo neighborhood has been transformed into an MLB playground expected to bring in 100,000 people for the festivities. But the makeover hasn’t just meant cleaning sidewalks or a new paint job.
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Arts & Life
Remembering the music that put Grand Coulee on the map
80 years ago Washington state was forever changed by the Grand Coulee Dam. The Dam still provides tons of hydropower today, and created a reservoir for farmers to divert and use as the breadbasket of the state today. When it was finally completed in January of 1943, US Government officials enlisted folk music legend Woody Guthrie to write a series of 26 songs about the dam. It’s a quirky moment in US and music’s history – but it produced instant classics that many will recognize, like “Roll on Columbia.”
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Arts & Life
An expert guide to help deliver that Seattle 'wow' for your summer guests
"Soundside" host Libby Denkmann joins author Harriet Baskas at Kirke Park in Ballard to talk about her new book, "111 Places in Seattle That You Must Not Miss."
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Health
A shuttered clinic raises questions about anti-racism work in the medical field
Earlier this year, Seattle Children's Hospital released an independent assessment of its anti-racism action plan, which has completed it's first phase. Among several challenges within the report was the still rocky relationship with the Odessa Brown Clinic in Seattle's Central District.
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Arts & Life
How the retail rivalry between Amazon and Walmart forever changed the way we shop
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Crime
How the journey of one gun tells the story of many
Last November, a 14 year old boy shot and killed a fellow student at Ingraham high school in Seattle. The gun that student used traveled through the hands of multiple teenagers before it reached him, starting in an unsecured closet.
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Technology
When power is cheap, crypto moves in. The fallout in rural WA is complex
Take a drive along the Columbia River and you’re bound to see towering dams that produce the bulk of our state’s hydropower. That energy is a point of pride for many Washingtonians – it’s plentiful, clean, and renewable. If you have direct access to that power, your electric bill is probably pretty darn cheap. In recent years the promise of that dirt-cheap electricity has brought swarms of cryptocurrency miners to small towns throughout Central and Eastern Washington. At times, that’s led to some rather unneighborly feelings.
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Science
Years before implosion, experts warned OceanGate CEO and federal government about submersible's dangers