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Soundside

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Get to know the PNW and each other. Soundside airs Monday through Thursday at 12 p.m. and 8 p.m. on KUOW. Listen to Soundside on Spotify, iTunes, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Additional Credits: Logo art is designed by Teo Popescu. Audio promotions are produced by Hans Twite. Community engagement led by Zaki Hamid. Our Director of New Content and Innovation is Brendan Sweeney.

Mission Statement:

Soundside believes establishing trust with our listeners involves taking the time to listen.

We know that building trust with a community takes work. It involves broadening conversations, making sure our show amplifies systemically excluded voices, and challenging narratives that normalize systemic racism.

We want Soundside to be a place where you can be part of the dialogue, learn something new about your own backyard, and meet your neighbors from the Peninsula to the Palouse.

Together, we’ll tell stories that connect us to our community — locally, nationally and globally. We’ll get to know the Pacific Northwest and each other.

What do you think Soundside should be covering? Where do you want to see us go next?

Leave us a voicemail! You might hear your call on-air: 206-221-3213

Share your thoughts directly with the team at soundside@kuow.org.

Join the Soundside Listener Network

Enter your number below or text SOUND to 206-926-9955 to get your questions in front of local government officials and share your thoughts on issues in the Puget Sound region. We’ll text you 1-2 prompts per week, and your response may be featured on the show!


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Episodes

  • caption: The Seattle skyline is shown shrouded in smoke from wildfires burning in Canada, on Friday, August 13, 2021, from Jefferson Park in Seattle.

    How long will smoky skies linger above Puget Sound?

    The smell of the air around the Puget Sound today is... not pleasant. Some KUOW employees described it as "like a smoked ham" or "similar to a car backfiring". So, how long will we be living with this burnt ham, car backfiring, badly-made bonfire smoke? And what is breathing it in doing to our bodies?

  • caption: A SpaceX rocket launches from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.

    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.

  • caption: Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell selected Greg Spotts as the city's transportation director in July 2022.

    Incoming SDOT director promises ‘top to bottom review’ of Vision Zero

    Before taking the top job at SDOT, Greg Spotts was in Los Angeles, leading the city of L.A.'s street services bureau. Soundside host Libby Denkmann spoke to Spotts about some of his priorities for the department in his first year on the job, Vision Zero, and creating a more climate-resilient transportation infrastructure.

  • train tacoma bnsf generic

    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.
  • seattle space needle trees rainier generic skyline

    Seattle's urban forest is shrinking. How can it grow?

    In 2007, Seattle's urban forest management plan set a goal for 30% of the city to be canopied, meaning covered with urban trees. However, a recent report from the city showed that Seattle's canopy actually decreased by 1.7% over the last five years -- an area roughly the size of Green Lake.

  • caption: The West Seattle Bridge is shown shrouded in wildfire smoke, Thursday, September 17, 2020, in Seattle.

    West Seattle residents reflect on 2.5 bridge-less years

    The day is finally approaching that people in West Seattle -- and those who want to get to West Seattle -- have been waiting for. After more than two and a half years, the West Seattle bridge reopens this Sunday.

  • caption: Throughout Georgetown and Sodo "eco-blocks" are being placed to keep vehicles and encampments from cropping up. Placing these blocks without a permit is illegal, though the Seattle Department of Transportation frequently struggles to know who is placing them.

    Sound it Out: local business owner weighs in on eco-blocks

    We're a show built around you - our listeners. Every other week, we take some time for a segment called Sound it Out, to broadcast your thoughts and answer questions about stories we've covered. This week - we're diving back into a conversation about eco-blocks.

  • caption: Department of Natural Resources firefighters start a prescribed burn in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area in March 2022. DNR began its first prescribed burn season in 18 years in 2022 to combat the risk of increasingly severe wildfires in the region.

    Washington is starting new prescribed burns. Will they prevent bigger wildfires?

    It's been close to two decades since Washington state last did a "broadcast burn," a kind of prescribed burn that sweeps forest floors of potential fire fuel. Prescribed burns are gaining in use throughout fire-prone states as land managers look to imitate natural cycles and move away from a "no-burn" standard of management.