Shows / KQED's Forum
KQED's Forum
Forum tells remarkable and true stories about who we are and where we live. In the first hour, Alexis Madrigal convenes the diverse voices of the Bay Area, before turning to Mina Kim for the second hour to chronicle and center Californians’ experience. In an increasingly divided world, Mina and Alexis host conversations that inform, challenge and unify listeners with big ideas and different viewpoints. Want to call/submit your comments during our live Forum program Mon-Fri, 9am-11am? We'd love…
Episodes
- KQED's Forum
Investigation Looks Into Heat-Related Deaths of California Workers
In the last 10 years, nearly four dozen California workers have died from heat related-illnesses, according to an investigation by Columbia Journalism…
- KQED's Forum
Is Watching Football Ethical?
With football season beginning, some fans are conflicted about whether or not to change the channel. Amid mounting evidence on player brain injuries…
- KQED's Forum
Theranos CEO Elizabeth Holmes Stands Trial for Allegedly Defrauding Stakeholders
College dropout Elizabeth Holmes once claimed her start-up Theranos would transform blood tests and modern medicine. At its peak in 2015, the company was worth…
KQED's ForumAs U.S. Occupation Ends, Future Uncertain for Women and Girls in Afghanistan
After a 20-year U.S.-led war and occupation, the Taliban control Afghanistan once again, calling into doubt the continued exercise of freedoms gained by Afghan…
KQED's ForumLooking to Past Military Withdraws for Hints on the Future of Afghanistan
The United States military has officially pulled out of Afghanistan and the withdrawal has brought comparisons to the fall of Saigon in 1975. But a superficial…
KQED's ForumEyal Press Explores Hazards of Hidden Essential Jobs in ‘Dirty Work’
From the undocumented immigrants who work in industrial slaughterhouses to the guards charged with keeping order in the most notorious U.S. prisons: they're…
- KQED's Forum
August Book Club: 'Radiant Fugitives' by Nawaaz Ahmed
The Forum Book Club pick for August 2021 is Nawaaz Ahmed’s debut novel “Radiant Fugitives.” Set in San Francisco in and around 2010, it tells the story of…
KQED's ForumBaseball Has a New Superstar in Shohei Ohtani
Japanese baseball player Shohei Ohtani is having the season of his career. Last week the Los Angeles Angels pitcher hit his 40th home run of the season…
KQED's ForumThe History and Experience of Black Americans in Palm Springs
In a story for the Los Angeles Times, journalist Tyrone Beason shines a light on the experience and history of Black Americans living in Palm Springs. While…
KQED's ForumBAMPFA’s ‘New Time’ Explores Feminisms in Art Over Past 2 Decades
When visitors now walk into the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, they’ll face a mural outlining the earth’s strata designed by the late feminist…
KQED's ForumSavala Nolan Recounts Trespass Against Black Womens’ Bodies in ‘Don’t Let it Get you Down’
In her debut memoir, "Don’t Let it Get You Down: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Body," Savala Nolan’s 12 deeply personal essays probe unsettled territory in…
KQED's ForumDrought Felt By California Farmers, Who Fear Worst is Yet to Come
Nearly half of California is mired in exceptional drought, including vast swaths of the Central Valley, which produces roughly 40% of the nation's fruits…
KQED's ForumRemembering Michael Morgan, Groundbreaking Conductor of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra
Michael Morgan, conductor of the Oakland Symphony Orchestra died last week at 63. Morgan was known as a virtuosic conductor and a passionate advocate for…
KQED's ForumCitizen App Adds 24/7 Safety Experts, Raising Questions About Disaster Voyeurism, Vigilantism
The Citizen app, which, like Nextdoor, has been blamed for inciting vigilantism, recently launched a private service of on-call safety experts that users can…
- KQED's Forum
Ed Yong on ‘How the Pandemic Now Ends’
“The ‘zero COVID’ dream of fully stamping out the virus is a fantasy,” writes the Atlantic’s Ed Yong in his most recent piece, “How the Pandemic Now Ends.”…
- KQED's Forum
Vaccines Have Decreased Efficacy Against Delta Variant, Still Reduce Infection Risk by 2/3, CDC Finds
The Centers for Disease Control published a study on Tuesday that found that while vaccine efficacy against the delta variant of covid-19 is moderately…
- KQED's Forum
Frustrated Napa Wine Growers Want More Fire Protection
After wildfires destroyed more than 30 wine properties in the last year alone, Napa County’s wine industry is asking for more firefighting resources and is…
- KQED's Forum
Californians Reel From Yet Another Massive Fire Season
More than 42,000 California residents have been told to evacuate their homes as nine major wildfires continue to burn. More than one and a half million acres…
- KQED's Forum
Conservative Provocateur Larry Elder Leads Field to Replace Gavin Newsom in Recall Election
Larry Elder, the diehard Trump champion who opposes the minimum wage and said that climate change is a "crock," is the frontrunner to replace Governor Gavin…
- KQED's Forum
Poet Rita Dove Offers a ‘Playlist for the Apocalypse’
Rita Dove, winner of a Pulitzer Prize for poetry and the nation’s first Black poet laureate, has returned with a new volume of poems titled “Playlist for the…
- KQED's Forum
Global Semiconductor Shortage: How, Why and What the U.S. Can Do About It
Toyota will produce about 140,000 fewer cars and trucks next month, a 40 percent cut to its September production, as a result of the lack of microchips…
- KQED's Forum
Erwin Chemerinsky on How the Courts Enable Police Misconduct
The use of the kind of chokehold that killed George Floyd last year should, according to constitutional law scholar Erwin Chemerinsky, be a clear-cut violation…
- KQED's Forum
Russ Ellis Cut His First Album at Age 85, and It’s A Bop
Russ Ellis is a man for all seasons. He was a track star at UCLA, the first black professor to teach at Claremont and a UC Berkeley vice chancellor for student…
- KQED's Forum
Oakland High Class of 2020 Captured in Documentary ‘Homeroom’
Documentary filmmaker Peter Nicks began filming at Oakland High School in fall 2019 to capture its seniors’ final year. He ended up capturing the specifically…
KQED's ForumWhat Parents Should Know as California Heads Back to School
Many parents and kids are feeling relief as the state's 6 million K-12 school children head back into the classroom for full time, in-person classes after more…
KQED's Forum‘Loud’ Podcast Highlights the History of Reggaeton
The story of reggaeton music is layered and complex, and, according to reggaeton pioneer Ivy Queen, “the real story of reggaeton is about la resistencia…
KQED's ForumDavid Rooney on Why It’s ‘About Time’ to Understand How Clocks Shaped Civilization
"For thousands of years, time has been harnessed, politicized and weaponized," writes technology historian and horologist David Rooney in his new book, "About…
KQED's ForumDevelopments in Afghanistan Leave Local Afghan Community Anxious, Afraid
Outside the gates of the Kabul airport, thousands of Afghans seeking to flee the country camp along the access road, which is now blocked by the Taliban…
KQED's ForumBreaking Down California’s Gubernatorial Recall Election
More than 20 million California voters are receiving mail-in ballots now for the Sept. 14 gubernatorial recall election. Voters will be asked only two…
KQED's ForumWhy Garlic Noodles Are So Bay Area
When asked to name some of the Bay Area’s signature foods, many would jump to name Mission burritos, It’s-It ice cream sandwiches or — especially for tourists…
KQED's ForumAdam Harris on Racial Inequity in Higher Education and How ‘The State Must Provide'
A 2018 analysis by the Center for American Progress estimates that state colleges allocate more than $1,000 less per year for Black and Latinx students than…
KQED's ForumLizzie Johnson's New Book Recounts the Tragic Story of Paradise and Wildfire
I have spent much of my journalism career bearing witness to the human cost of climate change, writes Lizzie Johnson in her new book, "Paradise: One Towns…
KQED's ForumHunger Grows in Bay Area
The Bay Area saw some of the biggest increases in people signing up for food stamps during the pandemic. Home to the highest income inequality in California…
KQED's ForumCalifornia Afghan Communities Absorb Taliban Takeover, Government Collapse
With breathtaking speed, the Taliban have regained control of Afghanistan for the first time since American military forces drove them out 20 years ago…
KQED's ForumBonta, Ramachandran Face Off in East Bay Assembly Race
Alameda school board member Mia Bonta and attorney Janani Ramachandran are vying to represent East Bay Assembly District 18 and succeed Bonta's husband, Rob…
- KQED's Forum
'What Strange Paradise' Explores Forced Displacement Through a Child's Eyes
For a few days in late 2015, global outrage coursed at the photo of Alan Kurdi, the lifeless two-year old Syrian boy found washed ashore in Turkey after the…
- KQED's Forum
How to Explore Distant Galaxies Formed 13 Billion Years Ago
Later this year, NASA's James Webb Space Telescope will be strapped to a French rocket and launched nearly one million miles into space to look at galaxies…
- KQED's Forum
A Family's Grief, Two Decades After 9/11
In one month, the U.S. will mark the 20th anniversary of 9/11, when nearly 3,000 Americans were killed in terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the…
- KQED's Forum
Another Pandemic-Induced Crisis: Eating Disorders Rise Sharply Among Teens
The number of adolescent patients needing hospitalizations for eating disorders has doubled at UCSF Benioff Children's Hospitals during the pandemic…
- KQED's Forum
What Will the Tokyo Olympics Legacy Be?
The 2020 Olympics in Tokyo have been described as the “strangest” or “weirdest” in Olympic history. The pandemic delayed the games for a year and limited how…
- KQED's Forum
Apple Announces Controversial New Child Abuse Detection Tools
Last week, Apple announced it will scan U.S. iPhones for images of child sexual abuse. It’s a serious problem. Back in 2018, 45 million photos and videos with…
- KQED's Forum
Historic Low Water Levels Force Hydroelectric Power Plant Shut-off at Lake Oroville
California’s fourth largest hydroelectric plant, Hyatt Powerplant at Lake Oroville, has been shut down due to lack of water for the first time in its nearly 60…
- KQED's Forum
Biden Targets 2030 in Push for More Electric Cars
President Biden announced an executive order last week that aims to make half of all new vehicles sold electric by 2030. The move is part of Biden’s larger…
- KQED's Forum
What Will It Take to Actually Tackle the Climate Crisis?
A new report this week from the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change presents a brutal picture of the devastation already caused by human-created…
- KQED's Forum
What Fresno County Can Tell Us about Why People Haven’t Gotten the Shot
While 63% of Californians are now vaccinated against COVID-19, in many parts of the state health officials are struggling with how to convince those who are…
- KQED's Forum
Dixie Fire 2rd Largest in California History
The Dixie Fire, which has ravaged hundreds of thousands of acres in Northern California and leveled the town of Greenville, has become the second largest fire…
- KQED's Forum
Who Should Foot the Bill for Protection Against Bay Area Sea Level Rise?
Scientists project that Bay Area sea levels are likely to rise as much as seven feet by the end of this century, directly affecting the millions of people in…
KQED's ForumWhat Do Deadlines Mean to You?
Deadlines inspire a range of reactions. For some, blood runs cold at the mere mention. Others claim their best work comes about when running against the clock…
KQED's ForumOakland Museum Reopens with 'Mothership: Voyage to Afrofuturism' Exhibition
In the Oakland Museum of California’s new exhibition “Mothership: Voyage into Afrofuturism,” artists of all mediums imagine the world through a Black cultural…
KQED's ForumJelani Cobb Re-Examines Legacy of Kerner Commission
"A tocsin that Americans then chose to ignore, its warnings remain strikingly relevant today." That's how New Yorker staff Jelani Cobb writer characterizes the…
KQED's Forum‘Learning in Public’ Reimagines What Makes a School Good
Journalist Courtney Martin thought long and hard about where to send her budding kindergartener to school, deciding between private school or the neighborhood…
KQED's ForumPaternal Postpartum Depression Is Real. Why Do Some People Think It's Not?
Postpartum depression is not just the province of women. According to studies, about ten percent of men in the United States experience paternal postpartum…
KQED's ForumRemembering Janice Mirikitani, GLIDE Co-Founder and Former San Francisco Poet Laureate
Janice Mirikitani, a beloved local icon who was San Francisco's second poet laureate and a co-founder of GLIDE, died last week at the age of 80. Known equally…
KQED's ForumHow San Francisco is Responding to its Overdose Epidemic
More than 344 people died from accidental overdoses in San Francisco between January and June this year, according to the city’s chief medical examiner. Most…
KQED's Forum‘Last Nomad’ Recalls Rituals, Hardships and Beauty of a Childhood in the Somali Desert
“Right now,” writes Shugri Said Salh at the outset of her new memoir, “I should be married to an old nomadic man, leading a nasty-tempered camel through the…
KQED's ForumNavigating COVID-19’s Delta Variant with Young Children
With new evidence that the delta variant of COVID-19 is highly contagious and spreads as easily as chickenpox, questions and concerns are being raised by…
KQED's Forum“Breathing Fire” Profiles the Incarcerated Women on the Front Lines of California’s Wildfires
On the front lines of California’s raging wildfires, teams of incarcerated men and women work alongside free-world crews to stop our state’s increasingly…
KQED's ForumGrappling With the History of Native American Boarding Schools in California and Beyond
For more than 100 years, the U.S. government forcibly relocated tens of thousands of Native American children to boarding schools under a federal assimilation…
KQED's ForumLoss, Grief and Mourning in the Age of A.I. Imitations
Last fall, in search of a way to cope with his grief over the death of his fiancée eight years prior, Joshua Barbeau used artificial intelligence software to…
KQED's ForumTell Us Your Podcast Recommendations
Podcasts are booming, and it’s hard work to choose among the more than 2 million titles now available on popular streaming services like Spotify and iTunes…