Crosscurrents

Latest Episodes:

tbh: Teens Rapping Underground Sep 08, 2026

Show notes

tbh is KALW’s podcast that’s made by, for, and about teenagers and it’s back! In the first episode of the newest season we’re going underground to meet the people pushing a new counterculture through rap music.

BOUNCE: How the WNBA’s ‘glass closet’ cracked in Sacramento Sep 03, 2026

Show notes

The WNBA has a reputation for embracing LGBTQ+ players and fans… but that wasn’t always the case. Today, the history behind the WNBA’s “glass closet era.” But first, we hear a theory on why the Golden State Valkyries have had such a successful second season.

SHOW: Surveillance Pricing and You Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

Companies are using your browsing history, and other information about you, to customize the prices you see online. Today, how companies use your data to decide what you pay… and what can be done about it. Then, we go inside the oldest suicide prevention hotline in the country.

How companies use your data to set prices Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

If you've ever wondered why the same flight, hotel room, or grocery item seems to cost a different amount depending on who's buying it, you’re not imagining things. Companies are using the data we expose online, including our location, our browsing habits, even assumptions about our income, to decide what prices to charge us. It's called surveillance pricing, and it's becoming more common across the retail world – from airlines to grocery chains right here in the Bay Area.

KALW’s personal finance reporter Francesca Fenzi found out just how personal, and hard to escape, this practice really is.

Oldest San Francisco: Suicide prevention hotline Sep 02, 2026

Show notes

September is Suicide Prevention Awareness Month. In San Francisco, at an undisclosed location, in a non-descript building, people have been saving lives with compassionate listening for years. This place, is the home of the oldest suicide hotline in the country. KALW’s Hana Baba takes us on a tour in this piece produced by reporters Kristal Raheem and Demetrius Johnson.

SHOW: The History of Labor and Transit Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union is a powerful organizing force in the Bay Area, and it all got its start more than 90 years ago. Today, the little known history of San Francisco’s “Bloody Thursday.” Then, we peer through the lens of more than a century of Muni photography.

Public Labor: 90 Years of Radical Solidarity with the ILWU Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

Over the years, the International Longshore and Warehouse Union, or ILWU, has thrown their weight behind many causes. Like in 2020, they shut down the ports entirely, to support the Black Lives Matter movement and protest the police murder of George Floyd.

The ILWU is a powerful organizing force in the Bay Area. And the union actually got its start with a massive general strike and a deadly run-in with police over 90 years ago, right here in San Francisco.

And just in time for Labor Day, we’re bringing you this latest episode of The Public Works series. Reporter Sheryl Kaskowitz dives into the history of the ILWU and a radical labor leader who isn’t a household name today.

The history of San Francisco through the lens of Muni photographers Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

San Francisco’s Municipal Transportation Agency, or SFMTA, is 100% unionized. The 6,000 public servants who work with the agency are represented by 18 different unions. SFMTA itself is just 27 years old — It was established by voter mandate in 1999 — but there are decades of transportation history behind its formation.

And right now, that history is on display at San Francisco City Hall. The exhibit is called “Moving San Francisco.” It features images from over a century of the Municipal Railway, better known as MUNI. Our transportation reporter Zain Iqbal has this story on why seeing the history of Muni through photography feels important right now.

SHOW: The New Deal Hides in Plain Sight Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

The Berkeley Rose Garden is a beautiful place, but did you know it was built during FDR’s “New Deal” in the ‘30s? The New Deal is still all around us today — if you know where to look. Plus, we get an update on the upcoming trial around Oakland’s corruption scandal.

Oakland government corruption trial moving forward Aug 31, 2026

Show notes

The federal corruption trial of former Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao, her former live-in partner, and a prominent local father-son team of businessmen, appears set to begin in October.

A recent trove of court documents has shed new light on the case prosecutors plan to present. Nathan Gartrell is a reporter for the East Bay Times, who reports on the courts and local law enforcement. He spoke recently with KALW's news editor Sunni Khalid.

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