KQED's Forum - TopPodcast.com

Latest Episodes:

Everyone Hates Ticketmaster Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

Nothing seems to unite people more than their hate for TicketMaster. At a recent Senate Judiciary committee hearing convened in response to the ticket selling debacle around Taylor Swift’s latest stadium tour, Republicans and Democrats alike castigated the company for its practices. Fans and artists complain that Live Nation Entertainment, the conglomerate created when Ticketmaster merged with Live Nation in 2010, keeps ticket prices sky high by tacking on fees that it keeps for itself. Some legal scholars contend that the company is a monopoly which must be broken up. But is the company all to blame? We’ll talk about why concerts are so expensive and hear from you: Are you finding yourself priced out of attending live concerts?

Guests:

August Brown, staff writer, Los Angeles Times - Brown covers pop music, the music industry, and nightlife policy. He wrote the recent article, "Everyone Hates Ticketmaster. Is Everyone Wrong?"

Diana Moss, President, American Antitrust Institute

Greg Saunier, musician, producer and composer; drummer, Deerhoof

Clyde Lawrence, film score composer and songwriter; co-founder, the band Lawrence - He recently testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings on Ticketmaster.

Jordan Cohen, tenor saxophonist and tour manager, the band Lawrence

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Nepotism Has Been Around Forever. Why Are People So Bothered by It Now? Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

Internet culture has spawned a new offspring: “Nepo babies”... the children of celebrities who have joined the family business whether that be movies, modeling, music, or sports. But nepotism isn’t limited to celebrities. We see it in small businesses, in college admissions, and political families like the Kennedys, Bushes, and Trumps. Nepotism has been around forever, but lately it seems to be bugging everyone. We’ll talk about why, and hear from you: how has nepotism affected your life?

Guests:

Nate Jones, Senior writer, Vulture - Jones wrote the anchor story "How a Nepo Baby Is Born" for New York Magazine's issue on nepotism in celebrity culture

Alison Schrager, economist and senior fellow, Manhattan Institute - Schrager is also an opinion columnist for Bloomberg and wrote the recent piece "Open Your Mind to the Benefits of Nepotism"

Professor Keith Harrison, professor, DeVos Sport Business Management Graduate Program, University of Central Florida - Harrison is the research leader of the NFL's annual diversity and inclusion report.

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What Making A Sweater From Scratch — From Shearing to Knitting — Can Teach Us About Life Feb 01, 2023

Show notes

A couple of years ago, penned in by the pandemic, writer Peggy Orenstein “felt an inexplicable, unquenchable urge to confront a large animal while wielding a razor-sharp, juddering clipper; shear off its fleece; and figure out how to make it into a sweater.” Her new memoir, “Unraveling,” tells the story of that journey – from shearing a sheep named Martha and spinning and dyeing her wool, to designing and knitting that sweater. Woven through, Orenstein reckons with the environmental and cultural toll of the textile industry, the history of women’s work, the evolution of fairy tales and her own midlife change and loss.

Guests:

Peggy Orenstein, author, "Unraveling: What I Learned About Life While Shearing Sheep, Dyeing Wool, and Making the World's Ugliest Sweater," "Boys and Sex," "Girls and Sex" and "Cinderella Ate My Daughter: Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New Girlie-Girl Culture"

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California's Gun Laws, While Effective, Pose Enforcement Challenges Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

California has some of the strictest gun control laws in the nation: it bans assault-type weapons and high-capacity magazines, mandates background checks and waiting periods for firearm purchases and empowers citizens to ask a court to temporarily remove a gun from someone likely to harm themselves or others. Its firearm violence death rate is also significantly lower than the rest of the country's. Still, laws alone were not enough to prevent the deadly mass shootings in Monterey Park and Half Moon Bay. We'll learn why and hear about the obstacles California agencies face as they try to enforce the state's gun laws and contend with lax rules in neighboring states.

Guests:

Garen Wintemute , director, violence prevention research program at UC Davis - He also practices and teaches emergency medicine at the UC-Davis School of Medicine.

Steve Lindley, program manager, Brady Campaign - former chief of the Bureau of Firearms, California Department of Justice

Alana Mathews, assistant district attorney, Contra Costa County

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It’s Dungeness Crab Season and Time to Rhapsodize About Our Iconic Crustacean Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

Dungeness crab season is a big deal in the bay area. Whether caught from a boat or off a pier, served with crusty bread and butter or over garlic noodles, it seems like everyone has a favorite dungeness crab dish and story. As part of our regular All You Can Eat series, featuring food cultures of the Bay Area, we’ll talk with people who catch, cook and love crabs about the grip the iconic crustacean has on the bay.

Guests:

Luke Tsai, food editor, KQED Arts & Culture

Rocky Rivera, emcee and writer, part of KQED's "Frisco Foodies" series

Edward Wooley, chef and owner, Chef Smelly's

Charlie Chang, chef and owner, PPQ Dungeness Island

Matt Juanes, commercial fisherman

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Who Do You Want to Be California’s Next Senator? Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Los Angeles Congressmember Adam Schiff announced Thursday that he’s running to be California’s next Senator in 2024, joining Orange County Representative Katie Porter and setting up a rare battle for Dianne Feinstein’s seat. Feinstein, who has served as Senator since 1992, has yet to announce whether she’ll run for re-election. We’ll talk about what the race signals for the Democratic party, who else is likely to run and the downstream effects on elections for the House of Representatives and local positions. We want to hear from you: Who do you want to be California’s next senator? What kind of senator do you think our state needs?

Guests:

Marisa Lagos, politics correspondent, KQED; co-host, KQED's Political Breakdown show

Jeremy White, covers California politics, Politico

Melanie Mason, national political correspondent, Los Angeles Times

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Making Sense of the Job Market Amid Massive Tech Layoffs Jan 30, 2023

Show notes

Major Bay Area employers including Salesforce, Amazon, Google parent company Alphabet and Facebook parent company Meta have all cut thousands of workers in the last few months. The headlines are startling, but economists say the job market remains in relatively good shape. Unemployment in California hovers near 4 percent down from 16 percent in April 2020, and many industries are still experiencing a worker shortage. Forum talks about layoffs, the job market and what could happen next.

Guests:

Jennie Brand, professor of sociology and statistics, director of the California Center for Population Research and co-director of the Center for Social Statistics, Department of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

Kathryn Minshew, CEO and founder, The Muse, a career platform, and Fairygodboss, a career community for women

Sinem Buber, lead economist, ZipRecruiter - online employment marketplace

Parul Koul, software engineer, Google; executive chair, Alphabet Workers Union

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Elite Runner Lauren Fleshman’s ‘Good for a Girl’ Challenges Male Ideals and the Male Gaze Jan 27, 2023

Show notes

As a girl growing up in Canyon Country, California, Lauren Fleshman could run fast. Really fast. As a high school student and recruited athlete at Stanford, Fleshman won races, set records, and her talent allowed her to go pro. But throughout her career, Fleshman saw many teammates leave the sport or develop physical or mental health problems. So little was known then, and even now, about how young female athletes develop physically and often training regimens were made for men with women being afterthoughts. Today, as a coach, she’s bringing a new eye to how to build a successful career as a woman runner. We’ll talk about her new book, 'Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World,' which challenges the way the sports world treats its female athletes.

Guests:

Lauren Fleshman, author, "Good for a Girl: A Woman Running in a Man's World;" distance runner, won five NCAA championships and two national championships as a professional runner

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'Chinese Groove' Follows Young Immigrant’s Optimistic, and Often Delusional, Search for Shangri-La in San Francisco Jan 27, 2023

Show notes

The buoyant protagonist of San Francisco writer Kathryn Ma’s new novel, The Chinese Groove, migrates from China, where he’s part of the outcast branch of his family, to San Francisco, where he is sure his distant relatives will welcome and nurture him and shepherd him along his path. Forum talks to Ma about the comedy of errors that follow, San Francisco through a new immigrant’s eyes and her character’s faith in the “groove,” the kindness and generosity expected from fellow countrymen.

Guests:

Kathryn Ma, author, "The Chinese Groove," "The Year She Left Us" and "All That Work and Still No Boys"

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How Can We Make Air Travel Greener (Besides Never Flying Again)? Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

Aviation is responsible for over two percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and for technological reasons it’s one of the most difficult sectors to decarbonize. But California – an early adopter of sustainable aviation fuel and home to 12 international airports – is positioned to guide the nation toward greener air travel, according to UC Berkeley climate and energy expert Ethan Elkind. As part of Forum's new series "In Transit," we’ll talk about the hope and limitations of green aviation technology and how we can reduce our carbon footprint when we fly.

Guests:

Ethan Elkind, director of the Climate Program at the Center for Law, Energy and the Environment, UC Berkeley School of Law; host of the podcast, Climate Break

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