John O'Brien
Producer, Speakers Forum
About
John O’Brien produces Speakers Forum at KUOW. He learned to love radio as a child waking up one summer morning to the harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel. As a teenager, he would drive the back roads of Indiana and Michigan late at night listening to vintage radio theater. The question of whether or not he had the legal right to drive then remains a mystery. Only The Shadow knows. Inspired by a chance meeting with Noah Adams, he learned to make radio as an intern on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds. John has been recording talks for Speakers Forum since 2007. Early on he learned Seattle is a Mecca for any touring speaker because Seattleites read so much, support a wide variety of venues and ask smart questions. He says that makes his job easy and always interesting. John is a graduate of St. Johns College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
Podcasts
Stories
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Speakers Forum
Raising boys the non-toxic way: a how-to manual
‘I want him to be able to have those qualities that I saw men wanting, but not being able to have. Like being able to cry.’
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Speakers Forum
A visionary constellation of poetry, five decades in the making
Lyric World presents the celebrated poet Arthur Sze
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Speakers Forum
Bill Gates is bullish on climate change mitigation, but warns ‘We don’t have time to waste’
How to unmake a man-made global disaster
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Speakers Forum
Becoming Rebecca Solnit: a room and a life of her own
‘I was trying not to be the subject of someone else’s poetry and not to get killed.’
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Speakers Forum
Lawrence Wright looks for America through the lens of Covid-19
How the acclaimed writer and investigative journalist saw it coming
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Speakers Forum
Seattle leaders talk gender inequality, and the ‘glass cliff’ problem
On suffering and surviving the slings and arrows of a woman leader’s fortune
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Speakers Forum
Essays on life, lineage, and the inheritance of whiteness
White women explore epistemic injustice and healing wisdom
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Speakers Forum
White advantage. Racialized trauma. Paths forward
‘America doesn’t have a race problem. It has a racism problem.’
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Speakers Forum
Re: Building Democracy explores ways to mend our political, social, and cultural divides
‘Class blindness is the tendency for people with social class privilege to be unaware or blind to their advantages.’ -Professor Jennifer Sherman
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Speakers Forum
Lyric World: You Don’t Have to Go to Mars for Love
Poet Yona Harvey on arrivals, departures, and renewals