Skip to main content

You make this possible. Support our independent, nonprofit newsroom today.

Give Now

KUOW Presents

By

KUOW Presents connects listeners to a diversity of stories and perspectives from around the Pacific Northwest and around the world on topics that matter to our daily lives. This program is no longer on air.

Episodes

  • Northwest Travel Writer Recommends Visiting Mount St. Helens This Fall

    Seattle travel writer Crai Bower first came across Mount St. Helens when he was doing a census of the spotted owl population for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources in 1990. Crai was stunned by the vision of Mount St. Helens, which so famously and destructively erupted in 1980. Crai remembers seeing the mountain as he walked down a forest service road:

  • Rocky And Bullwinkle And The Cuban Missile Crisis

    "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" debuted on television screens in 1959. The cartoon featured an all-American squirrel and his pal the moose hotly pursued by Boris and Natasha — the Russian-accented spies with a knack for falling on their own grenades. "The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show" parodied the space race, the arms race between the US and the Soviets, and also took its share of digs at the American government and military. In an era when Yogi Bear was stealing pies off window sills — never before had an animated cartoon carried such political currency. And as Studio 360’s Julia Wetherell reports in Rocky and Bullwinkle and the Cuban Missile Crisis, it just might have predicted the fall of communism.

  • The Surprising Path Of Inspiration That Resulted In Those GEICO Caveman Ads

    In 2003, Noel worked at an ad agency. Like everyone else at the agency, Noel wanted to work with high-profile, flashy clients like Apple. Then an insurance company hired the ad agency, and everyone, including Noel, hoped to avoid what looked like a boring job for a boring client. Of course, Noel got stuck working with the insurance company, trying to help them explain how simple it was to sign up for their insurance online. That insurance company was GEICO. And Noel’s work led to GEICO’s well-known caveman ads. In an interview titled "What Gave You That Idea?" with producer Starlee Kine, we're guided back through Noel's surprising, culturally rich path of inspiration.

  • LeiLani Nishime: Science Fiction Films That Reflect Human Cultural Struggles

    Science fiction movies introduce us to alternative worlds, and futures. University of Washington Assistant Communication Professor LeiLani Nishime, also thinks the stories that science fiction films tell reflect how humans struggle with our cultural differences. Nishime talked with KUOW's Jamala Henderson about three films she recommends watching: the 1979 film "Alien," the 1999 film "The Matrix" and the 2009 film "District 9."

  • Pink Dolphins In The Trees

    The Amazon River is home to a creature that looks like it was conjured out of a dream: pink river dolphins. They have long, toothy snouts, and adult males can turn bubblegum pink. But what really makes these creatures unique is their habitat. When the Amazon River floods each year, the surrounding forest fills with water. The dolphins are free to swim where no other dolphins do: among the tops of trees.

  • You Have To Enter To Win: A Female Pilot Among Men

    Only 3 percent of commercial airline pilots are women. But if you were flying into Anchorage, Alaska back in 2006, you'd be glad Stephanie Wallach was your pilot. On that flight, Stephanie made an emergency landing in an MD–80 jetliner after an engine failed.

  • Steven Bender: Films Of The Mexican-American Experience

    Steven Bender is a law professor at Seattle University. He writes about the policies and issues involving Mexican–Americans. And, he’s also kind of obsessed with deconstructing popular culture messages about the lives and experiences of Latinos, because he’s seen a lot of negative stereotypes. Professor Bender talked with KUOW's Jamala Henderson about watching three films that present a more nuanced portrayal of Mexicans and the Mexican–American experience.

  • Opium University

    University of Idaho is unpacking 1000 pieces of rare opium smoking equipment. An eccentric collector beat his addiction. Now he just wants them out of his house. Correspondent Tom Banse has the intriguing back story of how these so-called "instruments of self-destruction" came to a small Northwest town.