The Neal Larson Show

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie dug into a couple of culture-and-politics flashpoints that sparked strong reactions: first, former Utah Rep. Ben McAdams’ comments highlighting faith leaders’ concerns about immigrants feeling afraid to go to churches, hospitals, and courthouses. Neal and Julie pushed back hard on what they saw as emotional framing that sidesteps the underlying issue—illegal immigra...

Send us Fan Mail Wednesday’s show was dominated by the now-national blowup out of Driggs, where a small pro-life group was confronted and kicked out of a local coffee shop after meeting there—despite “Everyone is welcome here” messaging and patrons having already ordered food. Neal and Julie worked through the layers: the owner’s property rights, the practical question of whether the group saw (or...

Send us Fan Mail A video out of the Teton Valley lit up the show as Neal and Julie dug into the escalating blowup at Driggs’ WYDAHO (Whiteahoe) Roasters, where a coffee shop owner confronted a pro-life group meeting inside and ultimately compared them to the KKK. The conversation wasn’t just about whether a private business can ask customers to leave (they can), but about the real-world consequenc...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie spent the bulk of the show unpacking a late-week federal ruling from Judge Lynn Winmill that broadens when abortions may be permitted under Idaho law—specifically extending the “defense of life” rationale to serious mental health crises where a physician determines an abortion is necessary to prevent suicide or self-harm. They argued the reasoning is legally and log...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie tackled the growing backlash to Flock cameras and, more broadly, license plate readers—framing it as a debate that’s unlikely to be solved by “policy tweaks” if the loudest critics won’t accept anything short of removal. They walked through how local agencies (including Pocatello) say the data is used—limited access, case-by-case requests, and not plugged into a nat...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie covered a wide-ranging, high-energy show that bounced between national politics, Idaho policy fights, and a few lighter detours—while keeping a consistent throughline of skepticism toward institutions that demand trust but resist transparency. They opened with the news that White House press secretary Caroline Levitt is stepping away to spend more time with her new...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie opened with a national politics temperature check, using last night’s primary results as a real-world test of the “socialist surge” narrative. They walked through key races (with special attention on Wisconsin and Minnesota), why some high-profile DSA-backed candidates fell short, and what they see as a late-breaking shift: more mainstream Democrats finally sounding...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie spend much of the show reacting to fresh controversy around Anthony Fauci—especially the gap between what he said publicly during COVID and what he reportedly expressed privately, with the most emotional part of the conversation centering on concerns about vaccine guidance for pregnant women. They’re careful to separate justified outrage from overstated claims, call...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie dug into what they called the “WNBA disarray,” starting with the on-court incident involving Sophie Cunningham and Dijonai Carrington—Neal arguing the foul was clearly flagrant, the ejection was justified, and the real explosion came afterward when Carrington posted “white privilege,” with some journalists and commentators rushing to defend her. From there, the conv...

Send us Fan Mail Neal marked a major milestone: 20 years since launching *The Neal Larson Show* on August 7, 2006. He reflected on the leap of putting his own name on the program, the career turns that led him back to East Idaho, and the tradeoffs he made—choosing community and family over chasing bigger markets. It was a candid, appreciative hour about what it takes to do personality-driven talk...

Send us Fan Mail Sen. Jim Risch joined Neal Larson and Julie Mason from Washington as the Senate scrambled toward an overdue August recess, and the conversation quickly turned to Idaho politics and what’s shaping up to be a sharper general election. Risch reacted to Democrat David Roth dropping out and framed independent challenger Todd Achilles as effectively a Democrat with a long paper trail—do...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie wrestle with what feels like a shrinking supply of “normal” in American politics—arguing that both parties are being pulled around by loud, ideological factions they refuse to confront honestly. On the left, they point to the growing comfort with Democratic Socialists of America–style politics (and what they describe as outright Marxist/communist sympathies), highli...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason opened Tuesday’s show with two “blips on the radar,” but quickly zeroed in on the one they argued will matter most to Idaho voters heading toward November: the Idaho Family Policy Center’s public-records lawsuit against Boise State University over the widely repeated claim that Idaho “lost 35% of its OBGYNs” after Dobbs and the state’s trigger law. Neal...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie opened the show with a somber check-in on a painfully heavy weekend in the region: wildfires burning across the West (including the High Sea/Big Rock area threatening homes), a fatal plane crash near Blackfoot that took the life of 27-year-old Caden West, and the mass shooting at the Twin Falls In-N-Out that left three victims dead and others wounded. They emphasize...

Send us Fan Mail Friday’s show bounced between lighthearted local banter and bigger-picture debates, with Neal and Julie opening on listener-submitted “better arena names” (including the laugh-out-loud “Ice Thunberg Arena”), a hot-air-balloon sighting near CEI, and the now-infamous beer cheese crackers that sparked equal parts suspicion (“Is this a bomb?”) and obsession (Julie’s nine-box Target or...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie kicked things off with one of the most “only our audience” moments ever: a mystery box delivered to the station with instructions not to open it until Facebook Live—turning into an unexpectedly perfect payoff when it turned out to be Neal’s long-hyped Coors Light Beer Cheese crackers (plus a gag gift of Horehound candy with a Sharpie-added “W”). The unboxing set the...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie spent much of the show teeing up what they expect will be a high-drama day in Washington: Anthony Fauci’s appearance before Sen. Rand Paul’s committee, with the added wrinkle that—after accepting a pardon—Fauci can’t lean on the Fifth Amendment in the same way. They dug into the newly surfaced Fauci “diary” material as discussed publicly by Paul, reacting to entries...

Send us Fan Mail Friday’s show was a high-energy mix of local Idaho issues, national security, and some classic rock in the studio. Neal walked listeners through several ongoing storylines: a new twist in the Idaho Falls “Flock camera” controversy involving open-records requests (and whether a citizen’s public threat of a tort claim changes what the city is required to release), a quarter‑billion‑...

Send us Fan Mail Thursday’s show bounced between national politics and the kind of cultural flashpoints that seem to reveal how much trust has eroded in public institutions. Neal and Julie dug into reports that thousands of non-citizens ended up on New Jersey voter rolls—described as a “glitch” tied to driver’s license processing—and used it as a springboard to argue that election integrity concer...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie dug into a viral moment from a Chicago Cubs game that’s split people down the middle: during the National Anthem, an older man confronts a younger fan who’s sitting—then smacks him on the back of the head. They talked through why the clip hits such a nerve, what “respect” actually looks like in a public setting, and why so many commenters act like there are only two...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie bounced between politics, public culture, and a surprisingly sticky public-health story, with Neal opening on what he sees as a familiar Democratic Party problem: letting the far-left “drive the bus,” even as Republicans struggle with unity and factional infighting. The conversation widened into how modern media environments can shift people’s values and voting beha...

Send us Fan Mail Neal and Julie opened the week taking aim at the media’s reaction to President Trump’s primetime remarks on election integrity—arguing that much of the coverage led with cynical motive-framing instead of directly grappling with the underlying allegation: foreign influence (particularly China) and whether U.S. intelligence agencies suppressed or “massaged” information. They contras...

Send us Fan Mail Friday’s show was a lively mix of national politics, local growth fights, and a surprisingly deep (and funny) debate about technology and trust. Neal and Julie reacted to President Trump’s remarks about newly declassified information and alleged Chinese efforts to influence the 2020 election, while also circling back to how much of today’s public mood—on everything from AI to poli...

Send us Fan Mail Neal Larson and Julie Mason opened with some signature banter (“calmyourshorts.com” becoming the running joke) before wading into two of the biggest lightning-rod issues in Idaho right now: public surveillance concerns tied to Flock license-plate readers, and the newly qualified abortion initiative heading to the ballot. The tone stayed energetic and pointed—especially as the host...

Send us Fan Mail The show bounced from light to serious in classic Neal-and-Julie fashion—starting with some riffing on Taco Bell’s latest “explosive” reputation and the public confusion around daylight saving time, then turning into a surprisingly spirited debate over whether the U.S. should finally stop changing clocks twice a year. Listener texts poured in about circadian rhythms, safety for ki...