A New Angle

This week's guests are Victoria, Remy, Josie, and Anders—four students from Park High School in Livingston, Montana. These students are part of a school group called The Green Initiative, which has successfully raised funds for a solar installation at their school, organized a youth climate summit for high schoolers across Montana, and engaged in the climate crisis with a unique blend of innovatio...

This week's guests are Peri Sasnett and Kyle Langley of Glacier National Park. These two are part of the team that makes Headwaters, a podcast about the history and critical issues facing Glacier National Park. Headwaters is an amazing resource made possible by the Glacier National Park Conservancy. In this episode Justin asks Peri and Kyle about how the podcast came to be, why it's important to t...

This week's guest is Maritsa Georgiou, award winning journalist and national correspondent for Scripps News. Maritsa's reporting on the planned removal of the 2020 election ballot collection boxes earned her a Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Television Journalism. After many years on air for NBC Montana, Maritsa moved to Scripps in 2021 and this year will begin hosting her very own live br...

This week's episode is the January edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. Justin and Bryce take a look back at their 2023 predictions and offer some new predictions for 2024 and beyond. They discuss the economy, politics and culture. Justin asks Bryce what the odds ar...

This week's guest is John Adams, executive director at Montana Free Press. In the second installment of this two-part conversation Justin and John talk about the Montana Free Press model, the state of journalism in general, and its future here in Montana. They delve into the importance of funding transparency for non-profit news organization and the implications of A.I. for print journalism. Justi...

This week's guest is John Adams, executive director at Montana Free Press. With Adams as its founder, Montana Free Press launched in 2016 as an independent nonprofit. In this episode Justin and John talk about the Montana Free Press model, the state of journalism in general, and its future here in Montana. Justin asks John how the rise of Facebook and Google changed the business model for online n...

This week's guest is Lance Neirby, CEO of Montana Silversmiths, the makers of fine trophy buckles and Western jewelry. Montana Silversmiths is celebrating 50 years in business, and their buckles feature prominently on the hugely popular Yellowstone series. In this episode Justin and Lance discuss the distinction between art and craft, securing  fruitful partnerships and the history of Montana Silv...

This week's episode is the December edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. Justin and Bryce discuss solutions to the crisis in the political labor market including ranked choice voting, reestablishing community, changing election funding and more. Justin asks Bryce if...

This week's guest is Marietta Rodriguez president and CEO of NeighborWorks America, a national nonpartisan community development organization. Marietta was recently named one of the most influential nonprofit leaders in the country by The Nonprofit Times. Last month, she visited the University of Montana College of Business, and Justin was fortunate enough to get her on the show. In this episode J...

This week's guests are Lori and Robert Byron, two physicians from Hardin, Montana, and lead authors of the Climate Change and Human Health in Montana report. The report details what we know about how climate change is affecting the health of Montanans. In this episode Justin asks the Byrons about the sources and methods they used to craft the report, how the negative health effects of climate chan...

This week's guest is Andrew Schulz, the community manager for C2M Beta. C2M Beta is an open innovation lab supported by Blackfoot Communications. C2M Beta offers a curriculum and a collection of resources designed to help entrepreneurs in Montana bring their ideas to life. In this episode Justin and Andrew discuss how C2M Beta came to be and the program's 12 week curriculum that helps entrepreneur...

This week's episode is the November edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. Justin and Bryce discuss the crisis in the political labor market, where fewer people seem interested in running for office, and those who are elected have less experience in government. The pa...

This week's guests are Dylan Cherrulo and Wendy Owens. Dylan is an economics student at the University of Montana and a program assistant at the Blackstone Luanchpad. Wendy is the founder and CEO of Hexas Biomass, and she's also Dylan's mom. In this episode Dylan and Wendy discuss their paths into entrepreneurship and what about this choice of career path is so appealing to them both. Justin asks...

This week's guest is Josh Olsen, co-founder and program director of the Montana Wilderness School, a Bozeman based organization that offers expeditionary wilderness courses for youth that foster personal growth and a conservation ethic. In this episode Justin asks Josh about his motivation for starting MWS and why the school focuses specifically on Montana kids. Josh talks about the power of kids...

This week is the October edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. This week, Justin and Bryce continue discussing A.I. and creativity with Justin's colleague at the College of Business, Professor Erik Guzik. Erik is an expert on creativity and entrepreneurship and recen...

This week's guest is Ken Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate. He's also an award winning author, scholar and attorney. Ken has argued before the Supreme Court and testified in front of Congress. Ken will be visiting the University of Montana community on November 6th as part of the President's lecture series. This conversation was recorded prior to the recent eruption and viol...

This week's guest is Shaun Radley, purveyor of all things at MTCX and master of bike race organizing in western Montana. There is something special happening right now with the sport of cycling in Montana, and Shaun is a big reason why. In this episode Justin and Shaun talk about the upcoming 2023 and 2024 Pan American Cyclocross Championships, which Missoula has been selected to host in large par...

After some thoughtful listener questions, Justin reached back out to Nic de Castro, founder of LandTrust — a new venture seeking to connect landowners and recreationalists — to ask a few more questions, particularly about how LandTrust works with the state’s block management program. Transcript here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11FLTb07QVU7hAkqH5DCKlTdSKhGEFAbFkuZTXp8RfZg/edit Check out par...

This week's guest is Molly Kruckenberg, director of the Montana Historical Society, an organization charged with protecting and sharing Montana's past. The Historical Society is in the midst of building the Montana Heritage Center and Molly and Justin discuss the project in this episode. Molly describes the role the Historical Society plays in the state of Montana, how exhibit space in the new Her...

This week's guests are Latisha Buck Elk Thunder and Dacia Red Thunder Griego, founders of Indigenous Made Missoula, a platform created to empower and propel Indigenous artists. In this episode, Justin asks about the inspiration behind Indigenous Made Missoula, the importance of representation and Indigenous spaces, as well as how non-Indigenous consumers can be more thoughtful and intentional in t...

This week is the September edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. This week Justin and Bryce are joined by Justin's colleague at the College of Business, Professor Erik Guzik. Erik is an expert on creativity and entrepreneurship and recently published a study finding...

This week's guest is Peter Stark, bestselling author of Astoria, Young Washington, and now the newly released Gallop Toward the Sun: Tecumseh and William Henry Harrison's Struggle for the Destiny of a Nation. Peter's new book explores a critical period of early U.S. history overlooked and not well understood. In this episode Justin asks Peter about his career transition from adventure journalism t...

This week's guest is Nic de Castro, founder of LandTrust, a new venture seeking to connect landowners and recreationalists. LandTrust creates new revenue streams for landowners and enables access to lands previously difficult or impossible for the public to access. In this episode, Justin and Nic discuss the pressure on private lands, particularly working lands in the American West, how LandTrust...

This week is the August edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader challenges facing our society. This week, Bryce takes on the role of host to talk with Justin and Nick Mott about their brand new book, This is Wildfire: How to Protect Yourself, Your Home, and Your Community in the Age of Heat. Justin...

This week's guest is Colin Hickey, senior vice-president of operations at VidCon - a conference that brings together up to 75,000 online creators each year. Colin is a Montana entrepreneur and community leader and has grown the VidCon program across the globe. In this episode, Colin tells the story of how he got involved with VidCon and its rapid growth over the course of a few short years. Justin...