A New Angle

This week's guest is Jeff Batton, a principal at HomeStake, a fund that pursues a variety of business models, all designed around connecting more local investors with more local companies. In this episode, Justin and Jeff talk about the trend towards consolidation in business and some solutions HomeStake is pursuing to avoid the problems created by continuous consolidation, how investors can rethi...

This week's guest is Dr. Pardis Mahdavi, an Iranian-American professor, administrator, outgoing provost at the University of Montana, and the newly named president of the University of La Verne. Pardis is the author of multiple books and served in leadership roles in several prominent universities. In this episode Justin asks Pardis about her path into academia, what changes to the University of M...

This week's guest is Dr. Jay Erickson, a family medicine doctor in the Flathead Valley and assistant clinical dean of the University of Washington's WWAMI Program, a residency track for doctors to practice in Washington, Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho. In this episode Justin and Dr. Erickson discuss the challenges and opportunities in rural health care, how the WWAMI program provides access to...

This week's guest is journalist Sally Mauk, senior news analyst and news director emerita at Montana Public Radio. Sally has covered Montana politics and other topics for over 30 years and is the host of MTPR's Capitol Talk. In this episode Sally talks about the factors that brought her to journalism, her perspective on the 2023 Montana Legislative session and the future of political coverage in M...

This week is the July 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 the two discuss some of the more encouraging signals in the economy. They cover declines in violent crime, inflation and increases in labor force participation rates over the last year or so. Justi...

This week Justin returns to his conversation with Emmy Award winning production designer and art director John Shaffner about his career designing some of the most iconic sets in television, including Friends and Two and a Half Men. In part two of this two-part episode, they discuss the transition from network television to today's streaming services, the inner-workings of license deals and why th...

This week Justin talks with Emmy Award winning production designer and art director John Shaffner about his career designing some of the most iconic sets in television, including Friends and Two and a Half Men. In part one this two-part episode, they discuss Shaffner's path into production design, how screen technology has evolved to shape the industry and most importantly, how did the cast of Fri...

This week's guests are legendary Missoula-based musicians, Jeff Ament and John Wicks, who have collaborated to form the band Deaf Charlie. Their first full length album, Catastrophic Metamorphic, recently released on June 30th. In this episode they talk with Justin about the Deaf Charlie origin story and how the two musicians have yet to play together in a studio. They cover the challenges and opp...

This week A New Angle hosts four guests doing amazing work to help us understand the role of exercise in treating cancer. These folks will headline the upcoming Exercise in Lifestyle Medicine and Oncology Care Conference at the University of Montana, July 12th and 13th. In this episode, Justin speaks with one guest who was part of the largest study of weight training in breast cancer survivors and...

This week is the June 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 month Bryce and Justin respond to a listener inquiry about parking. As it turns out, parking policies have driven much of how American cities look and feel. In this episode they explore studies on parki...

This week’s guest is Jeffrey Funk, a blacksmith from Bigfork, Montana, who’s been crafting public sculpture and architectural metalwork for over 30 years. Jeffrey is the director of the New Agrarian School, an organization that teaches blacksmithing and other traditional rural crafts. In this episode, Jeffrey talks about how being interested in everything led to his blacksmithing career and provid...

This week’s guests are Sherry and Andy Chidwick, two recently retired schoolteachers from Stevensville, Montana who are about to launch their next chapter of life as overland adventures. The Chidwicks are in the final stages of selling all of their stuff and building out their adventure vehicle. In this episode, Andy explains that he and Sherry didn’t want to wait for the traditional American reti...

This week’s guest is Curt Olds, internationally renowned singer, opera and musical theater director and entrepreneur. Curt has performed on Broadway, at the Lincoln Center and at Carnegie Hall. He is a Butte native and a graduate of the University of Montana with a degree in vocal performance, and the most recent recipient of the Odyssey of the Stars. In this episode, Curt talks about how much of...

This week is the May 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. Last month, Justin and Bryce explored why America seems to be so deadly, and this time they’re talking about Bryce’s “deaths of abundance” concept. To do this, the two dive into a Plato allegory and look at t...

This week’s guest is Cole Mannix, founder of the Old Salt Co-Op, a collection of entrepreneurs and ranchers seeking to produce nourishing food while preserving the ecological health of the Montana landscape. In this episode, Cole talks about his studies in biology and theology, and the different approach Old Salt is taking to Montana meat. Justin asks what part of the meat production system is bro...

This week’s guests are Celinda Lake and Ed Goeas, award winning political pollsters and strategists who came together to write A Question of Respect: Bringing Us Together in a Deeply Divided Nation. The book is an exploration of how America grew so divided and how we might come back together. In this episode, Justin asks Celinda and Ed what they think of the state of our democracy now, and why thi...

This week’s guest is Ken Fichtler, founder and CEO of Gaize, a Montana based startup that recently launched a cannabis impairment detection product. Ken served as chief business development officer for four years during the Bullock administration and is a seasoned vet of the Montana entrepreneurship scene. Before they dive into Gaize, Justin asks Ken about his shift from entrepreneurship to public...

This week is the April 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. Today, the two dig into the perplexing and inconvenient reality that Americans appear to be dying much younger than our counterparts in other advanced economies. Bryce brings up one article that shows Ameri...

This week’s guests are Nate Bellinger and Grace Gibson Snyder. Nate is an attorney with Our Children’s Trust, which is suing the state of Montana on behalf of 16 youth climate activists, including Grace, a graduate of Hellgate High School in Missoula. In this episode, Grace talks about the things she noticed changing in Montana, like wildfire smoke and melting glaciers, that inspired her to get in...

This week’s guest is Wendy Weaver, executive director of Montana Freshwater Partners, an organization dedicated to restoring, enhancing and preserving Montana’s freshwater ecosystems. This team of five women based in Livingston includes a broad array of skills and capabilities, all focused on protecting Montana’s aquatic resources. In this episode, Justin asks Wendy what the current state of play...

This week’s guest is Rowena He, associate professor of history at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and currently a fellow at the National Humanities Center. She’s an expert on contemporary Chinese history and the 1989 Tiananmen Square protests. Professor He’s writing and commentary appear regularly in the popular press, and she will be joining the University of Montana community on April 13 as...

It is pledge week here at Montana Public Radio. So, this week’s episode is a special edition of Incentives & Instincts with economist and friend Bryce Ward. Bryce and Justin talk about why our trust in media is so low when the quality and performance of media has arguably been improving. Justin asks Bryce how our trust in media has declined, and Bryce uses diet as an analogy for abundance of infor...

This week’s guest is Michelle Uberuaga, executive director of the Park County Environmental Council. PCEC does important work to protect the land, water, wildlife and people throughout the northern gateway to Yellowstone National Park. In this episode, Justin asks Michelle about the community PCEC represents and what the values of the community are that need to be represented. Michelle talks about...

This week we bring you a special cross-over episode with MTPR’s The Write Question, hosted by Lauren Korn. Lauren and Justin interview University of Montana philosophy professor, Christopher Preston, about his wonderful new book, Tenacious Beast: Wildlife Recoveries That Change How We Think About Animals. In this episode, Christopher explains how Europeans are learning to live with wolves — in fac...

This week we bring you an encore episode of our conversation with the Dean of Montana political journalism, Chuck Johnson. Johnson passed away unexpectedly on March 4. During his 45 year career, Johnson covered 22 legislative sessions, eight governors, nine U.S. senators, and 12 U.S. representatives. He will be missed dearly by the state as a whole. Tributes to Chuck: 1. https://montanafreepress.o...