A New Angle

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...

This week’s guests are Alex Few and Jared Beaver, the creators and hosts of Working Wild University, a new podcast about the interaction of science and culture playing out on working lands across the American West. In this conversation, Justin wonders why starting Working Wild U with wolves in Season One was so compelling and asks both Alex and Jared how they describe the problem surrounding wolve...

This week is the February edition of Incentives & Instincts, a recurring series in which Justin speaks with economist and friend Bryce Ward about some of the broader issues facing our society. Justin and Bryce talk about changes in Montana’s demographics and culture and the effects on the Montana economy and community cohesion, and to best do that, are joined by executive director of the Missoula...

This week’s guest is Mariah Gladstone. Mariah grew up in northwest Montana and is Blackfeet and Cherokee. In 2016, she launched in IndigiKitchen, an online platform dedicated to re-indigenizing diets and food systems. IndigiKitchen reaches a wide audience with a food based message of education, empowerment and activism. In this episode, Justin asks Mariah what her relationship with food was growin...

This week is a conversation Justin moderated for City Club, featuring Bryce Ward and the director of UM’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, Pat Barkey. City Club aims to bring Montanans together to inform and inspire citizens on issues facing the community. In this episode, Justin asks Pat how Montana's economy has changed over the past decade and if this is a good time to be an entreprene...

This week’s guest is Marcel Huijser. Marcel is a road ecologist with the Western Transportation Institute at Montana State University. He studies the interaction between wildlife and transportation infrastructure, something anyone who’s spent time on Montana’s roads has likely thought about. In this conversation, Justin asks Marcel about the impacts of transportation on wild ecosystems and how big...

This week 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 issues facing our society. Today, Justin and Bryce look back on the predictions they made for last year and make a few for 2023. In this episode, Justin and Bryce recap on their predictions about Covid, remote work, the economy, colleg...

This week’s guest is Adam Peterman. This year, Adam put together one of the finest seasons the trail running world has ever seen, including a win in his debut 100 miler, the hallowed Western States. In November, Adam won the World Mountain and Trail running championship. At only 27 years old, his future looks bright. In this episode Justin asks Adam about his formative years as a runner, what made...

This week’s guest is Dr. Lerone Martin, associate professor of religious studies and director of the Martin Luther King Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University. Dr. Martin will be visiting the University of Montana on January 26th as part of the President’s Lecture Series. And since this event is a key part of the university’s Martin Luther King Day celebrations, Justin is also...

This week’s guests are Kris Boyd and Shawna Kelsey, the founders of Pink Bench Distilling in Troy, Montana. This story is one of community investment, engagement and revitalization. Justin asks Kris and Shawna how they came together around grizzly bears and apples, what is actually needed to make booze and what apple brandy even is. Kris offers that the forest nearby has between 35-40 botanicals t...

This week’s guest is Michael Dubin, founder and former CEO of Dollar Shave Club, a business that revolutionized direct to consumer marketing and created ripple effects throughout the global economy. Michael tells Justin the key insight that led to the creation of Dollar Shave Club and gives insight into what it was like being CEO. Justin asks about Michael’s priorities for making an impact outside...

This week 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. To close out the year, Justin and Bryce talk about some of the good things that have happened this year. Making it on that list include a relatively seamless midterm election season, a decline in the p...

This week’s guest is Eric Dietrich, deputy editor at Montana Free Press, where he leads the Long Streets Project, an initiative that conducts in depth reporting on Montana’s economy. Eric’s recent reporting has focused on housing, and in particular, Governor Greg Gianforte’s Housing Task Force. In this conversation, Justin asks Eric about the state of play of housing in Montana and what the key ba...