Cascade PBS Ideas Festival

At the 2025 Cascade PBS Ideas Festival, we asked attendees to share their thoughts about what's going on in our city and the nation. The Cascade PBS newsroom used this year’s Ideas Festival as a chance to engage directly with our audience. A few of our journalists hosted a “Share Your Story” table , encouraging attendees to sit and discuss whatever was on their minds.  In this bonus episode of the...

In a live taping of 'Your Last Meal,' Jayapal shares how her experience as an immigrant and an organizer influenced her affinity for world cuisines. U.S. Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal has represented Washington’s 7th district since 2016. A prominent member of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, she focuses on immigration, income inequality and access to health care, among other priorities.  But...

In a live taping of  The Journal  podcast, host Ryan Knutson talks with Steves about the value of travel and Americans’ reception abroad in 2025. Rick Steves has created one of the most successful travel businesses in the U.S., including guidebooks, European tours and a longstanding TV and radio show. What is it like to run a travel business for American tourists right now, after the pandemic and...

In a live taping of the Criminal podcast, host Phoebe Judge speaks with Knox about her new memoir and how a murder accusation redefined her life. Amanda Knox became a household name when she was convicted, in 2009, of the murder of her roommate while studying abroad in Perugia, Italy. She spent four years in an Italian prison before being exonerated.  As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in l...

In a live taping of Radiolab, co-host Latif Nasser and guest Rebecca Lemov discuss prominent examples of indoctrination and their modern implications. As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in late May, Latif Nasser, co-host of WNYC’s Radiolab , sat down with Harvard historian Rebecca Lemov to dig into her new book, The Instability of Truth: Brainwashing, Mind Control, and Hyper-Persuasion .  ...

In a live taping of ‘The Gist’ podcast, the authors of “Original Sin” — a book questioning the former president’s health — share their findings. One book has been stirring up a lot of political controversy this spring: Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson’s deep dive into President Biden’s health during his last year in office.  As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in May, Tapper and Thompson got on...

In a live taping of the ‘Open to Debate’ podcast, commentator Brandi Kruse and legal scholar Nadine Strossen examine the state of the First Amendment. From funding cuts at universities to restrictions on the press, critics of Trump 2.0 point to a long list of potential threats to the freedom of speech. But in these polarized times, perception is everything.  As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festiv...

In a live taping of CCN's  One Thing , Flake speaks with host David Rind about a post-Trump era and his hopes for a party of governance, not grievance. Former U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R – Arizona) is perhaps best known for his early and vocal criticism of President Donald Trump. In 2017, Flake announced he would not run for reelection, largely because he saw no room for a moderate, anti-Trump Repu...

In a live taping of WNYC’s On the Media, author and activist Cory Doctorow argues that tech giants have chased profits at the expense of users. There’s no question that the products that giant companies such as Amazon, Google and Meta have developed now dominate many people’s  lives. The road to that domination,  argues author and activist Cory Doctorow, is paved with profit-driven actions that ul...

Author, comedian and former U.S. Senator Al Franken has a unique resume. One of the original writers on Saturday Night Live, he won five Emmys, wrote several comedic books on politics and represented Minnesota as a U.S. Senator from 2009 to 2018.   As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in late May, Franken sat down with Jane Coaston, host of Crooked Media’s What a Day , to discuss his journey...

Well, that’s a wrap! The 2025 Cascade PBS Ideas Festival took place in downtown Seattle on May 31. But the event’s thoughtful conversations, lively debates and incisive commentary are all coming soon to your podcast feeds.   To kick off this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast, host Paris Jackson catches up once more with events director Jake Newman to discuss what’s on tap for this y...

Co-hosts Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays remind us to laugh in this bonus episode recorded live at the Seattle Public Library on October 15.  Lindy West and Meagan Hatcher-Mays join us again for another lively discussion on The Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast.  In a special bonus episode, Cascade PBS partnered with The Seattle Public Library Foundation to put on a live podcast taping of Text...

In a live taping of Slate’s A Word podcast, Jason Johnson talks with Coates about the resonance between racism in America and the crisis in Gaza. On his podcast A Word , veteran political commentator Jason Johnson invites leaders, journalists and other change-makers to have productive and provocative conversations about race in politics and society.   As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in e...

Atlantic journalists talk the future of election interference in an era of chilling political deepfakes — and, the one company behind much of this tech. This year, two events will collide: AI voice replicas that can fool family and friends will be easier than ever to use, and half the world’s population will undergo an election.  As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Hanna Rosin,...

The Revisionist History podcast host discusses America's firearms problem - and reasons to be optimistic about it - with a trauma surgeon and an activist. Acclaimed author Malcolm Gladwell explores all things overlooked and misunderstood in his podcast, Revisionist History . He recently produced a six-part series about what we get wrong about gun violence in America.   As part of the Cascade PBS I...

Is the personal always political? Washington Post columnists discuss how identity markers have come to define how we think and vote. Trust in American institutions has reached record lows. Where do Americans turn to for a sense of identity, connection or belonging? Are identity markers such as race or religion a way to build community and understanding or do these affinities further divide us?   A...

In a live taping of Left, Right & Center, David Greene, Mo Elleithee and Sarah Isgur debate media bias ahead of the presidential election. KCRW’s weekly politics show, Left, Right & Center, takes on the tough, polarizing issues that Americans struggle to have conversations about. Host David Greene invites guests with a wide range of political views to create provocative discussions that ca...

In a live taping of The New Yorker’s Critics at Large podcast, Keefe and a panel discuss the genre's enduring popularity – and its problematic aspects. The appetite for true crime is more insatiable than ever, but audiences, authors and podcast producers are also grappling with the ethics of the genre. Patrick Radden Keefe, author of books including Empire of Pain: The Secret History of the Sackle...

In a live podcast taping, historian Heather Cox Richardson debates the nation's founding and the state of democracy ahead of the 2024 election. Historian Heather Cox Richardson, author of Democracy Awakening: Notes on the State of America , points out a central tension in American history: The founding fathers penned the idea of equality before the law, but as white male property owners, they coul...

The Journal co-hosts Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson tackle the gap between bright data points and bad vibes with political correspondent Molly Ball. Data suggests the U.S. economy is performing well, but many Americans don’t feel that way. How will those feelings influence the 2024 election?  As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, Kate Linebaugh and Ryan Knutson, co-hosts of the...

Lindy West, Meagan Hatcher-Mays and Guy Branum rank Hollywood celebrities and Supreme Court justices in a lighthearted take on pop culture and politics. New York Times bestselling author Lindy West and democracy expert and “recovering lawyer” Meagan Hatcher-Mays have been best friends for 25 years. Their podcast, Text Me Back!, celebrates that friendship through lively discussions of pop culture,...

Tug of War host David Rind and international correspondent Nada Bashir dig into how the war in Gaza has changed the Middle East and the world. Since the Hamas attacks of October 7 and the outbreak of the war in Gaza, CNN’s Tug of War podcast has brought listeners into the heart of the conflict.   As part of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival in early May, host David Rind and CNN international correspo...

Catch up on every session, featuring speakers such as Malcolm Gladwell, Lindy West and Ta-Nehisi Coates, on our weekly festival podcast. This year’s Cascade PBS Ideas Festival has officially wrapped. But the insightful conversations that took place on May 4, 2024, are coming soon to a podcast app near you.  To help launch this season of the Cascade PBS Ideas Festival podcast (formerly Crosscut Tal...

The television host shares his ideal last meal and serves behind-the-scenes details from Nickelodeon and the Food Network. Marc Summers, best known for his role as host of the 1980s Nickelodeon game show Double  Dare and host of the Food Network’s Unwrapped , actually launched his career doing magic tricks. Summers shared this fun fact, and a whole lot more, with Rachel Belle, host of Your Last Me...

Research shows the drugs can be effective in treating depression and substance-use disorders — but there’s still much we don’t know. Psychedelics are moving back into the mainstream. According to a growing body of medical research, psychedelic drugs such as psilocybin and ketamine can have a profound impact on people struggling with mental health conditions, including depression, post-traumatic st...