KQED's Forum

Spotify was originally marketed as a democratic, anti-establishment music streaming platform. But according to journalist Liz Pelly, it has become a system favoring major labels and its own algorithmic playlists featuring “ghost artists,” all while underpaying independent artists. Pelly draws on interviews with former employees, music industry veterans and artists to pull back the curtain on the m...

MSNBC host Chris Hayes spends a lot of time thinking about how to grab — and hold — people’s attention. He says the stakes are high because those who can capture attention “command fortunes, win elections and topple regimes.” We’ll talk to Hayes about why it’s become so much harder to command attention, why Donald Trump is exceptionally good at it and how we can reclaim our own attention for the t...

If Trump’s nominees are confirmed, his administration could include at least 13 billionaires, collectively worth $383 billion. And at the inauguration, billionaire tech leaders like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg sat front and center signaling their proximity to power. Wealthy people joining the government is not new, but the levels of extreme wealth are unprecedented. So much so that i...

You might have seen Los Angeles-based comedian Joel Kim Booster in the Maya Rudolph series “Loot,” or enjoyed his “Pride and Prejudice” adaptation “Fire Island,” set on the eponymous gay vacation spot. His latest project is hosting the podcast “Bad Dates,” where comedians share their worst dating stories. We’ll get his advice on how to have better dates and hear why his latest comedy special is ca...

Writer and disability justice activist Alice Wong’s illness took her ability to speak without technological assistance, but she continues to make herself, and members of her community, profoundly heard. As part of our new series profiling legends of the Bay Area, Wong joins us to talk about her joyous approach to life and her recent MacArthur Genius win, and to share some favorite interviews recor...

Whether it’s declining an invitation, disagreeing with a boss or questioning a doctor, why is it so hard for us to say “no?” In her new book, Cornell organizational psychologist Dr. Sunita Sah draws on behavioral science to look at the pressure we feel to comply and explains why acts of defiance should be seen as expressions of our values. Sah’s new book is “Defy: The Power of No In A World That D...

A cattle supplement that cuts down on cow burps and thus, greenhouse gas emissions. Drugs that make it far easier to prevent AIDS and maybe end the disease altogether. Generative AI upending traditional search engines. These are just some of the advances that made MIT Technology Review’s 2025 list of 10 Breakthrough Technologies. Writers and editors from the magazine join us to talk about how thes...

Mountaineer Jon Waterman first journeyed to the High Arctic in 1983, intent on learning all he could about the strange land with grizzlies and caribou, sea fossil-filled mountains and night skies with “saffron clouds and beams of viridescence.” Waterman has returned more than 20 times since then, and in a new book he documents the environmental changes he witnessed. We talk to him about the world...

On his first day in office Donald Trump issued a slew of executive orders to address what he called “an unprecedented flood” of immigration. Terminating birthright citizenship, a right enshrined in the Constitution, declaring a national emergency at the border and seeking funds to build a border wall are just some of Trump’s directives. Many of his orders faced immediate opposition: as of Tuesday,...

Set up a P.O. box. Learn your insurance policy. Know it’s OK to mourn the material objects you lost, or to refuse donations you don’t need. These are just some of the many pieces of advice survivors of past California wildfires have for victims of the Los Angeles wildfires. We’ll talk to people who’ve lost their homes to fires in Paradise, wine country and the Sierra Foothills about managing the p...

The first Israeli hostages and Palestinian political prisoners have been released and Gazan exiles have begun returning to their war-ravaged communities after the Israel and Hamas ceasefire deal went into effect Sunday. After 15 months of brutal war, the ceasefire has brought much relief but also uncertainty about whether it will last and under what terms. We talk about what the ceasefire agreemen...

Donald Trump takes the presidential oath of office on Monday, ushering in a second term that he says will push hardline policies on immigration and trade, deregulate industry and slash climate protections. We get your reactions to his inaugural address and what you think the coming days and weeks will bring. How are you preparing for a second Trump term? Guests: Claudia Grisales, national correspo...

We look back on the life and career of legendary Los Angeles director David Lynch. Known for “Blue Velvet,” “Mulholland Drive” and “Twin Peaks,” Lynch used dream-logic narratives to interrogate the American dream itself and to capture the dark beauty of Los Angeles, the city he dearly loved. He was also sunny in outlook, famously advising “keep your eye on the donut and not on the hole.” Lynch’s f...

On Monday we will, once again, inaugurate Donald Trump as president and, once again, it will come as the country is bitterly divided and often deeply confounded by people with opposing political views. We at Forum thought this would be a perfect time to listen back to our interview with john a. powell. He’s director of UC Berkeley’s Othering and Belonging Institute and his work focuses on communic...

After his California home burned in a wildfire, acclaimed author and travel writer Pico Iyer retreated to a remote monastery in Big Sur. There, he discovered the power of solitude and stillness to help process loss and cope with uncertainty. In his new book, “Aflame,” Iyer writes about his frequent visits to the monastery over the following three decades, always finding joy and renewal in the “sil...

In the nearly seven years since the Supreme Court legalized sports betting, it has exploded as an industry. Last year, 67.8 million Americans put down bets worth a total of $23 billion on the Super Bowl alone. And where once official leagues like Major League Baseball decried betting as an “evil” that would damage the sport, now gambling on games and players’ performances is being embraced as whol...

Democrat Ron Wyden has represented Oregon in the U.S. Senate for three decades, championing legislation on the environment, health care and tax reform. We’ll talk to him about how he plans to operate within a Republican-controlled chamber, why he thinks Democrats can still mount an effective resistance to extreme MAGA-ism and why effecting change depends on playing the long game. Wyden’s new book...

Americans are getting more and more of our calories from ultra-processed foods. One study found that more than half of our diets consist of foods that contain ingredients with no nutritional value including sports drinks, wheat bread, flavored yogurt, and frozen pizza. Studies have shown ultra-processed foods can lead to poor health outcomes from obesity and cancer to anxiety. But the products tha...

It’s that time of year when many of us dust off our running shoes, sign up for a gym membership and vow to develop a fitness routine we can stick with. Whether you’re just getting started or aiming to set a new personal record, we talk to two experts who share their advice and answer your questions. What are your New Year’s fitness resolutions? Guests: Juliet Starrett, certified nutrition coach an...

Even before the fires in Los Angeles, California’s insurance market was under enormous pressure. Extreme weather events like wildfires, which have been supersized due to climate change, previously led national carriers like Allstate and State Farm to stop writing new homeowners policies. And some property owners are facing non-renewal for homes deemed by insurance companies to be at risk. Californ...

California could lose billions of dollars in health funding if the Trump administration follows through on GOP plans to overhaul Medicaid, which provides healthcare for low-income people. Trump policies could also have major implications for Covered California, the state’s health insurance marketplace, and for health care programs addressing homelessness and reproductive health . We’ll talk with s...

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Friday declared the Los Angeles wildfires a public health emergency, as President Biden reiterated his promise to cover disaster response costs over the next six months. Displaced L.A. residents are mourning their lost pets, homes and schools, and entire communities are grieving the loss of arts institutions, hiking trails, businesses and restaur...

AI companion apps are becoming increasingly popular, with millions of users engaging with them for over an hour each day. Most users report positive experiences using their AI companions for entertainment, emotional support, and even therapeutic purposes. But their potential to become addictive, encourage harmful behaviors and ultimately exacerbate social isolation has sparked concern, especially...

Meteorologists say firefighters may get a respite today and tomorrow from the strong Santa Ana winds fueling the massively destructive wildfires in Los Angeles. There have been 10 confirmed deaths so far and an estimated $135-$150 billion dollars in loss and damages.. We check in with reporters on the scene about how Angeleno’s are processing the swaths of destruction, evacuations, heartbreak and...

Food and lifestyle megacelebrity Martha Stewart was the country’s first female self-made billionaire when her media empire Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia went public in 1999. Since then, her fortunes have fluctuated, reaching a low point in 2004 when she was sentenced to five months in prison for lying to prosecutors about a stock trade. R.J. Cutler got unprecedented access to Stewart for his doc...