Radio Boise Podcast

Jonathan Kuntz returns to take a deep dive into predatory gambling. Moving beyond ethics and morals, this episode brings hard stats and real-world examples to unpack how modern gambling targets teens, drains middle-class savings, and impacts banks. Jon is a professor emeritus at Boise State University's College of Business and Economics. He has studied gambling policy and its economic impacts for...

Hosted by Esteban Anastasio, who pays homage to his "Jesus" and "Santa Claus" Frank Zappa, with N-Lite/Negative Light/Venice Submerged/The Lifestyle You Deserve from 1976's Civilization Phaze III. Followed Wolves in the Throne Room with I Laid Down My Bones Among the Rocks and the Roots live at Roadburn, and completing the suite with Ode to Solitude (Somnium Obmutem) by Estatic Fear from 1996. Be...

Congress, political parties, and elections can seem complicated from the outside. But how did we get here, and what does it actually take to become a candidate? We recently spoke with Charles Hunt, an Associate Professor of Political Science at Boise State University. Hunt earned his Ph. D. in Government and Politics from the University of Maryland, and his research focuses on Congress, congressio...

Hosted by Jodi Eichelberger. Porch Night, a collaboration with The Idaho Historical Museum, features three storytellers who do the setup, then come back later in the episode to tell us how they stories all end up. With three terrific stories. From Fort Hall, to the James Castle House to the Boise Soul Food Festival, this episode has you covered.

What does it really take to run a towing company and what happens behind the scenes? In this episode, we sit down with Michael Ellis, the young owner of Longhorn Towing in Boise. Michael started in the towing business at just 18 years old in 2022, when his family chose to invest in him rather than send him down the traditional college path. They helped him get his first tow truck, and from there,...

👀🔎 THINKING IN THE FUTURE TENSE: PART TWO — READING CHANGE Change rarely sends us an engraved invitation. Usually, it starts quietly. Something shifts at work. Your body feels different. A relationship changes. A new technology suddenly becomes part of everyday life. 🌎📱 The question is: Are we paying attention? This Tuesday on Elementary Watson, Jo-Ellen Watson and Sheepdog continue our three-...

🗺️ What if the problem isn’t that you’re lost… but that you’re using an old map? We all carry ideas about how life is supposed to go—career, relationships, family, health, retirement. But what happens when life changes and our expectations don’t? 🤔 This week, Elementary Watson begins a three-part series: Thinking in the Future Tense. ✨ In Part One, Updating the Map, Jo-Ellen Watson and Sheepdog...

What if a window cleaning business could be about something much bigger than clean windows? This week, we sit down with Brian Hoyt, founder of Poor Man Window Cleaning, to talk about a journey that began at one of the lowest points of his life—and ultimately became a lesson in how business can be used as a force for good. After a devastating hit-and-run motorcycle accident left Brian injured, unem...

Hosted by Ken Rodgers and Rebecca Evans. Diane Raptosh’s collection American Amnesiac (Etruscan Press) was longlisted for the 2013 National Book Award (poetry). The recipient of three literature fellowships (Idaho Arts Commission) and the winner of Idaho Governor’s Arts Award in Excellence (2018), she was Boise’s Poet Laureate (2013) and Idaho’s Writer-in-Residence (2013-2016). Her ninth collectio...

Our trusty retired Idaho hydrologist, Ron Abramovich, is back—and this time he's watching the Pacific Ocean. We're heading into a winter that could be one for the record books, with forecasters predicting an exceptionally strong El Niño—potentially among the strongest events we've seen in decades. So what exactly is El Niño? It begins thousands of miles away, with unusually warm ocean temperatures...

Jonathan Krutz has a mission: to stop predatory gambling. But what exactly is gambling—and when does gambling become predatory? Those questions have taken on a new urgency as gambling moves far beyond the casino floor and onto our phones, into sports, politics and even what increasingly look like financial markets. Where does investing end and gambling begin? What happens when a market is built ar...

Hosted by Esteban Anastasio. The space captain himself guides you through this sometimes terrifying, sometimes ecstatic journey, this time featuring Ash Ra Tempel with Reunion from the album Friendship. The Gottsching trip begins with that, followed by just as good of a palate cleanser as you can get, Suzanne Cianni, with Flowers of Evil. Buchla meets 60s psych to 70s rock. Count yourself in.

The Poetry Show: August 30, 2026 - Maya C. Popa by Radio Boise

Ali Ward is the Sustainability Supervisor for the Boise School District — and little do most of us know what that actually means. Here's a fact that might surprise you: school districts account for one of the largest building footprints of any sector in the country. Nationally, K-12 schools make up nearly half the square footage of the entire commercial building sector. Right here in Boise, the sc...

Hosted by your Maestro Nocturnal, Esteban Anastasio. Eberhard Blum, flutist and visual artist, dabbles in some beautiful electronica, with Four Systems, from 1954. Followed that thought leader of yore, Marshall McLuhan, with, yep, you guessed it, The Medium is the Massage, the audio companion.

💛 Grief touches every one of us—but most of us are never really shown how to move through it. And grief is about more than death. It can follow divorce, losing a job, retirement, a health diagnosis, an empty nest, financial hardship, the end of a relationship, or the loss of trust, identity, hope, and expectations. 🌧️➡️🌤️ Grief is a normal and natural response to loss and change. This week on Ele...

🌿✨ What does it really mean to thrive? This week on Elementary Watson, Jo-Ellen Watson and Sheepdog welcome Kaelyn Rogers of Upward Inertia to share the story behind one of the Treasure Valley’s most inspiring community events: THRIVE: Community Wellness Festival! 🎙️💚 📅 Saturday, September 26 ⏰ 10:00 AM–5:00 PM 📍 JUMP in Boise 🎟️ FREE admission! Explore yoga and movement, mental wellness, nu...

💛 Grief is something every person experiences—but few of us are ever taught how to navigate it. And grief isn’t only about death. It can appear after divorce, job loss, retirement, a health diagnosis, an empty nest, financial setbacks, broken relationships, or the loss of trust, identity, hope, and expectations. 🌧️➡️🌤️ Grief is the normal and natural response to change and loss. This week on Elem...

AMERICA AT 250: THE GREAT EXPERIMENT & THE POWER OF BOTH/AND 🇺🇸 As America approaches its 250th birthday, we’re asking a different kind of question on this week’s Elementary Watson: What can the story of America teach us about living our best lives? Too often, we’re told we must choose between two extremes: America is either great or flawed. History is either something to celebrate or something to...

🧠💙 Finding the Right Therapist: A Listener’s Guide to Getting Help 💙🧠 Trying to find a therapist can feel overwhelming. 🤔 Licensed Clinical Social Worker? Counselor? Psychologist? Psychiatrist? Marriage & Family Therapist? Coach? How do you know who’s the right fit for you? And what if you’ve tried therapy before and it didn’t go well? This week on Elementary Watson, Dr. Jo-Ellen Watson and S...

💛 Grief is something every person experiences—but few of us are ever taught how to navigate it. And grief isn’t only about death. It can appear after divorce, job loss, retirement, a health diagnosis, an empty nest, financial setbacks, broken relationships, or the loss of trust, identity, hope, and expectations. 🌧️➡️🌤️ Grief is the normal and natural response to change and loss. This week on Elem...

🏳️‍🌈❤️ Pride Month may be coming to a close, but supporting our LGBTQ+ community is a year-round commitment. ❤️🏳️‍🌈 This Tuesday on Elementary Watson, we're honored to welcome Tom Wheeler, a member of the Board of Directors for the Boise Pride Festival ( @boisepride ), to talk about this year's festival, celebrate Pride Month, and explore how we can all continue to support and uplift our communi...

Hosted by Jodi Eichelberger. Event hosted by Alisha Donohue. With stories from concert trips, to sleeping clawfoot bathtubs to weed, weed, and more weed.

What does it mean to build a healthy business, and how does that shape the future of the place we call home? In this episode, we sit down with Nathen Fox—a veteran Idaho entrepreneur and Certified EOS Implementer. We originally crossed paths with Nathen when he was spearheading the Idaho Handbook for Idaho Kind, an inspiring initiative dedicated to preserving modern Idaho culture. But when you com...

Hosted by Rebecca Evans and Ken Rodgers. Amy M. Hale is an award-winning author who lives and works on Spider Ranch, a 50,000-acre cattle operation in the rough terrain of Central Arizona where the goal is to raise food in a sustainable manner on public land. Amy and her husband, Gail Steiger, cowboy together on the ranch and often hold the stage together, weaving story, poetry, and music. In Hale...