Shows / Crosscurrents
Crosscurrents
Crosscurrents is KALW Public Radio's award-winning news magazine, broadcasting in the Bay Area Mondays through Thursdays on 91.7 FM. We make joyful, informative stories that engage people across the economic, social, and cultural divides in our community.
Episodes
- Crosscurrents
A seat at the table
In California, students can sit on school boards — but how much power do they actually have?KALW’s education reporter Julia Haney talked to one of the young…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: A new dad hopes his son can break the family's prison cycle
Uncuffed producer Derrell "Sadiq" Davis shares the story about an incarcerated father who worries his newborn son will follow in his family’s footsteps. Can he…
- Crosscurrents
Sights + Sounds: Luenell keeps making comedic history
Comedian Luenell has been keeping audiences laughing for decades. She’s originally from Oakland but now lives in Las Vegas, where she has a residency at Jimmy…
- Crosscurrents
Adapting and Recovering
Today, we're distilling whiskey on Vallejo’s Mare Island. Then, a West Oakland artist recalls using her music and spirituality to heal from a severe car…
- Crosscurrents
California Foodways: Whiskey distillery moves operations to site of West Coast’s first Naval base
Californians have made whiskey since the Gold Rush when they served miners and then loggers. Craft bourbon has been taking off in the last couple decades --…
- Crosscurrents
Sights + Sounds: Nia Cephas' album 'Cosmicpolitan'
West Oakland artist Nia Cephas came up with a word that encompasses her cultures, spirituality, and connection with people: Cosmicpolitan. That’s also the name…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Unconditional Love and Living Jazz
Today, a new story from Uncuffed about finding out your dad isn't who he says he is. Then, an Oakland cello player challenges us to break away from negative…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: Loving my father after learning the truth
What happens when you find out your dad isn't who he says he is? A new story about family from Uncuffed and San Quentin producer Jorge Lopez.
- Crosscurrents
Sights + Sounds: Mia Pixley's album 'Love. Dark. Bloom'
When you hear the words “dark” and “darkness” what comes to mind? Many of us may associate the words with mostly negative connotations. In the Black Diaspora…
- Crosscurrents
Living Jazz, 'In the Name of Love: Tribute to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'
Recently, Oakland-raised musician, composer, and bandleader, Kev Choice, performied live at KALW's Studio Events space in downtown San Francisco. It was part…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: When Grieving Gets Interrupted
Today we’re bringing you an episode of Uncuffed from 2024 that really resonated with our Newsroom staff. It’s about a lesser known, but important aspect of…
- Crosscurrents
Bay Area’s unhoused community finds shelter and support at SFO
When most Bay Area residents go to San Francisco International Airport, it’s so they can leave. But some unhoused locals are heading to SFO to stay. Reporter…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Sleeping at SFO
Today: The story of unhoused people who live at the airport and the people who help them.
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: New Stories from Uncuffed
Today, we introduce you to the most recent Uncuffed class at Solano State Prison and get to know them through the songs they love. But first, we meet a boxer…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: How one woman is learning to channel her anger
A story from the Uncuffed producers at the California Institution for Women about the people who helped a woman redirect her emotions.
- Crosscurrents
Showcasing Uncuffed's 2025 storytelling class at Solano State Prison
Uncuffed's 2025 class at Solano State Prison just finished their training with the program. Get to know them through special songs that have shaped their lives.
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: The Final Nights at OASIS
Today, as an iconic San Francisco gay nightclub prepares to close... we hear from the owner of OASIS, some of the club’s biggest fans, and San Francisco’s…
- Crosscurrents
Sights + Sounds: Saying goodbye to the gay nightclub OASIS
OASIS is an iconic San Francisco nightclub. The Drag show and cabaret venue opened on New Years Day, 2015. In a bittersweet bookend, they’ll host their grand…
- Crosscurrents
OASIS community members say goodbye to home
When San Francisco’s OASIS drag club on 11th and Folsom announced it was closing its doors forever this January 1st, the news was met with a chorus of broken…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Living Legacies
Today, the lasting advocacy legacies of San Francisco’s Chinatown. Then, for perpetrators of domestic violence it can be hard to ask for help. And, motivation…
- Crosscurrents
The Bay Agenda: The Anti-Immigrant Spin Cycle
The Trump Administration has made life very challenging for immigrants across the United States. And that’s really been felt here in the Bay Area, where…
- Crosscurrents
Willing to change: Working with perpetrators of domestic violence
Last week, KALW attended the 2025 San Francisco Press Club awards… and left with five wins! This next story was reported back in February, and took home an…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: A first generation college student shares his biggest inspiration — his mom
Darrell “Sadiq" Davis had a rocky relationship with school when he was younger. He kept trying to follow through with it, but things kept getting in his way -…
- Crosscurrents
Bay Poets: 'A Lesson From My Mother About the Origins of Life' by poet Eva Chen
We’ll stay on the theme of mothers and their impact on us for our next segment- a poem about life lessons, from the universe… and mom. Here’s Eva Chen reading…
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Crosscurrents Live with some of our favorite things
We are broadcasting live for KALW's December membership campaign. Today, we revisit the Valkyries first season and talk about some of our favorite music of the…
- Crosscurrents
Crosscurrents Live with Reporter Wren Farrell
Today, we’re doing things a little differently... For KALW's December Membership Campaign we're bringing you a special LIVE episode of Crosscurrents! And we're…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: The Places We Gather
Today, we visit a special space where conservatives and liberals connected. The Anderson Valley Grange Hall. Then, how a collection of posters in San…
- Crosscurrents
California Foodways: Home on the Grange
Grange halls have been around for more than 150 years — the Grange began as a fraternal organization for farmers. Many rural towns still rely on Grange halls…
- Crosscurrents
'Mission Grafica — The Public's Voice'
Located a block away from the 24th street BART station, the Mission Grafica print studio and archive has empowered public art in the Bay Area since 1982.KALW…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Creativity, Community, and SF's First Gay-Positive Church
What happens in kids' brains… when they’re improvising? Today, we learn how brains work in childhood, and how that's linked to creativity. Then, a woman in…
- Crosscurrents
What adults can learn from kids' creativity
A lot of adults feel they’ve lost touch with the ability to get messy… and also just mess up. Scientists call that childlike, everyday experimentation…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: What the absence of 'pretty things' in prison taught her about beauty
Now, it’s a new story from Uncuffed, our podcast that empowers people in prison to tell their own stories. This one comes to us from the California Institution…
- Crosscurrents
How San Francisco's first gay-positive church weathered the AIDs crisis
All month, KALW’s Queer Power Hour will be airing a special series called ‘When We All Get To Heaven.’ With archival tape it tells the story of one of the…
- Crosscurrents
Getting Around the Bay Q&A: Cycling and Walking
A round-up of what's happening in transportation news around the Bay Area for a segment called “Getting Around the Bay.”
- Crosscurrents
Oakland pastor turns the tables on church homophobia
Sometimes your chosen family isn’t your biological family. And sometimes we choose houses of worship other than our own because they feel safer for us. Today…
- Crosscurrents
Navigating bike lanes and crossroads
Today, an update on Bay Area bike paths and walkways. We bring you the latest on ‘Getting around the Bay’ from our transit reporter. Then, an adopted son needs…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: I discovered a whole new family, meeting them changed my life
When Uncuffed producer Fonuamana Fuahala unexpectedly meets his biological family, he's confronted with one of the most difficult decisions of his life.
- Crosscurrents
What's in the Water?
Today, we’re in the Sierra Peaks to hear how snowmelt may contribute tiny bits of plastic to Bay Area drinking water. Then, the backstory behind a seasonal San…
- Crosscurrents
From peak to tap – should we worry about microplastics in our drinking water?
The Bay Area gets much of it's drinking water from the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Back in 2023, we saw record snow fall in the Sierras. And that was followed by…
- Crosscurrents
Live from the Dickens Christmas Fair
While the Bay Area doesn’t see much snow, one place you CAN find some right now is.. Southeast San Francisco! An annual tradition is taking place these days in…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Stepping up to Care for our Neighbors
Every week, locals are showing up outside San Francisco’s immigration courthouse to protest. Today, how some neighbors have come together to try and stop…
- Crosscurrents
Outside of court, residents are showing up for their immigrant neighbors
It seems like every day we see another headline about an ICE mass deportation. While legal advocates are doing everything in their power to support immigrants…
- Crosscurrents
Helpers share stories from the AIDs epidemic of the 1980s
December is HIV/AIDS Awareness Month. So we’re going to go back in time to 1988. It was the height of the AIDS crisis. Marcy Fraser and Michelle Francis worked…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Always on the Move
Today, a new episode of Sidewalk Stories about how it's getting harder to live in a vehicle in the Bay Area. Plus, signing up for summer camp, monarch…
- Crosscurrents
Camp Mather’s 100 years of Summer
We’re quickly approaching the Winter Solstice. But today, we wanted to bring you a little slice of summer. Camp Mather, San Francisco’s oldest summer camp…
- Crosscurrents
A musician’s thousand mile journey to help the monarch butterfly
Every year, the western monarch butterfly migrates from the coast between Santa Cruz and San Diego to spend the summer along rivers in Oregon, Washington and…
- Crosscurrents
Sidewalk Stories: Why choose to live in a vehicle?
In this segment of Sidewalk Stories, we hear from people who live in RVs as Bay Area cities are increasingly cracking down on vehicle homes.
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Stories About Families and Belonging
Today we hear about how residents are preparing to pass a tougher version of the naturalization civics test. Then, a grandmother writes a children’s book with…
- Crosscurrents
Residents are scrambling to take the citizenship test before it gets tougher
For lawful residents yearning to become naturalized citizenships, learning U.S. history and civics is one of the barriers to passing a ten question exam and it…
- Crosscurrents
Bay Poets: 'Cold Mountain in Chinatown' by poet Al Robles
Here’s Al Robles reading an excerpt from his poem, “Cold Mountain in Chinatown,” which he performed at the Poetry Center at San Francisco State on November…
- Crosscurrents
Sights + Sounds: Children's book 'Story Power!'
Author Stephanie Wildman’s children's books have centered around three characters Flor, Roberto and Luis who are adventurous siblings. But her latest book…
- Crosscurrents
Preserving holiday memories for future hunger pangs
Thanksgiving week makes us feel… Different things. About history, about family, about memory...Back in 2018 reporter Margaret Katcher brought a recorder to her…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Stories Ready to be Told
Today, we’ll get an update on housing, and more, from District 3 City supervisor Danny Sauter. Then, a woman in prison wrestles with what to do, after hearing…
- Crosscurrents
Uncuffed: In prison, she found out her brother had been shot
A a story from Uncuffed and the California Institution for Women about a woman in prison who hears that her brother has been shot and wrestles with what to do.
- Crosscurrents
Sights + Shows: 'So Many Stars'
Caro De Robertis is an author based in Oakland, and a creative writing professor at San Francisco State. They’re mostly known for their magical works of…
- Crosscurrents
The Stoop: This Ain't Texas, it's Africa
Today, an excerpt from the award winning episode of The Stoop, ‘This ain't Texas, it's Africa.’
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Saying Goodbye
The work of disability advocacy just lost one of its strongest voices. Today, we remember Alice Wong. Then, we’ll hear a story about navigating the pain and…
- Crosscurrents
Remembering Alice Wong
San Francisco disability justice activist, writer, and MacArthur ‘Genius’ Grant recipient, Alice Wong, died last week at the age of 51. We honor her and her…
- Crosscurrents
The ones left behind
In this story, we hear from Palo Alto loss survivors as they navigate the complicated emotions around a loved one’s death and what it means for them to keep…
- Crosscurrents
SHOW: Being Planted Where We Grow
A “tree army” from the 1930s helped build today’s Tilden and other East Bay regional parks. The program’s impact can still be felt today. Then, a story about…