In The NOCO

KUNC
  • 4.7 (39)
  • DAILY NEWS
  • UPDATED WEEKLY

KUNC's In The NOCO is a daily look at the stories, news, people and issues important to you. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show explores the big stories of the day, bringing context and insight to issues that matter. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we explore the lighter side of news, highlighting what makes this state such an incredible place to live.

  1. 1H AGO

    Why a nature journal might help cure the winter blues – and how to start your own

    Even in a milder Colorado winter like this one, short days and cooler temperatures leave many people with the winter blues. In fact, it’s a medical condition. Seasonal affective disorder is a form of depression some people feel during the fall and winter months.     Our guest today offers a form of relief for the winter blues – if we’re willing to step outside, give our phones a rest, and tune into our surroundings.    Rachel Juritsch is a 4-H health and wellbeing specialist with Colorado State University extension in Adams County. In a recent article, she explores how sketching and writing in a “nature journal” can help us appreciate the coldest months a bit more.   Rachel joined Erin O'Toole to talk about the benefits of a nature journal – and shared some tips on how to get started.    For more advice on how to slow down and connect with nature, check out our recent conversation about the practice of forest bathing. * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  2. 1D AGO

    How funk music resonated in a time of change, according to CU’s resident funk scholar

    In the late 1960s, a new movement of Black music grew out of the end of the civil rights era. Black artists proudly declared their Black power and rocked the airwaves with the sound of funk.     Funk music was more than just a genre with excellent grooves. It had a deeper social and political meaning. Funk began as a reaction to tumultuous times and would ultimately lay the foundation for the hip hop and R&B we listen to today.  That’s the argument Reiland Rabaka makes in his recently published book The Funk Movement: Music, Culture, and Politics.   Rabaka is a professor of African, African American, and Caribbean studies at the University of Colorado Boulder. He is also the founder and director of the Center for African American Studies at CU, and hosts a podcast called The Cause.  He spoke with Erin O'Toole last year about the importance of funk, and why it deserves respect for its singular impact on music and culture. We’re listening back to that conversation today.  * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  3. 2D AGO

    Colorado’s home prices make it hard for school districts to hire educators. A new proposal might help

    It’s a crisis that's quietly putting pressure on Colorado public school systems: The state's tight housing market has made it increasingly difficult in recent years for districts to hire teachers and other school employees.   US News recently reported that Colorado ranks 48th in housing affordability – which means many teachers find it difficult to find a place to live if they accept a job in a Colorado school district with high real estate prices.   Meanwhile, another trend has emerged for Colorado schools – and this one might help solve the housing crunch for educators. School districts have traditionally acquired more land than they need to address how their local population might grow in the future. But enrollment is dropping in many districts, and some districts are even closing schools.    A state lawmaker has a proposal to address both of these trends. It would build housing for school employees on unused school property and rent it to the staff at affordable rates. State Sen. Jeff Bridges hopes to introduce the bill during the current legislative session.  Colorado Sun education reporter Erica Bruenlin wrote about how school employees are feeling squeezed, and how this solution could help.   For more on challenges making life in Colorado increasingly unaffordable, check out The Price of Paradise, a new series of stories from KUNC News.  * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  4. 3D AGO

    Machine-made snow is now commonplace in winter sports. Experts say it makes ski races faster – and riskier

    The 2026 Winter Olympics are beginning their final week in Italy. And it might surprise you to learn that some of those snowy race courses in the Italian Alps aren’t necessarily a product of natural snowfall.   At lower elevations, where cross-country and many other events take place, what we’re seeing is large swaths of artificial snow.    Warmer winters and less-predictable snowfall mean that winter sports must increasingly rely on machine-made snow. And while that makes it possible for the winter games to go on, the density and the feel of artificial snow is quite different from that of natural snow.    That makes competing in events like downhill or cross-country skiing faster and – oftentimes – more dangerous.   Keith Musselman is an assistant professor at the University of Colorado Boulder who studies mountain snow and the impact of warming winters. And Agnes Macy is a graduate student at CU Boulder and a former competitive skier.   They wrote about how artificial snow is changing winter sports in a recent article for The Conversation. They joined Erin O’Toole to explain what makes machine-made snow different from natural snow, and how athletes and coaches are adapting.   For more on Colorado and the Winter Games, check out our recent conversation about Steamboat Springs’ reputation for producing Olympic athletes; or our interview with Nikki LaRochelle, a skimo racer who’s providing commentary as the sport makes its Olympic debut.  * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  5. FEB 13

    CSU has a laboratory devoted to the study of chocolate. Here’s why it’s so irresistible, according to science

    Researcher Caitlin Clark has a job a lot of people would envy. Clark is a food scientist who oversees a laboratory devoted entirely to the study of chocolate – how it’s made, what makes it taste so good, and how to make new and better varieties of it.  She and her team, based at the Colorado State University Food Innovation Center in Denver, work to dream up new confections that hopefully will end up on grocery store shelves or, maybe, in your box of Valentine’s Day chocolates.   Clark talked with Erin O’Toole last year about her work in the laboratory, and how her expertise in fermentation helped pave the way for her to become a chocolate researcher. We’re listening back to that conversation today.  * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  6. FEB 12

    How scientists reversed a quarter-century of decline in a Rocky Mountain National Park ecosystem

    A landscape in decline – and a surprisingly fast rebound. It’s a story that played out in the Kawuneeche Valley recently on the west side of Rocky Mountain National Park.   The willow groves and wetlands in that area had become so badly depleted that a park ecologist used the term “ecosystem collapse” to describe the surrounding environment.  That collapse reversed itself quickly after crews installed an unusual feature – a series of artificial beaver dams along what’s known as Beaver Creek, near the headwaters of the Colorado River. And those artificial dams helped create flooding in early 2025 that appears to have had huge benefits for the surrounding area.  Michael Booth of the Colorado Sun recently reported on the impressive rebound. He spoke with Erin O’Toole to explore how it came together and what it can teach scientists about repairing a habitat.   Those artificial dams in the Kawuneeche Valley mirror a similar project on the east side of Rocky Mountain National Park. Check out this recent episode about how manmade beaver dams could help repair an area damaged by wildfire.   * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  7. FEB 11

    Olympic Town, USA: Steamboat Springs has sent dozens of athletes to the Winter Games

    Colorado has sent more athletes to the 2026 Winter Games in Italy than any other state. And nearly a third of those 32 Coloradans competing in events like snowboarding, slalom, or ski jumping hail from Steamboat Springs.   About 100 Olympic athletes live or have lived in Steamboat Springs – more than any other town in the U.S. Which got us wondering: How did Steamboat foster an environment where young athletes are encouraged and equipped to pursue Olympic gold?   Candice Bannister is executive director of the Tread of Pioneers Museum in Steamboat Springs, which has several history exhibits that highlight the town’s legacy of Olympians.  She points to a century of skiing culture and tradition, as well as some modern-day programs that nurture young athletes. Candice joined Erin O'Toole to talk about Steamboat’s reputation as an Olympic powerhouse and why it’s a training ground for many of those American athletes in Italy right now. Listen to our previous conversation with Candice about Howelsen Hill and its role in shaping ski culture in Steamboat and around the state.  For more on this year’s Winter Games, check out our conversation about ski mountaineering (or “skimo”) making its Olympic debut with Nikki LaRochelle, a longtime skimo racer who will provide commentary for the events from Italy.  * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min

  8. FEB 10

    A strike is looming at the JBS meatpacking plant in Greeley. Here’s why

    The first sanctioned walkout at a major American meatpacking plant in decades appears to be unfolding in Northern Colorado. It’s happening during a particularly tense moment for U.S. immigration policies.    The workers at Greeley’s JBS meatpacking plant voted overwhelmingly last week to move forward with the strike. The workforce there, which is made up of a large number of Haitian refugees, are pushing for safer working conditions. The strike could begin in the next few days.   The vote took place within days of a ruling by a U.S. District Court judge last week that halted plans to revoke the Temporary Protected Status, or TPS, for thousands of Haitian refugees in the United States.   Reporter Ted Genoways covered the situation for Mother Jones and the Food & Environment Reporting Network. He joined Erin O’Toole to discuss his reporting on the strike vote and the tenuous status of many of the refugee workers involved.  After this interview was recorded, KUNC News received a statement from JBS, saying the company “has presented a comprehensive offer that reflects the national agreement reached with [the union] UFCW International and accepted at our other large processing facilities throughout the U.S.”  Ted has appeared on In The NoCo previously to discuss his investigation into the lives of immigrant JBS workers in Greeley and the grueling, dangerous work they do.   * * * * * Sign up for the In The NoCo newsletter: Visit KUNC.org Questions? Feedback? Story ideas? Email us: NOCO@KUNC.org Like what you're hearing? Help more people discover In The NoCo by rating the show on your favorite podcast app. Thanks!  Host and Producer: Erin O'Toole Executive Producer: Brad Turner  Theme music by Robbie Reverb Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions In The NoCo is a production of KUNC News and Community Radio for Northern Colorado.

    9 min
See All (851)

Trailer

4.7
out of 5
39 Ratings

About

KUNC's In The NOCO is a daily look at the stories, news, people and issues important to you. It's a window to the communities along the Colorado Rocky Mountains. The show explores the big stories of the day, bringing context and insight to issues that matter. And because life in Northern Colorado is a balance of work and play, we explore the lighter side of news, highlighting what makes this state such an incredible place to live.

Information

  • Creator
    KUNC
  • Years Active
    2018 - 2026
  • Episodes
    851
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © 2024 KUNC
  • Show Website
    In The NOCO

You Might Also Like