City Cast Seattle

i’ve been subscribed less than a week and every. single. day. i’ve been fed a “bonus” episode about something entirely irrelevant. look, i’m not naive about a media company needing to make ends meet by doing internal promotion. but this is downright spam, it isn’t thoughtful, and it’s cost the pod a subscriber.

I’ve been listening to City Cast daily for the last 10-ish months and, generally, am a huge fan of the format and idea behind it. I even became a paid “neighbor” for some time. Finally though, I just couldn’t take more of some of these contributors, namely Hannah Kreig, who come in with very strong takes that go 90% unchecked without any pushback or discourse. I’m fine with having people like her on—and I, personally, often agree with Kreig’s sentiments—but, too often these opinion writers use this podcast as a soapbox to continuously air their rants on politics, etc. Considering how divided we are as a country in 2026, I think it’s more important than ever to gain perspective—but by respecting and involving both sides. Getting into the habit of listening to podcasts like this—with such a homogenous world view, continuously only reflecting one ideology—just keeps us in our echo chambers as a country (and city). I hope this production will invite more contributors to offer more diverse perspectives to more accurately reflect Seattle itself. Until then I’m switching back to the national radio alternative on my morning commute.

Love this podcast and its hosts. I’ve learned so much from like-minded folks about bike lanes, closures, restaurants and politics, and this is filling a gap left by the local news, which tends to be reactionary (even in Seattle).

Enjoy the newsletter but can’t stand the unbalanced, superficial takes on complex issues facing Seattle. I’ll stick with KUOW for local coverage.