Small Lake City

Erik Nilsson

Small Talk, Big CityJoin host Erik Nilsson as he interviews the entrepreneurs, creators, and builders making Salt Lake City the best place it can be. Covering topics such as business, politics, art, food, and more you will get to know the amazing people behind the scenes investing their time and money to improve the place we call home.Follow along for more!

  1. 3D AGO ·  BONUS

    Utah Wants To Grow Fast But The Tradeoffs Are Getting Loud

    Utah can feel like it’s changing by the hour, and this Tuesday update is a quick tour through the stories that reveal what’s really behind that momentum. We start with the AI shift that’s changing how people search for answers and how businesses get discovered, then move straight into the bigger theme I can’t stop noticing: growth that comes with real friction. When Utah talks about becoming a major data center hub, it’s not just a tech story. It’s a water story. It’s an energy story. It’s a question about what an arid place can sustainably support. From there, we get into a tense run of political headlines, including investigations, allegations of fraud, and the broader feeling that power and influence are part of the subtext. We also talk about the DHS property deal in Salt Lake that moves an ICE detention facility forward, plus a detail that hits close to home for neighbors: federal ownership can be tax exempt, which may shift property tax pressure onto surrounding owners. That kind of ripple effect is what makes local news feel personal fast. We lighten the load with stories that still matter: UVU dropping its commencement speaker, Utah tightening e-bike laws as riders get faster and bikes get more powerful, and the harsh reality of scams taking millions from Utahns, especially romance scams amplified by the modern internet. Then we end with the mix that makes Salt Lake City feel like Salt Lake: a new poet laureate, moose struggling with ticks as winters warm, Clean Air Act SLC trade-in vouchers for electric lawn gear, patios coming back, and Salt and Straw landing at Trolley Square. Subscribe for more local reporting and conversations, share this update with a friend, and leave a quick review telling us which story you want us to dig into next. Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    8 min
  2. S2, E11: Dustin Crump - Found for AI

    4D AGO

    S2, E11: Dustin Crump - Found for AI

    Google trained all of us to hunt through links. AI is training your customers to ask one question and take one recommendation. That shift is already changing who gets the call, who gets the booking, and who gets ignored even with a beautiful website. We sit down with Dustin, founder of Found For AI, to unpack what “AI search optimization” actually looks like on the ground for local businesses and service providers. He explains how he stumbled into a surprising growth signal: people were finding his company through ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini referrals after he added an AI visibility layer to his site. From there we get practical and specific about structured data, schema markup, and why telling the robots exactly who you are, what you do, where you operate, and what you offer can beat vague copy and pretty branding when the model is choosing who to recommend. Then we go bigger. We talk AI agents, the “we’re all going to be Oprah” future where software handles planning and purchasing based on preferences, and what that means for restaurants, events, venues, and anyone who depends on being discovered. If your site can’t clearly communicate options like location, pricing, or event details in machine readable form, the agent may pass you up without a second thought. We also get into how to embrace generative AI as a copilot without producing soulless output, and why this moment rewards the expert generalist and the fast moving entrepreneur. If you want the DIY steps, grab Dustin’s free playbook at foundforai.com/playbook. Subscribe, share this with a business owner who still thinks SEO is the whole story, and leave a review with the biggest way AI has already changed how you search. More info here: https://foundforai.com Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Get started with Gnarly Nutrition Today: https://gnarlynutrition.sjv.io/m4OMZX Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    1h 4m

  3. APR 14 ·  BONUS

    Big Money, Potholes, and a Hockey Goodbye

    Salt Lake City can feel calm right up until it suddenly is not, and this Tuesday update is proof. We bounce from serious stakes to absurd little moments without losing the thread: what’s happening in town, why it matters, and what it says about the kind of community we’re building. We start with the Great Salt Lake, where the Miller, Marriott, and Magalit families just committed $30 million toward restoration. It’s a massive gesture, and it also raises the real question: what does it take beyond big checks to keep the lake recoverable and avoid toxic dust storms? From there, we hit the hyper-local wins, like Pothole Palooza filling thousands of potholes in a week, and the debates, like the Red West Music Festival returning after last year’s severe weather, evacuation, and tragedy. Then the grab bag of Salt Lake headlines shows up in full force: Utah landing in the measles spotlight, box elder bugs doing their annual home invasion, and Utah State researchers trying to turn hagfish slime into a silk-like plastic alternative that is either the future of sustainability or the grossest pitch ever. We also talk about the city shutting down a seven-story hotel proposal above Sugarhouse Park, and what it reveals about how growth and nostalgia collide here. Finally, we sit with a hard goodbye: the Utah Grizzlies playing their last game in Utah after 30 years, and what “affordable hockey” meant to the people who showed up anyway. I also share a quick note on Dirtylicious Dance Fitness closing after seven years, plus a look ahead to my upcoming conversation with Dustin Crump about AI in a realistic, actually-useful way for business. If you like smart local news, Salt Lake City culture, and honest takes on what’s changing, follow the show, share this update with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find it. Run Club: https://partiful.com/e/f8et8wrlCiK3u4QoDHu3?c=wFAe6TXL Dinner Club: https://partiful.com/e/8OWBe1XLO3axg2abKdP6?c=yS5sEP7X Cowgirl(boy) Boots at HK: https://www.hisawyer.com/salt-lake-pottery-studio/schedules/activity-set/1845482?day=2026-04-30&view=cal&source=semesters Book Club: https://partiful.com/e/2FagCDxZpyHmrs1pfFI1?c=rseWI5R8 Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    8 min
  4. S2, E10: Erik Nilsson - Small Lake City Podcast

    APR 13

    S2, E10: Erik Nilsson - Small Lake City Podcast

    Shakespeare is supposed to be electric, so why does it so often feel like homework? We start there, swapping stories about live theater, the Utah Shakespeare Festival, and why great acting can beat big sets every time. Then the conversation takes a hard left in the best way: I hand the mic to Tyson and let him interview me about the parts of my story that listeners keep asking for. We talk about growing up in Salt Lake City, bouncing between friend groups, and how rollerblading and a family divorce shaped the “rebel without a cause” energy that later turned into real curiosity. From missions and Spanish to the ex-Mormon shelf breaking in college, we get honest about faith crisis, therapy, and what it takes to leave the LDS Church without letting bitterness run your life. If you’re searching for conversations about leaving Mormonism, identity shifts, and rebuilding relationships with family, this one goes there. Career reinvention threads through everything: Seattle as a clean break, the prestige and pressure of investment banking, getting fired, and how an ADHD diagnosis finally explains years of stress and struggle. We also talk about grief, losing a colleague, and why loss makes you question what “success” even means. From six months of van life across 36 states to divorce and starting the podcast, the big theme is simple: authenticity beats performance, and community beats networking. If this hits home, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s at a crossroads, and leave a review with the inflection point that changed your life. Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Get started with Gnarly Nutrition Today: https://gnarlynutrition.sjv.io/m4OMZX Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    1h 48m

  5. APR 8 ·  BONUS

    Great Salt Lake Water Deals And A City In Motion

    A drying lake can feel like a distant problem until it starts changing where families imagine their future. This Tuesday update connects the latest Great Salt Lake developments to the real-life stakes people talk about at the dinner table: air quality, dust, long-term health risks, and the question of whether Utah still feels like a safe place to raise kids. We get into a new deal that puts more conserved water back into the Great Salt Lake and why incremental wins might matter more than they look on paper. Then we talk about the big, messy politics hovering over it all, including a proposed billion dollars in federal funding and why so many locals are stuck in “believe it when we see it” mode. If you care about Great Salt Lake restoration, water conservation, and what accountability should look like, this one is for you. Health headlines hit just as hard. Measles cases are surging, with exposure sites stretching from the University of Utah to everyday stops like grocery stores and schools. At the same time, we unpack a study showing Utah air has improved over the last couple decades in some measures while carbon emissions haven’t budged the way they need to. It’s progress and unfinished work sitting side by side. We close with what Salt Lake City feels like right now: KRCL building a west-side community space, spring events waking the city up, James Beard recognition for local chefs, and also the losses that sting, like Doki Doki closing and the end of the Salt Lake School District adult education program. Subscribe, share the show with a friend, and leave a review if these local updates help you stay grounded. What story should we dig deeper into next? Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    6 min

  6. APR 1 ·  BONUS

    The ICE Facility, the Bible Bill, and Everything Else Salt Lake Is Arguing About

    A warehouse on Salt Lake’s west side could soon hold the population of a small city, and local leaders may have almost no power to slow it down. That’s where we start this Tuesday update, because the proposed ICE mega center isn’t just another headline, it’s a test of who gets a say in Salt Lake City’s future and what tools the city can actually use when federal decisions land in our backyard. From there we move through the stories Salt Lakers are already arguing about at dinner tables and in group chats: Utah’s new requirement to incorporate Bible passages into public school social studies starting in third grade, the fragile status of the Prop 4 redistricting repeal effort after voters pull signatures, and the sheer scale of UDOT construction turning daily commutes into an obstacle course. I also dig into why the city’s new water restrictions on large developments matter right now, especially when big projects bring big resource demands. We end with the parts of Salt Lake that feel uniquely Salt Lake: Pioneer Park getting a long-needed overhaul, a childcare pivot that keeps county-run centers open for families who need them most, and early questions around Project Bridge and the state’s homelessness strategy. Plus, a must-see art installation at Memory Grove Park that pairs light, sound, and the reality of the Great Salt Lake shrinking in real time, a quick hit of culture with local theater and new museums, and a heads-up on how the Salt Lake Temple open house in 2027 could reshape downtown logistics. If you care about Salt Lake City news, local politics, public schools, transit, housing, and the Great Salt Lake, hit play, then subscribe, share with a friend, and leave a review so more neighbors can find the show. Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    12 min
  7. S2, E9: Shannon O'Grady - Gnarly Nutrition, CEO

    MAR 31

    S2, E9: Shannon O'Grady - Gnarly Nutrition, CEO

    You’ve probably seen it too: hydration powders with massive sodium, “greens” packed with mystery blends, and ads that imply you need three different supplements before lunch. We sit down with Shannon O’Grady, CEO of Gnarly Nutrition and a PhD-trained nutrition scientist, to get a straight answer on what actually works in sports nutrition and what’s mostly just expensive storytelling. We dig into the current electrolyte craze, why most people don’t need daily electrolytes for a normal workout, and how to think about sodium without getting swept up by trends. Shannon breaks down creatine as one of the most researched supplements on the planet, what it’s good for, and where the cognition claims can get overblown. We also talk about the supplement industry problems that frustrate educated consumers: proprietary blends, “fairy dust” dosages, and labels designed to look scientific while staying impossible to verify. Then we go deeper on trust and safety: GMP compliance, NSF-style third-party auditing, contaminant testing, and banned-substance screening for athletes and regular people who simply don’t want sketchy ingredients in their routine. Along the way, Shannon shares her own path from endurance sports and research to leading a brand, plus why jiu-jitsu has become her favorite teacher of resilience and calm under pressure. If you care about clean ingredients, transparent labels, and evidence-based supplements you can actually trust, this one will sharpen your filter fast. Subscribe, share this with a friend who’s drowning in supplement ads, and leave a review with the one product claim you want us to fact-check next. Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Get started with Gnarly Nutrition Today: https://gnarlynutrition.sjv.io/m4OMZX Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    1h 7m

  8. MAR 24 ·  BONUS

    A Murder Verdict, A Pulled Bachelorette Season, And Utah Back In The Spotlight

    A bachelorette season vanishes three days before it airs. A Utah murder case ends with a fast jury decision. People are reportedly seen in handcuffs at the Salt Lake City airport. If you felt like Utah hit the national feed on every app at once, you’re not imagining it, and we sort through what actually happened and why it matters. We start with the Kouri Richins verdict, a major Utah court story that has pulled in true-crime attention far beyond the state. We talk through what the jury decided, what comes next with sentencing, and why this case feels so specifically Utah even if you can’t quite put it into words. Then we dig into the Taylor Frankie Paul situation, from MomTok fame to a finished season of The Bachelorette getting pulled after footage from a past domestic violence incident resurfaced. It’s messy, it’s human, and it forces a real conversation about what networks will overlook until the optics shift. From there, we hit the week’s fast-moving Salt Lake City news: reports tied to an ICE detention facility and possible deportation flights, BYU backing off an honor code hair requirement for an Indigenous student’s traditional braids, ski season closing dates, and a huge downtown development move as Western Governors University buys property tied to the Sheraton Hotel closure. We also talk about new arts infrastructure in South Jordan, a Granary District park proposal that carries complicated history, the latest on Utah’s congressional map fight after Prop 4, and Netflix dropping yet another Utah polygamy abuse documentary. If you like sharp, local reporting with the bigger cultural picture, subscribe, share this with a friend, and leave a review so more people can find the show. What story from this week do you want us to dig into next? Have a Question? Ask it here! 50% Off Minky Couture Blankets: softminkyblankets.com/SMALLLAKECITY Please be sure to like, review, follow, subscribe and share the podcast with your friends and family! See you next time  Support the show Join the Small Lake City Discord: https://discord.gg/RRXGR7kP Subscribe to the Newsletter! https://www.smalllakepod.com/newsletter-landing-page Instagram: @smalllakepod Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@SmallLakeCityPodcast TikTok: @smalllakepod

    10 min
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Trailer

5
out of 5
30 Ratings

About

Small Talk, Big CityJoin host Erik Nilsson as he interviews the entrepreneurs, creators, and builders making Salt Lake City the best place it can be. Covering topics such as business, politics, art, food, and more you will get to know the amazing people behind the scenes investing their time and money to improve the place we call home.Follow along for more!

Information

  • Creator
    Erik Nilsson
  • Years Active
    2023 - 2026
  • Episodes
    195
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Copyright
    © 2026 Small Lake City
  • Show Website
    Small Lake City

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