Public transportation across the Bay Area is struggling with perpetually low ridership. 5 reporters for North Gate Radio each tell a story examining how different transportation agencies are trying to fix the problem.

Reporters: Ellie Prickett-Morgan (host/reporter), Julia Mayer, Anna Zou, Lisa Plachy, and Nava Iman Rawls

A full transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/routes-riders-and-rondo-alla-turca/

Routes, Riders, and Rondo Alla Turca

On this show, three reporters profile boundary breaking artists who call the Bay Area home. These artists refuse to be constricted by what’s trendy. We’ll travel from an intimate backyard concert in Oakland into the vastness of the cosmos with a stop on the way at Live Oak Park in Berkeley to listen to a bird who is also a composer. 

A full transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/breaking-musical-boundaries-in-the-bay/

Breaking Musical Boundaries in the Bay

If you’ve left home and can’t move back – where is home? What if you can return -  but your home, neighborhood, your entire city…was destroyed…then, where is home? What if your home  doesn’t resemble the one your parents remember…the language most people speak and the food they eat have changed - are you still home?

On this episode of North Gate Radio, our reporters bring you the stories of musicians who have found the harmony of home - amidst so much change.  

Reporters: Negar Ajayebi, Hussain Khan, Aisha Wallace-Palomares

A transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/home-is-where-the-harmony-is/

Home Is Where The Harmony Is

After Earth Day, our reporters take a look at the growing role of green technologies—from battery storage’s environmental risks to the rise of lab-grown meat. Under the second Trump administration, debates over energy innovation and sustainability have intensified, influencing policy and public perception. Immigration enforcement has also escalated, affecting undocumented students at UC Berkeley and asylum seekers across the Bay Area. As the campus marks the 60th anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, echoes of past activism reveal how student voices continue to shape political and cultural life today.

This is a recording of North Gate Radio that was broadcast live on KALX radio station, 90.7FM.

A full transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/13170/

Shifting Grounds: Climate, Immigration, and Activism

From public funding cuts to personal turning points, our reporters look to the margins for stories shaped by policy, protest and resilience. The California State Library is one of many libraries that had their federal funding terminated. Those with reading disabilities are among the most affected. A young artist is challenging the application of euthanasia for those with mental illness and is having dinner with as many strangers as possible before he passes. Women with ADHD who are transitioning into menopause are dealing with amplified ADHD traits. Weekly protests against Elon Musk and the Trump Administration outside Walnut Creek’s Tesla Showroom have grown immensely since February. The Trump Administration has stopped funding for refugee resettlement, leaving those who run resettlement agencies, like Chris George, disheartened.

This is a recording of North Gate Radio that was broadcast live on KALX radio station, 90.7FM.

A full transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/the-edge-stories-from-the-margins-of-policy-protest-and-personal-choices/

The Edge: Stories from the margins of policy, protest and personal choices

It’s pretty stressful out there right now, so this week, our reporters went to find out what people do when they are not spiraling about the current state of affairs. They discovered that they collect cute little figurines in the form of ‘Blind Boxes’, they form new women’s elite rugby teams and they wrestle each other to the sound of jazz music at Oakland’s own Queer Fight Night. In Albany, there is a new mayor who is prioritizing healing on the local level and the non-profit, Meals on Wheels, is fighting to keep funding to provide much-needed food and human connection to seniors.    


This is a recording of North Gate Radio that was broadcast live on KALX radio station, 90.7FM.

Aa full transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/community-culture/

Community Culture: Finding Childlike Joy and Giving Back to the Community

From the Bay to Bogotá, reporters dove deep into how communities are coming together in times of strife. In Oakland, statewide homelessness policy is shaping how advocates are organizing in the face of sweeps. Also, federal funding cuts are coming down hard on an LGBTQ center on the shores of Lake Merritt. A researcher at the California Institute for Integral Studies walks us through a new framework for thinking about neurodiversity. Two reporters traveled abroad to South America to document the legacy of “El Sistema,” which trained generations of Venezuelan musicians. Their reporting took place in Colombia, home to many Venezuelan migrants who have left the country in the wake of political turmoil and upheaval. These pieces were made in collaboration with Royvi Hernandez through Berkeley Journalism’s International Reporting Project.  

This is a recording of North Gate Radio that was broadcast live on KALX radio station, 90.7FM.

A full transcript for this episode can be found at https://projects.journalism.berkeley.edu/radio/show/community-resistance-at-home-and-abroad/

Community Resistance — At Home and Abroad

Dying often involves a set of choices, rituals, and conversations we tend to avoid until we can’t. In the Bay Area, people are confronting that reality head-on: talking openly in Death Cafes, seeking natural burials, flying loved ones home across borders to honor final wishes. On this episode of North Gate Radio, 5 reporters examine death and dying in The Bay and Silicon Valley's promise of digital immortality.


Death, Doulas, and Digital Afterlives

The Bay Area has always known how to win — from the Giants’ World Series titles to the Warriors’ championships, the 49ers’ Super Bowl runs, and the Sharks keeping the ice alive. Now women’s sports are claiming that same City of Champions legacy, turning San Francisco — and the whole Bay — into a national powerhouse, from professional soccer and basketball to flag football to packed sports bars. On this episode of North Gate Radio we feature 6 stories on how women in The Bay are making sports more inclusive, proving profitability, and pushing the industry to catch up.

Listen Local welcomes two great columnists to talk about the elections

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