Crosscurrents

Series produced by KALW

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Context, culture and connection from around the Bay Area.

KALW's Crosscurrents is the Bay Area's public radio news magazine. Winner of three awards from the Society of Professional Journalists and voted "Best Local News Program" by SF Weekly, Crosscurrents brings you context, culture and connection from around the Bay Area.


356 Pieces

Order by: Newest First | Oldest First
Shopping with Seafarers
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Dheeraj Singh trying on sunglasses at Old Navy in Emeryville, Credit: Julie Caine
Dheeraj Singh is the first officer on a container ship that makes regular runs from China, to California, to Japan, and back again.

  • Added: Jan 07, 2015
  • Length: 08:51
Foraging for fish in our own backyard
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Kirk Lombard explaining how to catch crab from the Bay , Credit: Angela Johnston
Kirk Lombard calls himself a sea forager, and every other week offers this walking and fishing tour: a two-hour lesson on how to catch your own sea...

  • Added: Jan 07, 2015
  • Length: 09:50
Calle 24 - The official Latino Cultural District of San Francisco
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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Every place has a history hidden that lives beneath what you can see on the surface. Just take the Mission District.

  • Added: Jan 07, 2015
  • Length: 08:24
Preparing for the SF International Hip Hop DanceFest
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Dance company, Mind Over Matter , Credit: Allan Frias
About 25 members of the dance company Mind Over Matter, mostly women, are finishing their warm up. Dressed in comfy street clothes, they stretch wh...

  • Added: Jan 07, 2015
  • Length: 03:29
Fear and Eating in Fukushima
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Fukushima produce and farmers' faces at Yokubenimaru supermarket, Fukushima City, Credit: Ali Budner
We are no strangers to earthquakes here in the Bay Area. But there’s been nothing in recent memory to match the 9.0 quake that shook Japan on March...

  • Added: Jan 07, 2015
  • Length: 16:21
Oddball Film and Video creates an unusual night at the movies
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: In the stacks at Oddball Film and Video.
Ever wonder what happens to films too bizarre for the big, or even small screen? Many of them end up at Oddball Film and Video, a stock footage com...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio


  • Added: Jan 06, 2015
  • Length: 04:57
  • Purchases: 1
The "last bastion of freak culture" on Valencia turns 30
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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If you look beyond the new restaurants, cafés and boutique shops, on Valencia Street there are hints of what gave this neighborhood the reputation ...

  • Added: Jan 06, 2015
  • Length: 08:24
Women’s pinball league gives positive tilt to Bay Area scene
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Two of the new games at Hi-Life, Credit: Angela Johnston
Ellen Frankel slips the last of her quarters into the Medieval Madness pinball machine and wipes the sweat off her forehead. It’s her second game o...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio, WABE, WAMC Northeast Public Radio, and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 06, 2015
  • Length: 06:36
  • Purchases: 4
How is U.C. Berkeley addressing sexual assaults on campus?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Student activists Sofie Karasek and Meghan Warner, Credit: Liz Mak
On the state level, California is working to address the issue of sexual assault on campus. In September, the state passed a new “Yes means Yes” la...

Bought by WAMC Northeast Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 06, 2015
  • Length: 07:56
  • Purchases: 2
Is the Bay Area in a housing bubble or a housing crisis?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Piece image
Home prices are higher than ever before in the Bay Area. So it begs the question: are we in a housing bubble or a housing crisis?

  • Added: Jan 06, 2015
  • Length: 06:18
Artist Martha Villa makes up her city
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Martha Villa (center) with friend and model Kristina Orlova (right) and burlesque performer Dixie DeLish at San Francisco’s 2013 Zombie Prom. Villa did her own makeup as well as Orlova’s., Credit: San Francisco Zombie Prom
From the outside, Martha Villa’s home blends in with the other modest buildings in her quiet Outer Richmond neighborhood. Inside, however, it’s a ...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 07:36
  • Purchases: 1
A day in the life of a volunteer fire chief
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Monte Rio Volunteer Fire Chief Steve Baxman ready for action, Credit: Rhian Miller
In Monte Rio, a rural community on the Russian River a few miles south of Guerneville, volunteer Fire Chief Steve Baxman is on-call 24 hours a day....

Bought by KBCS 91.3 FM Community Radio


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 05:42
  • Purchases: 1
Can Oakland successfully curb illegal dumping?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: A mountain of mattresses in West Oakland, Credit: Todd Whitney
For over a decade, Oakland has attempted to abate the illegal dumping of mattresses, electronics, furniture, and other large items onto city street...

  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 07:20
Ai Weiwei on Alcatraz: A dissident superstar gives voice to political prisoners
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: "With Wind," an instillation at Alcatraz by the Chinese dissident, Ai Weiwei, Credit: Sandhya Dirks
Ai WeiWei has been under house arrest in Beijing since 2011, but that has not stopped him from making work internationally. He just opened a massiv...

Bought by WABE and PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 06:31
  • Purchases: 2
The high cost of phone calls for inmates
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
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When most of us talk on the phone we don’t think much about the cost—it’s pennies. If we don’t like a phone company or can’t afford a plan, it’s pr...

  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 07:39
Exploring the city through SF Trolley Dances
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Jennifer Perfilio, SF Trolley Dances, Credit: Andy Mogg
Every October, the free outdoor dance festival known as San Francisco Trolley Dances takes audiences on guided tours on public transit with live pe...

Bought by PRX Remix


  • Added: Jan 05, 2015
  • Length: 06:42
  • Purchases: 1
Urban Shield: Training or militarization for first responders?
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Inside the Urban Shield trade show, Credit: Sandhya Dirks
For the past eight years, one weekend in late summer brings first responders from across the country and around the world -- firemen, medics, SWAT ...

Bought by WXDU


  • Added: Dec 28, 2014
  • Length: 09:07
  • Purchases: 1
Frugal Science: How one lab is using toys to make chemistry accessible to the world
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: A pile of foldscopes, Credit: Prakash Lab
I am in a lab tucked away in the basement of a Stanford University engineering building. Bioengineering professor Manu Prakash is showing me a tiny...

Bought by New Hampshire Public Radio and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 28, 2014
  • Length: 07:09
  • Purchases: 2
The San Francisco Bookstore Survival Guide
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Caption: Green Apple Books before the opening of their second store, Credit: Holly J. McDede
So you want to open a bookstore? Excellent news. Here's your guide to survival.

  • Added: Dec 28, 2014
  • Length: 06:07
Street poets come together at 16th and Mission
From: KALW
Series: Crosscurrents
Piece image
Usually, people who emerge from the 16th Street BART Station in San Francisco are greeted by men and women slumped over shopping carts, by panhandl...

Bought by WABE and PRX Remix


  • Added: Dec 28, 2014
  • Length: 05:42
  • Purchases: 2