RadioWest

Coltan Scrivner studies why some of us are drawn to look at gruesome things. He calls it morbid curiosity, and he says it's not a bad thing.

If you grew up along the Wasatch Front, you've seen rapid change: farms to housing, low-rise to high-rise, more people. Taylor Anderson wants to know what that means, and for whom.

If you grew up along the Wasatch Front, you've seen rapid change: farms to housing, low-rise to high-rise, more people. Taylor Anderson wants to know what that means, and for whom.

Nate Blouin, a Utah State Senator and leading progressive Democratic contender for Utah's new congressional seat, faces a setback as vulgar online comments he made years ago recently came to light. The controversy also raises questions about the clout of the progressive wing of the party in the lead-up to the Democratic State Convention.

The linguist Valerie Fridland says everyone has an accent, whether they think so or not. Her new book is about how the different ways we talk shape our lives.

Great Salt Lake normally doesn't reach peak water level until late May. But after a record-low snowpack, the lake has already topped out, and experts warn it will likely brush up against its own record low. Could a sizable influx of federal dollars help save it?

There's emerging evidence of the health benefits of getting hot and working up a sweat. Author Bill Gifford's book makes the case.

Daryl Lindsey is a sustainable landscaping expert. With spring here, and a worrisome winter in the rearview, she joins us to talk about this year's growing season.

The hunt for critical minable resources is heating up in Utah, and would-be extractors have found a legal loophole to get around federal mining laws. Journalist Lauren Steele shares her findings.

U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement recently purchased a warehouse on Salt Lake City's west side, but the agency doesn't intend to use the site for goods or merchandise: It will be a detention facility, part of the agency's efforts to round up and deport a million people every year.

With Easter weekend approaching, we're revisiting our 2025 conversation with Elaine Pagels about the real Jesus of Nazareth.

The Wild West has been the subject of much mythologizing in American culture. But for all the fantasy, at least one figure was real: the gunfighter.

It may seem like Mars is just a modern-day obsession, but we earthlings were nuts for the Red Planet more than a century ago. David Baron's new book tells the story.

What weighs five pounds, hasn't been seen in print for 20 years, but still shapes the way we think about language? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary — and author Stefan Fatsis is here to tell us why it matters.

The journalist McKay Coppins wasn't a gambling man. But when his employer The Atlantic staked him $10,000 to bet on the 2025 NFL season, he couldn't say no.

Justin R. Garcia is the director of the Kinsey Institute, the famed sex research institution. He's joining us to talk about his new book, “The Intimate Animal.”

The 2026 Utah Legislative Session concluded last week. We're gathering a trio of reporters to talk about what passed and what failed.

Filmmaker Penny Lane's 2023 documentary is about giving away one of her own kidneys. Although she didn't like the idea of calling herself a "good Samaritan," she eventually came around to the idea of calling her film “Confessions of a Good Samaritan.”

In 1856, Mary Ann Patten became the first woman to captain an American merchant vessel. She was only 19 years old. Historian Tilar Mazzeo's book tells the remarkable story.

David Archuleta became famous at 17 years old, when he was a finalist on “American Idol.” He joins us to talk about his new memoir, coming out as gay and about leaving the LDS Church.

As plans take shape for an extensive homeless campus in Salt Lake City, a divide has emerged between those who support the current system of homeless services and a new guard that wants to take a more punitive approach to the problem.

LDS President Dallin H. Oaks has chosen a new apostle. His name is Clark G. Gilbert, and his appointment is raising controversy among the faithful. Scholar Benjamin Park joins us to explain why.

Lots of people dream about leaving it all behind, but Maurice and Maralyn Bailey really did it. They bought a boat and set sail in June of 1972.

Eight years ago, Utah voters approved Proposition 4, a ballot initiative that, after a long legal battle, resulted in newly drawn congressional boundaries. Now, a group backed by the Utah Republican Party is trying to get a new initiative on the ballot, one that would eliminate Prop 4, and it has raised a lot of controversy.

Jack Kerouac published “On the Road” in 1957, and it became the defining novel of the Beat Generation. Today, a new documentary explores the book's legacy.

Latter-day Saint temple garments are the subject of a new book. The authors surveyed thousands of Church members for their project.

As big freighters go, the Edmund Fitzgerald was the biggest, the best and the most profitable ship on the Great Lakes. Then, on Nov. 10, 1975, facing gale-force winds and 50-foot waves, the ship sank, taking all 29 men aboard her down into the icy depths of Lake Superior.

Forty years ago, the space shuttle Challenger exploded shortly after launch. According to NPR's Howard Berkes, the lessons learned from the disaster are as critical as ever.

Journalist Michael Scherer had a lofty goal for his profile of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. He wanted to “help narrow the political divide” separating the country.

In a new documentary premiering at Sundance, local filmmaker Abby Ellis follows two scientists and a government official fighting to stave off environmental disaster and save Great Salt Lake.

In a new biography, the historian Max Perry Mueller argues that Wakara, a Timpanogos Ute leader, should be considered one of the founding figures of the American West.

“Affordability” is a buzzword of the current political moment, and it's top of mind for Utah lawmakers as they gear up for the general legislative session.

“Affordability” is a buzzword of the current political moment, and it's top of mind for Utah lawmakers as they gear up for the general legislative session.

Coltan Scrivner is a psychologist who studies why some of us are drawn to look at gruesome things. He calls it morbid curiosity, and he says it's not a bad thing.

In recent years, Utah has seen a surge in winter visitors to its world-class ski resorts. Sam Weintraub, a ski industry observer, isn't the only one who's noticed that as more and more people come here to ski, the more it reshapes the skiing experience.

On Sept. 10, 2025, political activist Charlie Kirk was shot and killed at Utah Valley University. The very next month, Greg Lukianoff gave a lecture there, about why free speech is an antidote to violence.

Is a river alive? That's the animating question in Robert Macfarlane's latest book. And if the answer is yes, and rivers are living things, what do we owe them?

If you've ever wanted to share a room with two great actors talking about Shakespeare, here's your chance — with Dame Judi Dench and Brendan O'Hea.

In 2021, protestors stormed the U.S. Capitol and tried to overturn the presidential election. In that moment, author Charles King turned to Handel's Messiah.

If the word “Viking” conjures for you a braided warrior raiding a village in the north of Europe, you're not exactly wrong. But there's a lot more to the story.

Multilevel marketing is something of an American tradition. Journalist Bridget Read tells the story of the money-making schemes that continue to ensnare people today.

Jesus's mother Mary likely lived for over 40 years, but many believers only think of her in two places, the Nativity and the Crucifixion. The scholar James Tabor wants to change that.

Author and journalist Jonathan Rauch is a Jewish atheist. And yet, he's calling on Christians to remember their faith — and practice it the way Founding Father James Madison might have done.

What do books say about us? This week, Catherine Weller, Ken Sanders and Anne Holman join us to talk about their favorite winter reads — the titles they recommend that we can all gift to each other or curl up with while the snow (hopefully) falls and the fire crackles.

What weighs five pounds, hasn't been seen in print for 20 years, but still shapes the way we think about language? Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary — and author Stefan Fatsis is here to tell us why it matters.

Jerry Kane and his teenage son Joseph were men of no nation. Their lives — and their violent ends — are the subject of the new feature film “Sovereign,” directed by Christian Swegal, who joins us to talk about it.