Alec Cowan
Senior Podcast Producer
About
Alec Cowan is a senior podcast producer at KUOW, where he works on Booming and other podcast projects.
Alec has worn many hats at KUOW. He helped launch Soundside and brought many eclectic stories to the program, from a late-night patrol with real life superheroes to the sewing machine sounds of an artisanal sail loft. Additionally, he was previously a producer for The Record with Bill Radke and the Primed podcast.
Before joining KUOW, Alec worked in NPR's Story Lab, where he helped pilot the Louder Than a Riot podcast and assisted in producing a story on volunteerism in Iraq for Rough Translation. Originally from Grand Junction, Colorado, his roots in the Northwest begin in Eugene, where he studied English and philosophy at the University of Oregon and worked as a news reporter for NPR member station KLCC. He is likely neglecting his saxophone, growing book collection, and expanding personal project list in favor of boosting his online Xbox ranking.
He's proud to be KUOW's unofficial "boat guy."
Location: Seattle
Languages Spoken: English
Pronouns: he/him/his
Podcasts
Stories
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The comedy and complexity of campus life: Sonora Jha's 'The Laughter'
The plot of "The Laughter" twists and turns around issues of Islamophobia, sexism, and the changing culture of campus life. Author Sonora Jha, a Seattle University professor, discusses her newest novel and why she chose to make her main character so unlikeable.
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Poet Koon Woon on his verses of solitude and the working-class immigrant life
Koon Woon has been an important member of the Seattle poetry community for decades. He’s the publisher of Goldfish Books and Chrysanthemum Poetry Journal, as well as a formidable poet in his own right. But his poems aren’t lofty and highbrow — they're deeply rooted in his lived experiences of poverty, working-class immigrant life, and living on the margins.
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Major league baseball is back — with some not so minor changes
Major League Baseball is back in full-swing. But in the off-season, some of the biggest rule changes to the game came into play.
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Hilary Franz, Commissioner of Public Lands, on wildfires and forestry
The Department of Natural Resources manages almost 6 million acres of the state’s forest, farm, tidelands, recreational and commercial lands. Soundside asks your questions about wildfire management and forestry, including the state's new carbon credit market and logging practices.
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Hear it Again: The 'raw deal' within our meat industry
In early 2020, the world shut down. Those of us who could, stayed inside. We learned to bake. We got really into animal crossing. But the workers who process our food couldn’t afford that same time off.
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After another harsh winter, Whatcom County continues flood repair
An exodus of residents from Whatcom County following the 2021 floods left attractive space for some people who can’t afford homes and are living out of RVs and cars — even though they know there’s a high risk the area will flood.
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The XFL promises alternative football. Can it survive?
The XFL is on its third attempt at an alternative football league. The first iteration was in 2000, and lasted for a single season. The second attempt, in 2020, was sidelined after five games due to COVID. But there's a long history of alternative football in the spring. Will fans support the team enough to keep them afloat? And can the team attract enough fans with its unique style of play?
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The Abstract: A song of fire and ice cores
Can fertilizer be sustainably made without fossil fuels? How have volcanos changed our atmosphere? We look at two recent studies about emissions today and throughout the past.
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When WA was a country music capital — Stephanie Clifford's 'The Farewell Tour'
When you think about country music, places like Texas, Appalachia and Nashville probably come to your mind. Maybe you even know about California's "Bakersfield Sound." But the Pacific Northwest has a long country tradition: from honky tonks in Tacoma to radio shows in Walla Walla and dances at Whatcom County meeting halls.
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The hunt is on for 'Monkeyshines' in Tacoma
Every lunar new year, a group of volunteer artists sneak through Tacoma in the dead of night. They hide thousands of colorful glass “floats” – 5- to 10-inch orbs, with an insignia stamped on the top. If you’ve been in Tacoma sometime over the past month and seen people shaking bushes, climbing trees, or turning up rocks, you’ve likely seen a collector of what are locally called “Monkeyshines.”