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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'Waiting to dance again.' How Seattle's literary community weathered the pandemic
The role of Seattle’s civic poet is to be an ambassador for the literary arts, fostering dialogue between communities, and connecting people with art. For the last three years, that role has also been to memorialize various unprecedented challenges we’ve collectively faced.
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Neighbors: UW professor and author Taso Lagos
UW Professor and author Taso Lagos first immigrated to Seattle with his family from Greece when he was just nine years old. For 40 years, this family constellated around the Continental Restaurant on University Way NE, near the University of Washington. Several years ago, Taso’s parents closed The Continental and retired. Taso and Libby Denkmann walk the Ave and talk about his memories of the U-District, and how the neighborhood and his parents’ old storefront has changed.
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Does continued state empowerment threaten democracy?
Gridlock on the national level has pushed policy decisions to the states. With that shift comes an erosion of democratic norms and institutions.
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District judge halts sweeps of Camp Hope in Spokane
Camp Hope is the largest homeless encampment in Spokane, at one time hosting seen as many as 600 residents. City, county, and state officials have been trying to move residents elsewhere, but exactly when and where has yet to be determined. Meanwhile, scheduled sweeps that would have cleared out the encampment have been delayed.
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How will ChatGPT change the future of information?
It’s hard to describe exactly what just what ChatGPT is. In the tech world you might call it an advanced natural language model. But to those on the outside, it feels like a kind of magical black box. We’ve lived with different versions of this kind of programming for a while now, but something seems different about ChatGPT, with some comparing it to a new industrial revolution, and as big as the discovery of electricity.
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Onboarding progresses slowly for new Office of Independent Investigations
In Washington state's legislature, the killing of Manuel Ellis in March 2020 by Tacoma Police helped propel a police reform package of more than a dozen bills. One of those bills created The Office of Independent Investigations, or OII, which was signed into law by Governor Jay Inslee in 2021. This is the first office of its kind in the nation, with plans to train civilian investigators to watchdog the use of deadly force by police throughout the state.
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As avian influenza outbreak worsens, local farms remain cautious
Washington lies along a major flyway for birds. Each winter, millions of migrating birds stop in in the state on their way somewhere else. That's a cause for concern as the United States experiences the worst avian influenza outbreak in its history, with more than 50 million birds dying from the virus.
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Where the wild things grow – a visit to the new UW greenhouse
If you’re riding your bike down the Burke Gilman trail through the University of Washington campus, you’ll cruise by a long row of glass buildings. Over the last three years, the University of Washington has been moving its extensive plant collection from its Botany Greenhouse in Redmond to this new 20,000-foot greenhouse on campus. This week, the University of Washington opens the upgraded greenhouse to the public.
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Hear it again: Seattle's hip-hop scene and Puget Sound pirates
As we get ready to gather round the table with our families and friends, Soundside is bringing you a couple of our favorite stories about community.
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Hear it again: A picture is worth a thousand words
This Thanksgiving week we’re revisiting some of our best stories of the year so far. Today, we’re looking back on our favorite segments about images and the stories they tell about us.
