Noel Gasca
Producer, Soundside
About
Noel is a producer for KUOW’s midday show Soundside.
Prior to joining Soundside, Noel worked as an online editor/producer with KUOW’s web team. She’s also a proud graduate of KUOW’s RadioActive program.
Noel is an alumna of Emerson College and has interned at NPR member stations WBUR in Boston and WAMU in Washington DC. Originally from Lake Stevens, Washington, Noel is elated to be back in the Pacific Northwest and covering the people and places that make up the state she calls home. Noel has reported on labor and education.
When she’s not working, Noel enjoys perusing Seattle’s used bookstores, discussing the lasting legacy of Selena Quintanilla’s music with anyone who will listen, and spending way too much time fixing up her island on Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Location: Seattle
Languages: English
Pronouns: she/her
Professional Affiliations: National Association of Hispanic Journalists, AIR
Podcasts
Stories
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Arts & Life
Exploring the meaning of community in Seattle's Chinatown-International District
The Soundside team has spent months in the Chinatown-International District, working with journalists from International Examiner to get to know the community better. Our hope is that you’ll come away with a deeper picture of what makes this neighborhood such a vital part of the city — and what the hopes and challenges are for the people here.
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Education
In southwest Washington, educator strikes stall the start of school
Tens of thousands of students in southwest Washington are still waiting for their school year to get started. That’s where two teacher strikes are stretching into their second weeks.
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Arts & Life
Seattle is rainy with unrelenting hills. How did it become a biking city?
Bike culture is as deeply ingrained in Seattle’s identity as coffee and Birkenstocks. But with our rainy weather and hilly terrain, Seattle — at least on paper — should’ve never become the biking haven that it is today. That’s the unlikely history that Tom Fucoloro, founder of the Seattle Bike Blog and author of “Biking Uphill in the Rain: The Story of Seattle from Behind the Handlebars," set out to explore.
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The student loan pause is ending — for real this time. Here’s how to prepare
Come October, nearly 700,000 Washingtonians will be adding yet another monthly expense back to their budgets: federal student loan repayments. We talked to a student loan advocate about how to get ready and what the Biden administration's new, income-driven repayment plan means for borrowers.
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Science
To this 'Viking' daughter, missions to Mars represent sacrifice and determination
"This week marks 48 years since the launch of the Viking 1, which became the first spacecraft to land safely on Mars' surface and send images back to Earth. Rachel Tillman, the founder and executive director of the Viking Mars Missions Education and Preservation Project, shares her personal connection to the missions, and why she's documenting the stories of those behind the missions.
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Environment
'The most dense and consolidated damage I've seen': A WA firefighter's dispatches from Maui
As western Maui begins to heal after deadly wildfires, first responders are searching destroyed homes, assisting displaced people, and distributing supplies. Personnel from Washington state are on the ground for that effort.
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Health
Should you celebrate summer's end with a Covid booster or wait until fall?
There's an unwelcome guest lurking at that late summer barbecue, or trying to tag along on the family vacation. According to the CDC, Covid cases are on the rise in several regions throughout the U.S. — including the Pacific Northwest.
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Health
Washington's state vet says bunny-killing virus is 'here to stay'
The town of Langley on Whidbey Island has a unique tourist attraction - wild bunnies. These don’t look like your regular, run of the mill wild rabbits. Instead, they’re the cute, soft, ‘just want to squeeze them’ bunnies you’d see in a pet store. But now, those bunnies are in trouble.
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Environment
Washington once saw hydropower as an easy alternative to coal. That's changing
In 2022, hydropower was responsible for two-thirds of the energy we use to light our homes and businesses here in Washington. But climate change is making hydropower less reliable these days.
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Arts & Life
Hear it again: How roller skating and DIY concerts bring generations of Washingtonians together
Soundside is taking a look back at some of our favorite stories about the different ways we build community in the Pacific Northwest.