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John O'Brien

Senior Producer, All Things Considered

About

John O’Brien is KUOW's All Things Considered Senior Producer. He spends his days setting up interviews with newsmakers on subjects from politics and public health to arts and culture. John learned to make radio starting in 2006 as an intern on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds.

Location: Seattle

Languages: English

Pronouns: he/him

Podcasts

Stories

  • caption: A missile strike in Kharkiv, Ukraine.

    Anacortes lawyer has raised $800,000 to support Ukraine

    What Marketa Vorel witnessed during a trip to Ukraine in 2023 inspired her to create the Sunflower F.U.N.D. to raise money for, “the most urgent needs of civilians and their defenders in Ukraine." So far, she has raised more than $800,000 for the cause. Vorel talked to KUOW’s Angela King about her work.
  • caption: Microsoft's Bill Gates attends a dinner with President Donald Trump in the State Dining Room of the White House, Thursday, Sept. 4, 2025, in Washington.

    Bill Gates does damage control at his foundation, apologizing to staff for Epstein ties

    Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' ties to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein have been public knowledge for several years. But this week, Gates took the additional step of apologizing for those ties to the staff of the Gates Foundation here in Seattle. The foundation is one of the wealthiest in the world with an estimated annual budget of $9 billion. Wall Street Journal reporter Emily Glazer told KUOW’s Kim Malcolm about the meeting.
  • caption: Ciscoe Morris

    From 'Oh, la la' to 'Oh, no!' Ciscoe talks spring gardening in the PNW

    Colder weather roared back into Western Washington this week, after a recent false spring had some people out in short sleeves. How do you manage a garden or other landscaping through this unpredictable late winter weather? For answers, KUOW’s Paige Browning reached out to master gardener Ciscoe Morris.
  • Olympics

    As Winter Olympics fever spreads, an update on athletes with PNW ties

    We’re one week into the Winter Olympics at Milano Cortina. To help focus on Pacific Northwest athletes participating this year, we looked around the station for the person who seemed the most hyped up about the games. And the winner is KUOW host, newscaster, reporter, and diehard sports fan Paige Browning. She talked to ATC host Kim Malcolm about the games so far.
  • caption: A Seattle Seahawks helmet is seen during an NFL Super Bowl football practice on Wednesday, Feb. 4, 2026, in San Jose, Calif., ahead of Super Bowl 60 between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

    Seahawks primed for Super Bowl grudge match with Patriots

    The Seattle Seahawks will return to the Super Bowl this Sunday to take on the New England Patriots. The last time the Seahawks made it to the league championship game was 2015, when they lost in the final minutes to the Tom Brady-led Pats. For a look ahead to the big game, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to Jerry Brewer, who writes about sports for The Athletic.
  • caption: A teenage boy shows a social media post showing the arrest of his father by federal agents, as he stands outside the ICE Los Angeles Staging Facility looking for the location of his father in Los Angeles on Wednesday, June 25, 2025.

    WA among states trying to block the sale of people's precise location data

    Politicians in over half a dozen Democrat-led states, including Washington, want to ban companies from selling information about people's precise location. This, amid concerns that such data will be used to target vulnerable people, including immigrants. Former public radio correspondent Austin Jenkins covers infrastructure and the disruption industry for Pluribus News. He wrote recently about groups for and against banning location tracking. KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to him about his reporting.
  • caption: Left to right: Betsaid and Irvin Garcia and their father.

    They surprised their dad with a trip to the NFC Championship. The video went viral

    A short video made the rounds of social media this week. In it, we see a man in a Seattle Seahawks jersey riding in a car. “Why did we come all the way to Seattle?,” he asks, and someone laughs. It was Sunday, January 25, the day of the NFC Championship game between the Seahawks and the LA Rams. To learn about the backstory of this now viral video, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm talked to University of Washington graduate and UCLA medical school student Irvin Garcia.
  • caption: Seattle Seahawks linebacker Drake Thomas (42) is congratulated by linebacker Ernest Jones IV, middle, and cornerback Riq Woolen after intercepting a pass against the San Francisco 49ers during the second half of an NFL football game in Santa Clara, Calif., Saturday, Jan. 3, 2026.

    Seahawks have to ‘let it rip’ to best Rams in NFC championship Sunday

    For the first time in 11 years, the Seattle Seahawks return to the NFC Championship game Sunday, facing off for the third time this season against the Los Angeles Rams. Twelves and fair-weather fans alike are feeling pretty good about the Hawks’ chances after they trounced the 49ers last week. For insights on what might be coming at Lumen Field this weekend, KUOW’s Kim Malcolm reached out to Jerry Brewer, who writes about sports for The Athletic.
  • caption: RVs and tents line a street above the highway at an encampment of unhoused people in Portland, Oregon, on Oct. 31, 2025.

    Portland’s approach to homelessness enters a new era

    In Portland, Oregon, a new mayor and the city council are in the early stages of a change of direction on tackling homelessness, even as the number of unhoused people in Multnomah County has risen to 7,500 and continues to tick upward. OPB reporter Alex Zielinski covers Portland city politics. She gave KUOW’s Kim Malcolm this update on the homelessness situation there.