Skip to main content

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, about hip-hop and mass incarceration, 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

Stories

  • How much does it cost to live comfortably in Seattle?

    On today's episode, we ask more than 300 Seattleites: How much money would it really take to live comfortably in this city of millionaires? And if you can't make enough, what can you do to feel more comfortable here? 

  • ICE fears turn sweet cherry season sour

    To supply the world with cherries, Washington farmers need a lot of workers to show up for a very short harvesting window. Usually they do, but not this year. Today, how a culture of fear is pushing Washington cherry growers to the brink.

  • The real threat to trees isn't housing

    After years of heated arguments, Seattle just passed a law allowing more homes per residential lot. But to gain more housing, we’re going to lose something else people care about: trees. Could there be a way to have both? 

  • Pharmacies are sick. Is there a cure?

    Bartell Drugs, CVS, Walgreens, and independent pharmacies everywhere are struggling to stay afloat. So what’s making pharmacies sick... and is there a cure? 

  • Will AI collapse the career ladder?

    It's graduation season. But it's a tough time to be looking for your first job. On today's episode, entry-level jobs are supposed to be the first rung of the career ladder. So why is that ladder breaking? And what can new grads do about it?

  • Whiplash at the Port of Seattle

    We visit the gateway to the Pacific to find out what the Port of Seattle really tells us about the chaotic state of international trade. And now that China and the US are trying to work things out, will trade bounce back? 

  • How a new option for fentanyl treatment is changing lives

    Here in Seattle, Downtown Emergency Service Center, or DESC, has been trying a new method of administering buprenorphine to ease treatment and curb cravings -- and it’s showing some promising results. 

  • The plan to boost Black homeownership

    Across Seattle, less than half as many Black households own homes as white families. But there's a new law that could help turn that around by expanding the Covenant Home Ownership program. Joshua explains why Black homeownership has plummeted and what lawmakers are doing to boost it.