John O'Brien
Producer, Speakers Forum
About
John O’Brien produces Speakers Forum at KUOW. He learned to love radio as a child waking up one summer morning to the harmonies of Simon and Garfunkel. As a teenager, he would drive the back roads of Indiana and Michigan late at night listening to vintage radio theater. The question of whether or not he had the legal right to drive then remains a mystery. Only The Shadow knows. Inspired by a chance meeting with Noah Adams, he learned to make radio as an intern on KUOW’s The Conversation with Ross Reynolds. John has been recording talks for Speakers Forum since 2007. Early on he learned Seattle is a Mecca for any touring speaker because Seattleites read so much, support a wide variety of venues and ask smart questions. He says that makes his job easy and always interesting. John is a graduate of St. Johns College in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
To see more of John's past KUOW work, visit our archive site.
Podcasts
Stories
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Speakers Forum
Voices from the 2019 Seattle Womxn’s March
“News flash 45, we don’t want no damn wall!” –Rev. Bianca Lovelace
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Speakers Forum
Reflections on Trump as an 'American con man,' by author David Shields
Author David Shields discusses the peculiar nature of our 45th President, a man he says is “wired to come undone.”
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Speakers Forum
‘Celebrate is not the word that comes to mind.’ Ijeoma Oluo honors MLK
‘To honor Martin Luther King, Jr., engage with communities of color.’ Ijeoma Oluo on truth, love and the legacy of MLK.
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Speakers Forum
A monstrous crime. A disputed conviction. Death row and its aftermath
Damien Echols survived a death sentence with friends like Eddie Vedder and High Magick.
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Speakers Forum
Is this the new normal for journalism?
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Speakers Forum
Segregation isn’t in our distant past. In many neighborhoods, it endures
When we think of segregation in the U.S. we often think of the past. We look to post-Civil War history and the Civil Rights movement. The legacy of those events receives due attention, but our history of residential segregation, not so much.
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Speakers Forum
‘Tis the season for Rogue storytelling
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Speakers Forum
Our economy is based on capitalist ideals. Or is it?
If Amazon accounted for 44 percent of all U.S. e-commerce last year, who can compete with that?
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Speakers Forum
Finding the truth in a cat video world
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Speakers Forum
‘No Planet B’: A call to action on climate change