
City Cast Salt Lake
City Cast Salt Lake is Salt Lake City’s daily news podcast. Host Ali Vallarta and a bevy of smart and entertaining locals will bring you conversations about the issues that matter most to SLC. Some days City Cast will make you proud; other days it’ll make you angry. It will celebrate Salt Lake’s triumphs, (try to) solve its mysteries, and explore its history. City Cast will help you feel more connected to the Wasatch Front – whether you’ve lived here for 6 months or 6 generations.
Latest episodes

Oct 30, 2023 • 26min
Could the Jazz Leave Downtown SLC?
Besides the Utah Jazz’s defeat in their first home game of the season, things seem to be looking up for Jazz fans. The team is wearing purple, they’re playing at the Delta Center again — good signs all around. Except for a rumor that has us on edge: Could the Jazz someday leave Salt Lake City for the ‘burbs? Host Ali Vallarta has been looking for answers and shares her speculations and findings with lead producer Emily Means.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
Tecovas at City Creek Center
Epic Brewing
The McGillis School
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 27, 2023 • 30min
Will Salt Lake County’s Budget Ever Be Sexy? Whale-a-thon, and City Creek Closures
What’s in Salt Lake County’s budget? Lead producer Emily Means joins host Ali Vallarta to break down Mayor Jenny Wilson’s proposal. Plus, four heroes ran an entire marathon around the 9th and 9th whale, tricks for avoiding the wait at Urgent Care, and City Creek Canyon closures.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:Tecovas at City Creek Mall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 26, 2023 • 23min
Why Salt Lake Goes Hard for Halloween
It’s the most wonderful time of the year, when our famously mild-mannered and street-swept suburbs absolutely rock out for Halloween. Twelve-foot-tall skeletons grace Sugar House neighborhoods, Daybreak is Barbieland, and Utahns are hyped for scary season. Deseret News features writer Meg Walter joins host Ali Vallarta to explain why Utah goes so hard for Halloween.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:
Tecovas at City Creek Mall Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 25, 2023 • 27min
What People Get Wrong About Utah
There are a lot of assumptions about Utah and the people who live here, but only a few of them are true. KUER politics reporters and State Street co-hosts Saige Miller and Sean Higgins join host Ali Vallarta to debunk some of the biggest Utah stereotypes and dig into how we’re pushing back against them. Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:Tecovas at City Creek Center Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 24, 2023 • 17min
Why Good Neighbors Carry Naloxone
Medical Director of Utah Naloxone Dr. Jennifer Plumb explains exactly how to identify and reverse an opioid overdose by administering Naloxone. And, where Salt Lakers can get a Naloxone kit to keep on them.This episode originally aired on April 12, 2022.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Learn more about the sponsor of this episode:TecovasLooking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 23, 2023 • 25min
What Can SLC Learn From Denver’s Sanctioned Camps?
In September, Salt Lake City and state officials announced the site of the state’s first-ever sanctioned homeless camp at 300 S. and 600 W. in downtown SLC. And though details are still being ironed out, one city council member has said they’re looking to Denver’s sanctioned camping program for inspiration. Host Ali Vallarta asks Denverite homelessness reporter Kyle Harris what lessons Salt Lake can learn from Colorado and the successes and challenges we should come to expect.“How Any of Us Could Reverse an Overdose” by City Cast Salt Lake.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can also find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Learn more about the sponsors of this episode:TecovasLooking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 20, 2023 • 34min
Winter Homelessness Plans, Reworking Downtown, and Local Dracula
Temperatures are dropping and people want to know — what’s Salt Lake’s winter homelessness plan? Plus, is downtown getting a makeover? Lead producer Emily Means joins host Ali Vallarta to break down the news and share their picks of the week.Volunteer with Unsheltered Utah this weekend.Learn more about the Point in Time Count, and sign up to volunteer in January 2024.Choose a proposal for downtown Main Street and 100 S. — take the survey!Get tickets to Utah Symphony/Opera, and Ballet West perform “Dracula.”Eat dinner at Kafe Mamai in downtown SLC. Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 19, 2023 • 23min
It’s Officially Cheaper To Rent Than Buy. What Now?
We never thought we’d see the day when it’s more cost-effective to rent than buy a house, but here we are. Deseret News reporter Katie McKellar joins host Ali Vallarta to explain how renting pencils out better than buying in Utah’s current housing market, and Ali asks what that means for the American dream.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 18, 2023 • 19min
Why Utah Is the Future of Black Banking
There are 18 Black-owned banks left across the entire United States, and one of them is now in Holladay. Host Ali Vallarta asks Redemption Bank’s chairman and CEO Ashley Bell why the only Black-owned bank in the Mountain West will be in Utah — and what its $78 million NFL deal means for Salt Lake.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Oct 17, 2023 • 27min
You Asked, We Answered: Funeral Potatoes, Bar Deals, and Visiting Parents
What are funeral potatoes? What’s Salt Lake’s best bar deal? Where should you take your parents when they visit? It’s our first mailbag show, and you sent us some excellent questions. Lead producer Emily Means joins host Ali Vallarta to answer them.Consider becoming a founding member of City Cast Salt Lake today! It’s the best way to support our work and help make sure we’re around for years to come. Get all the details and sign up at membership.citycast.fm.Subscribe to our daily morning newsletter. You can find us on Instagram @CityCastSLC and Twitter @CityCastSLC.Looking to advertise on City Cast Salt Lake? Check out our options for podcast and newsletter ads. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices