
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

Jun 23, 2023 • 25min
Mormon Cricket Apocalypse, Speed Bump Beef, and Another Highway Expansion
If there’s one thing you can count on the Utah Department of Transportation to do, it’s expand a highway. Lead producer Emily Means joins host Ali Vallarta to break down how turning Bangerter Highway into Bangerter Freeway could displace 241 homes in West Valley City. Plus, some residents in SLC’s Wasatch Hollow neighborhood have beef with planned speed bumps on 1300 S. And are you prepared in case of a Mormon cricket apocalypse?Submit public comment on the Bangerter Highway expansion before July 12, 2023.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

Jun 22, 2023 • 22min
The Affordable Housing Solution Hidden in Plain Sight
Large, towering apartment complexes are popping up all over Salt Lake City. But when it comes to addressing our affordable housing crisis, maybe we should be thinking a bit … smaller. That’s where “missing middle” housing comes in. Building Salt Lake editor Taylor Anderson explains to host Ali Vallarta why these types of units are missing and how they fit into our housing puzzle.Listen to “Why Aren’t These Vacant Buildings Housing?”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

Jun 21, 2023 • 17min
How To Shop Like a Farmers Market Pro
What’s missing from Salt Lake’s burgeoning network of farmers markets? In part three of our Summer Entertainment Guide, Utah Farmers Market Network director Chandler Rosenberg tells host Ali Vallarta why we are short on farmers to meet the demand. Plus, she lays down the best markets in the valley, an etiquette guide, and some cool affordability programs.Find a farmers market.Farmers can apply for the Utah Department of Agriculture and Food’s mental health voucher program.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

Jun 20, 2023 • 17min
SLC Hookup Culture After Roe: A Time Capsule
It’s been almost a year since the Supreme Court struck down Roe v. Wade, the landmark decision protecting the right to an abortion. Since then, we’ve seen an all-out legislative effort to ban abortion in Utah. Shortly after last year’s SCOTUS decision, host Ali Vallarta hit up the bar scene in Downtown SLC to ask young Salt Lakers how they’re thinking about going out and hooking up in a post-Roe world. Their answers were incredibly candid.This episode first aired July 5, 2022.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

Jun 16, 2023 • 29min
SLC Funds Sanctioned Camping, Celebrating Juneteenth, and Air Guitar Championships
The Salt Lake City Council has passed the 2024 city budget! How are they spending our money? Lead producer Emily Means joins host Ali Vallarta to break down key programs as well as some fun line items that snuck their way in. Plus, newsletter editor Terina Ria joins to share picks of the week.Our breakdown of SLC Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s initial budget proposal. Mayor Erin Mendenhall’s approach to homelessness.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

Jun 15, 2023 • 23min
Opioid Deaths Are Down. Could a New War on Drugs Be Next?
A decade ago, Utah had one of the highest rates of opioid overdose deaths in the U.S. Now, while the rest of the country experiences an increase, the Beehive State has reversed that trend. Democratic State Sen. Jen Plumb, the founder of Utah Naloxone, tells host Ali Vallarta how we got to this point and what’s worrying her now.Find naloxone kits at Salt Lake County libraries and pharmacies across the state. 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

Jun 14, 2023 • 19min
Cheap Summer Thrills for SLC Kids
School’s out for the summer, which means parents have to weave a tapestry of summer entertainment to fill kids’ days. So, where to start? In Part 2 of our City Cast Summer Entertainment Guide, dad about town and City Weekly contributor Bryant Heath tells host Ali Vallarta his favorite places for family-friendly fun on the cheap. Plus, Bryant shares tips for leveraging camps to keep up with the ever-changing interests of an elementary-schooler. Review the Utah State Board of Education’s Core Standards and then take the survey. 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

Jun 13, 2023 • 16min
Do Houseplants Protect Our Lungs From Smog?
Do wildfire smoke, vehicle emissions, and other nasty air in the valley sneak into our homes? Host Ali Vallarta asks Dr. Kerry Kelly, an air quality investigator at the University of Utah, how we can protect our very bedrooms from smog — and whether our house plants are pulling their weight!This episode first aired Aug. 4, 2022.A few of Dr. Kelly’s recommendations: How to make a DIY box air filter; PurpleAir Quality Sensors (a Salt Lake company!); and Tellus Air Quality Sensors from the U.Listen to our 2023 wildfire season preview. 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

Jun 12, 2023 • 19min
Abandoning Shelters for Permanent Supportive Housing
Last fall, Salt Lake City invested $6 million to help develop 400 units of permanent supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. So far, only 94 have opened with a project called The Point at Fairpark, a converted motel run by Switchpoint Community Resource Center. Switchpoint executive director Carol Hollowell joins host Ali Vallarta to make the case for charging ahead with this type of resource over emergency shelters. 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

Jun 9, 2023 • 25min
Ranking Our Airport, Farewell Flood Risk, and Christianity on State
It’s summer travel season, and the SLC International Airport is expanding (welcome, Vessel Kitchen!). Host Ali Vallarta and lead producer Emily Means rate the airport experience. Plus, they share some good news re: flood warnings and their picks of the week.Learn more about The Christian School art installation on State Street.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