This article was accepted into the corpus but its outbound wikilinks were never NER-processed — typical at the deepest BFS hop or when the run's entity cap was reached. No expansion funnel to show.
| KQED Forum | |
|---|---|
| Show name | KQED Forum |
| Format | Public affairs, talk radio, interviews |
| Runtime | 60 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Home station | KQED (FM) |
| Presenter | Various hosts |
| First aired | 1990s |
| Audio format | FM, podcast |
KQED Forum
KQED Forum is a public affairs radio program produced in San Francisco, California, that features interviews, panel discussions, and listener call-ins on topics ranging from politics to culture. The program engages with national and regional figures from media, policy, academia, and the arts, fostering conversations among journalists, elected officials, activists, and scholars. It is produced by a major Bay Area public media organization and distributed across terrestrial radio and digital platforms.
KQED Forum focuses on current events and long-form interviews, often hosting journalists from outlets such as The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Atlantic alongside public figures from United States Senate, United States House of Representatives, California State Senate, San Francisco Board of Supervisors, and municipal leadership. Episodes frequently include contributors from institutions like Stanford University, University of California, Berkeley, San Francisco State University, Columbia University, and Harvard University, and specialists from think tanks such as the Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation, Center for American Progress, Hoover Institution, and RAND Corporation. Cultural guests have included artists affiliated with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Oakland Museum of California, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, San Francisco Symphony, and San Francisco Opera.
The program emerged during a period of expansion in public radio alongside stations like WBUR, WNYC, KCRW, NPR, and PRI, reflecting trends set by shows such as Fresh Air (radio program), All Things Considered, and Marketplace (radio program). Early development involved collaboration among producers, reporters, and editors with backgrounds at outlets including Chronicle (newspaper), Associated Press, Reuters, Reuters, and local broadcasters associated with the Pacifica Foundation. Over time, the show adapted to changes in distribution introduced by platforms such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, SoundCloud, and podcast networks linked to public media.
Episodes typically run an hour and combine long-form interviews, roundtable debates, and listener engagement via calls and social media, featuring correspondents from NPR, AP, Bloomberg News, Politico, and Axios. The program covers elections involving figures like Gavin Newsom, Dianne Feinstein, Nancy Pelosi, Kamala Harris, and national races including 2020 United States presidential election and 2016 United States presidential election, while also addressing policy topics tied to agencies such as the Department of Justice, Federal Reserve, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Environmental Protection Agency. Cultural discussions have included authors from Penguin Random House, HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster, and Macmillan Publishers, along with filmmakers associated with festivals like the Sundance Film Festival, San Francisco International Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, and Tribeca Film Festival.
Guests have included national figures such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, and Joe Biden in broader public-media ecosystems, as well as regional leaders like Ed Lee, Willie Brown, Gavin Newsom, and Jerry Brown. Interviews have also featured journalists and authors including Ta-Nehisi Coates, Ruth Reichl, Michael Lewis, Joan Didion, Rebecca Solnit, and Michael Pollan, and cultural figures tied to institutions like the San Francisco Ballet, American Conservatory Theater, and MOMA. Policy conversations have convened scholars from Stanford Law School, Berkeley Law School, Yale Law School, and Harvard Kennedy School and pundits associated with networks such as CNN, MSNBC, Fox News, and PBS.
The program is broadcast on FM via stations in the public radio network and distributed digitally through podcast platforms including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and aggregator services used by listeners of NPR One and station apps. Archived segments appear on the station’s website alongside resources from partner organizations like American Public Media, Public Radio International, and regional public media partners. Live broadcasts occasionally originate from events at venues such as Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, SFJAZZ Center, Zellerbach Hall, and university auditoriums at UC Berkeley and Stanford University.
The program has been cited in coverage by outlets including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and trade publications such as Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, and has contributed to public discussion on topics like policing reform following incidents involving the Oakland Police Department and debates over housing policy in San Francisco. Its interviews have been used as source material by academics at University of California, Davis, University of Southern California, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, and policymakers in local and state offices. Awards and recognition for the producing organization include honors from entities like the Peabody Awards, Pulitzer Prize-related citations, and regional journalism associations.
The program’s roster has included station hosts, producers, and guest moderators with backgrounds at KQED (TV), KQED-FM, NPR, WNYC, KQED Arts, and other public media outlets, along with frequent contributors from newsrooms such as The New Yorker, The Atlantic, ProPublica, BuzzFeed News, and The Guardian. Regular producers and editorial staff have come from academic and journalistic institutions like Columbia Journalism School, Graduate School of Journalism, UC Berkeley, Knight Foundation, and reporting fellowships including the Pulitzer Center and Knight-Wallace Fellowships.