Podcasts about California, United States

Late in My Favorite Color, an episode of Ear Hustle, a man serving a life sentence with the possibility of parole at San Quentin sits in a prison chapel. He leans toward a video screen, with a cloth he calls his tear rag. On the screen is his daughter, DeMonica, eight years into a 19-year sentence at the California Institution for Women. One incarcerated person cannot call another, and their shared gang history restricts even their letters, so the show set out to do what it calls something almost impossible. When the picture clears, he says simply: "Look at my baby."

That scene is a good key to California's podcasts right now. Across them, the state is heard mostly through its institutions: prisons, school districts, courtrooms, insurers, city councils, front offices. The question that keeps returning is what happens after the official decision, when somebody has to live inside it. The state's political argument runs along the same seam. At a gubernatorial debate in September 2026, Republican Steve Hilton blamed prolonged Democratic control for California's difficulties, and Democrat Xavier Becerra portrayed Hilton as Trump's chosen candidate. That same month, a CalMatters investigation across 15 counties reported inadequate drug treatment for defendants offered dismissal of their cases under Proposition 36.

Most of the shows below are about places inside California. Readers who want more can turn to the Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento and Silicon Valley pages.

What California is

California is a U.S. state on the Pacific coast. It covers approximately 163,696 square miles and is internationally associated with filmmaking. One secondary reference describes its economy as the largest among U.S. states and estimates its 2025 gross state product at $4.297 trillion.

Inside the walls and the courtroom

Ear Hustle is a production of the San Quentin News, hosted by Nigel Poor and Earlonne Woods. Its authority comes from proximity, because the people speaking live under the rules being described. The live 2023 episode moves from a man's wall of revenge fantasies to a woman serving life for a crash that killed her nine-year-old daughter. Expect grief alongside the jokes.

The Trials of Frank Carson, from Christopher Goffard and the Los Angeles Times, heads to Stanislaus County. There, a combative defense lawyer stood accused of conspiring with three local officers after a 26-year-old thief, Corey Kaufman, disappeared near Turlock. Goffard keeps the case contested. He airs the defense argument that a key witness cooperated to get a break on his own charge. He also gives Carson room to explain his method: "I find that trial is like theater, and it is contagious."

Crime with a California address

Firebug follows the search for a Southern California serial arsonist, which led to Glendale's top arson investigator, John Orr. Chapter Nine | Family Secrets turns to the people around him. His daughter, Lori Kovach, recalls watching television at a boyfriend's parents' house: "And when I looked at the TV, I saw my dad handcuffed."

Dateline's The Thing About Helen & Olga is colder and more procedural. In 1 – Nothing to Lose. Everything to Gain, two older women approach Kenneth McDavid at Hollywood Presbyterian. He is 47, with no family and no job, and they offer him food and a roof. By the next episode, an insurance investigator is laying out their policies for a homicide detective.

Queen of the Con's season The California Girls is chattier. In The California Girls: Ep. 3, Reverse Shopping, a professional shoplifter named Susan describes living in a car until it was impounded. Ad breaks crowd that episode.

Fire, schools and the public purse

The most useful civic listening comes from California City, an LAist Studios feed with episodes hosted by Nereida Moreno. In a January episode, reporters revisit Altadena and Pacific Palisades a year after fires that, the episode says, killed 31 people. The strongest segment is practical. Altadena neighbors pooled their land surveying for about $1,700 a lot, against a $5,000 individual quote. One participant says that saving even five or 10 percent could decide whether a family returns. Another episode covers conditions at the Adelanto ICE detention center, where the show reports multiple deaths in custody. Another follows Los Angeles Unified through layoffs, a looming strike and FBI action involving its superintendent.

Rebuilding L.A. takes up the money side of recovery. Edison's chief executive outlines a fast-pay track for Eaton fire claims, with offers within 90 days of a substantially complete application, and a detailed review that can take up to nine months. The ONME Network, which offers California news from a Black perspective, is slower and more civic. In an April episode, Julianne Dudley-Najib sets up a forum on whether insurance regulators are doing right by fire-affected policyholders.

For relief, KQED's The California Report visits Pacific Grove in California's Last Dry Town Has Growing Nightlife Scene. The town upheld its Prohibition-era alcohol ban into the 1960s, longer than any other California city. Now patrons find a bar behind a record shop.

Arguing about who runs the state

The political talk is partisan and worth hearing as argument. On So, Does It Matter? - on CA Politics - Podcasts!, Jon Fleischman gives Hoover Institution economist Josh Rauh a long run at the proposed billionaire wealth tax. Rauh explains how proponents reached their $100 billion figure: the Forbes billionaire list, a 5% rate and an assumed 10% leakage. He then argues their analysis missed major factors.

On 790 KABC, a host frames Los Angeles council member Nithya Raman's vote against an encampment ban in Traci Park's district through her membership in the Democratic Socialists of America. From another angle, Political Breakdown examines disunity in Republican ranks.

Silicon Valley's promises

The Cost of Happiness, reported and hosted by Nastaran Tavakoli-Far, asks what the tech world's gospel of happiness costs. It follows Zappos founder Tony Hsieh from Amazon's 2009 acquisition of his company to his Downtown Project in Las Vegas. In No Dogs in the Dog Park | Chapter 7, Tavakoli-Far describes "the enormous silences" she met when trying to discuss the project. A resident who says they were put out of their home blames Hsieh's hotel purchases. More is on the Silicon Valley page.

The teams

The autumn moods split by city. Chargers podcasts work in different registers. Guilty As Charged: An LA Chargers Podcast posted Chargers Choke Away Fourth Quarter, Fall To 0-5. Bleav in Chargers pairs fullback Lorenzo Neal with Matt "Money" Smith. Chargers Talk 4630, hosted by Stacy, argues for building around Justin Herbert. Meanwhile, Locked On 49ers - Daily Podcast On The San Francisco 49ers is hosted by Brian Peacock and former NFL player Eric Crocker.

On D-Lo & KC, Sacramento sports radio from Damien Barling and Kenny Caraway, a debate over whether Devin Carter could thrive elsewhere becomes a verdict on "what goes on here in Sacramento." Padres Hot Tub, with Craig Elsten, hosted Rep. Mike Levin, who called the Dodgers' payroll situation ridiculous. Its titles mention a Cubs wild-card series and a Brewers NLDS. On KNBR's Dirty Work, one host welcomes a benches-clearing finish against the Reds: "I'm all for a little bad blood." The Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego and Sacramento pages go further.

Along the Central Coast

Up + Adam with Adam Montiel treats the Central Coast as a town square. In Corey Jordan: Inside Paso Robles Jazz Fest, Libretto’s Intimate Music Culture & AMSTRDM Breaking News | Up+Adam, Montiel previews a festival finale featuring a $380,000 Steinway. Jordan announces that his coffee shop is taking over the old Thomas Hill Organics space, with partners from Templeton's Kitchenette.

Where to start

• For a first listen: Ear Hustle, My Favorite Color, for the chapel call and what it took to arrange.
• For a family's view of a crime: Firebug, Chapter Nine | Family Secrets.
• For courtroom true crime: The Trials of Frank Carson, The lawyer and the thief | 1.
• For a policy fight: So, Does It Matter? - on CA Politics - Podcasts!, Straight Talk with Hoover Institution's Josh Rauh: California’s Billionaire Wealth Tax Could Backfire Badly.
• For business with consequences: The Cost of Happiness, No Dogs in the Dog Park | Chapter 7.

The California feed on this page plays clips from these shows.