Podcasts about Idaho, United States

In July 2026, Here We Have Idaho titled an episode Marijuana: the final conclusion in Idaho. In it, one host, talking to co-host Tom Luna, called a failed medical marijuana act "one of the most radical ones." The question did not stay settled. Later in The Neal Larson Show's 9.2.2026 - Social Media Silos | Idaho’s Culture Fight | Marijuana Amendment, a caller named Phil came on the line: "I disagree with that last caller. I used to be a pot smoker. I quit about a year ago."

That exchange is a fair way into Idaho listening right now. Some shows here are radio programs. They argue live with callers and texters, and their arguments keep returning to one question: who gets to write the rules. Ballot measures, the attorney general's reach, Medicaid eligibility and the school funding formula all come up, and the shows do not agree on the answers.

The backdrop gives those arguments weight. In September 2026, Idaho Capital Sun reported that state agencies' forthcoming budget requests largely maintained earlier cuts. The same month, BoiseDev reported that the Boise School District was considering school closures amid declining enrollment. The quieter podcasts respond to that pressure by slowing down and explaining.

What Idaho is

Idaho is a mountainous U.S. state that contains part of the Rocky Mountains. It has about 82,645 square miles of land and an estimated 2,029,733 residents as of July 2025. Its economy includes agriculture, manufacturing, mining, forestry, technology and tourism, and potatoes are its best-known agricultural product. For the country around it, see the United States page.

Talk radio and the Statehouse

Neal Larson and Julie Mason broadcast The Neal Larson Show on News Talk 107.9. Its October 2026 episode titles read like a ballot guide: the governor's race, Proposition 1, initiative signatures going public, a church's million-dollar donation opposing Prop 1.

The episodes themselves are looser. In 9.3.2026 - New Idaho Spider | Consumer Robots Coming | Flock | Lake America Over-reaction, the hosts read an account of a new spider species found in north central Idaho. Then they laugh at East Idaho News for overlaying a graphic of spiders crawling across the screen. Later in the same episode, the show defends its position on Flock cameras and asks critics to "be grown up enough to not mischaracterize what we're saying." Then it thanks a listener for a box of donuts.

The Neal Larson Show is opinion radio, and one host says they have "always been a conservative." It still argues with its own side. In 3.31.2026 - Parental Transparency, Attorney General Power, Culture & Family, the hosts voice strong reservations about a civil enforcement bill. They worry that the power it grants "is too easily weaponized by the wrong person in that job."

Here We Have Idaho works more like a reception room. Tom Luna and Victor Miller host half-hour conversations on KSPD, and the show's closing notes that the two hosts sponsor it themselves. Their recent episode titles run down the fall ballot, from an ACHD commissioner candidate to the Ada County coroner race.

The conversations are warm, and the guests talk at length. Desi Burbank, a Senate District 15 candidate, describes moving from a rural Oklahoma district and being amazed by the school options in West Ada. Representative John Vander Woude explains how Medicaid re-verification has moved from yearly to every six months. Expect explanation here rather than pushback.

Idaho Reports, a public policy show centred on the Statehouse, takes an explanatory line. In one episode, a speaker describes the executive order on federal forest management that Governor Little signed in Coeur d'Alene.

Farther north, North Idaho Now reads headlines from the Panhandle's newspapers. Its most recent episodes date from 2024, so treat it as an archive. In one episode, the host recalls a collapsed barn on the Rathdrum prairie as "a fixture of my childhood." In another, the host reports that the entire Cataldo Water District board resigned after recall petitions.

Schools, budgets and the formula

Idaho Education: Unpacked does the patient work the call-in shows skip. Hosts Katie McGuire and Alexis Morgan are mothers. Early in The funding formula– why it matters for Idaho schools and students, one of them sings the quadratic formula. Then they explain the formula that allocates more than $2.5 billion to districts and charter schools, define an FTE, and describe how a school can become "the middleman" between the state and families.

Their four-day week episode is sharper still. It sets what school decision-makers believe against what RAND researchers found. Stakeholders believe attendance improves, and the researchers found no difference. Stakeholders think the schedule saves 4 to 12 percent, and RAND did not find those savings. In January 2026, the hosts noted that Governor Little and others had said education would be spared from cuts, "but we're not sure if that will be the case."

The Kevin Richert Podcast, from Idaho EdNews, is a reporter asking follow-up questions. Its newest episode dates from January 2026. In Episode 102: A conversation with Derek Bub, released in September 2025, West Ada's Derek Bub compares reopening schools to starting a lawnmower after winter. Pressed on the state budget, he says K-12 was spared the holdbacks but career-technical education was not.

The teams

Prater & The Ballgame is Boise's version of the same live room, pointed at Boise State. Mike Prater and Johnny "Ballgame" Mallory host Idaho Sports Talk on KTIK.

The episode to hear is TWO FORMER BOISE STATE ATHLETES - ONE ELITE ATHLETIC FAMILY. It follows former Bronco quarterback Nate Sparks and his wife Debbie, who stayed in Meridian and raised a son headed to professional hockey and a daughter headed to LSU gymnastics. The hosts say they think she is the only five-star athlete ever to come out of Idaho.

In Prater & The Ballgame's AC BOISE SOCCER: BOISE NATIVE - AND A DREAM COME TRUE SATURDAY NIGHT, Brad Stiff of the new club's ownership group explains a stadium opening with 7,000 to 8,000 seats and room to grow to 25,000. In his account, that growth is how a team keeps pace with a growing city.

Tubs At The Club covers the University of Idaho. Its hosts are Brian Marceau and Dallas Hammer, helped by producer Marten Hiemstra. Spring 2026 handed them a story: in Idaho Men’s & Women’s Basketball Sweep #StarchMadness, both Vandal teams win the conference tournament in Boise. The hosts note the women's 18-game winning streak and that the program had never won an NCAA tournament game. They call their own production "amateur hour," and they swear freely.

History, land and faith

Behind Gray Walls tells stories from the Old Idaho State Penitentiary. In Stool Pigeon Saturday - Daniel Neal, a speaker traces how the war years of 1918 may have shaped one prisoner's pardon attempt. The speaker offers a reading carefully, prefacing it with "I think." On It's Worth Mentioning, a speaker recalls her grandfather taking Jimmy Carter on a five-day float trip.

On The Nature of Idaho, Peter Pruett and Leif Tapanila hear how a mobile museum reached just over 6,400 visitors by starting at the top of the state and working south. A BYU-Idaho Radio episode with an outdoor journalist explains sage grouse leks, including one near St. Anthony that now has a road through it. "The desert is not a dump," a speaker says. The same feed carries devotional addresses, such as Justin Collings on Joseph Smith and education.

Idaho Matters is the Boise public affairs show Gemma Gaudette hosts on Boise State Public Radio. In Idaho Matters Doctor Roundtable: April 15, 2026, a speaker describes researchers who uploaded fabricated studies to test whether AI systems would spot the fakes.

Where to start

• If you like your politics argued live: The Neal Larson Show, 3.31.2026 - Parental Transparency, Attorney General Power, Culture & Family, where hosts doubt a bill.
• For parents weighing a school calendar: Idaho Education: Unpacked, The four-day school week: where it came from and what it looks like for families.
• For Boise sports fans: Prater & The Ballgame, TWO FORMER BOISE STATE ATHLETES - ONE ELITE ATHLETIC FAMILY, a family story more than a stat sheet.
• For a believer in the Vandals: Tubs At The Club, Idaho Men’s & Women’s Basketball Sweep #StarchMadness.
• For the patient listener: Behind Gray Walls, Stool Pigeon Saturday - Daniel Neal. Listen for how the speaker thinks a war may have shaped one man's fate inside the walls.

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