Shoresides
A local solutions journalism podcast by and for BIPOC communities in coastal North Carolina. Through news stories, interviews, updates, and special programs we keep you engaged with local news from across the region. Shoresides News is a nonprofit newsroom covering the stories that matter most to coastal North Carolina. Got a question or a tip? Reach out to our team at info@shoresides.org. Shoresides News is made possible through community support. To help sustain this vital local reporting, visit https://givebutter.com/shoresides
Episodes
As the effects of H.R. 1 ripple across the country, North Carolinians are feeling the strain of new SNAP work requirements and a month-long government shutdown. In this episode of Shoresides, host Nicolas Magrino speaks with Emily Kraft and Andrea Cherry of the Food Bank of Central and Eastern North Carolina about how policy uncertainty is reshaping the state’s hunger relief network. Kraft and Cherry describe rising d...
As the holidays approach, sweetpotatoes are finding their way onto tables across America — but nowhere are they more rooted than in North Carolina. For more than half a century, the state has led the nation in sweetpotato production, shaping both its economy and its culture. In this episode, host Layna Hong travels through eastern North Carolina’s fields to uncover why this region is so perfectly suited for the crop, ...
Take a slow listen to coastal North Carolina. This Shoresides soundscape moves through ordinary places that shape life along the coast — the surf at Wrightsville Beach, a trawler crossing the Intracoastal, a walk through the pines at Carolina Beach, frogs calling from Greenfield Lake, and the background hum of a favorite local restaurant.
These everyday sounds trace a portrait of place — familiar, shifting, and alive. ...
Along North Carolina’s coast, shrimping isn’t just an industry — it’s a way of life. This summer, a proposed state ban on shrimp trawling nearly upended that tradition. The measure, added quietly to an unrelated bill, would have outlawed the practice of dragging nets across the sea floor to catch shrimp in the state’s sounds.
When word got out, local fishers pushed back — and won. Now, they’re organizing through the ne...
In this episode of Storm Stories, Shoresides talks with Joe Friday—longtime meteorologist, former director of the National Weather Service—about how staffing shortages and fewer weather balloon launches have recently made forecasts less precise, a dangerous situation with two hurricanes spinning off our Coasts.
Friday reflects on the pressure on forecasters, the human connections that make emergency warnings work, and...
In this episode of Shoresides, we talk with sports-betting expert Steve Bittenbender about the impacts of legal mobile sports betting in North Carolina. We explore what betting apps like FanDuel and DraftKings (and their tax dollars) mean for the future of local college basketball teams, like the Seahawks, as well as for residents seeking help with problem gambling.
Steve Bittenbender:
As more people move to the N.C. coast—and winters grow warmer—human encounters with alligators are on the rise in North Carolina. In this episode, Shoresides speaks with John Henry Harrelson, district wildlife biologist with the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Commission, about the challenges of “alligator season,” the launch of the new Gator Wise program, and why keeping gators wild is key to keeping people safe.
This episode, Shoresides captures a pivotal moment in AI policy as North Carolina State Representative Zack Hawkins discusses a federal proposal that would have blocked state-level AI regulation for a decade and drew bipartisan criticism. Speaking to Shoresides during the final hours of budget negotiations—before federal lawmakers would ultimately strip the moratorium from the bill—Hawkins warns about the risks of fed...
When a false shark sighting shut down Carolina Beach, the confusion that followed revealed something deeper: how much we rely on the local National Weather Service office and its communication networks to keep coastal communities safe. In this episode, Shoresides speaks with Stephen Pfaff, meteorologist-in-charge at the NWS-Wilmington, about the challenges of misinformation, the delicate partnerships that power coasta...
Public radio stations across North Carolina — especially in rural and coastal communities — are facing devastating funding cuts following the passage of the Rescissions Act of 2025. That includes WRVS in Elizabeth City, which could lose up to 70% of its funding. What does that mean for you and your neighbors? No local tornado warnings. No emergency alerts. No hometown voices spinning music, sharing stories, and delive...
When alligators show up in swimming pools, under cars, or at the local Bojangles drive-through, Kate Marshall gets the call. As Southport's jurisdictional alligator handler, she's seen relocations quadruple this year alone. She tells Shoresides all about what it's like.
Helpful Links
Lately, the town of Southport, North Carolina has had some excitement, 20 alligator removals since May, setting a new record. For a resident named Bonner Herring and his trusty Labrador Strike, that almost ended in tragedy. In this episode, Shoresides catches up with them to hear their story and to wonder about the prospect of increased human-alligator conflict in coastal communities.
Here are five key things to know a...
In this episode of Shoreside, host Nicholas Merino explores the long-standing struggle for food access in Wilmington’s Northside neighborhood—classified by the USDA as a food desert. But as guest Sierra Washington, Executive Director of the Northside Food Co-Op, explains, “desert” doesn’t begin to capture the systemic inequality at play. Instead, she and many others call it “food apartheid”—the result of deliberate di...
In this final episode of Temperature Check: Coastal Edition, host Natalia Sanchez Loayza steps into one of North Carolina’s most cherished traditions: high school sports. But instead of focusing on touchdowns and rivalries, she takes us behind the scenes to examine how climate change is reshaping the very conditions under which student athletes train and compete.
In this episode of Temperature Check: Coastal Edition, host Natalia Sanchez Loayza takes us on a journey into the heart of rural North Carolina alongside Jeanette Tapia, outreach coordinator for the North Carolina Farmworkers Project in Harnett County. We spend the day in the field witnessing firsthand the dedication and determination of a team working to protect the health of the state’s most vulnerable labor force: ...
In this episode of Temperature Check: Coastal Edition, host Natalia Sanchez Loayza shifts the focus inland to explore the profound impact of climate change on North Carolina’s farm workers. She speaks with Mario Vargas, coordinator of the North Carolina offices of the Farm Labor Organizing Committee (FLOC) and the Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice (CMWJ).
Born in Tamaulipas, Mexico, Vargas began working in the fields...
In this episode of Temperature Check: Coastal Edition, host Natalia Sanchez Loayza dives beneath the surface to explore how climate change is disrupting marine life and infrastructure along North Carolina’s coast. She’s joined by Dr. Jane Harrison, an environmental economist at NC State University, whose personal story and professional research illuminate the complex intersections of climate, economy, and community.
Dr...
In this introductory episode of Temperature Check: Coastal Edition, hosted by Natalia Sanchez Loayza, we explore the impacts of extreme heat in coastal North Carolina. Natalia speaks with Jordan Clark, a climatologist and senior policy associate at the Heat Policy Innovation Hub and the Water Policy Program at the Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment & Sustainability at Duke University, about how extreme hea...
In Robeson County, North Carolina—home to some of the state’s highest youth violence rates—community-led prevention efforts were working. Until they weren’t.
In this episode of Shoresides, host Nicolas Magrino speaks with Paul Smokowski, founding executive director of the North Carolina Youth Violence Prevention Center (NC-YVPC), and Leon Burden, lead violence interrupter and founder of the nonprofit Colors of Life. To...
In this episode of Shoresides, we follow a community-led effort to uncover chemical contamination, protect public health, and rethink how we communicate environmental risk in places where food insecurity runs deep.
Read more about this issue: Subsistence Fish Consumption on the Lower Cape Fear River (PDF)
Support Shoresides’ local storytelling. Your gift helps us amplify coastal voices: https://givebutter.com/to7a...
Popular Podcasts
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
The official podcast of comedian Joe Rogan.
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.