Up + Adam with Adam Montiel

On this True Crime Tuesday, Adam sits down with Zoe Rosenberg, an animal rights activist from San Luis Obispo who’s no stranger to headlines. From being tackled on an NBA court to getting arrested at Cal Poly at just 15, Zoe’s activism has been bold, controversial, and now convicted.

In her first exclusive local interview, Zoe talks about the felony charges she just caught for taking chickens from a Petaluma poultry facility. She ca...

Today on Up+Adam, we’re joined by powerhouse actress and author Marianne Leone. You may know her as Joanne Moltisanti on The Sopranos, or from working with legendary directors like Martin Scorsese, John Sayles, and Nancy Savoca. But today, she’s with us as the author of one of the most irreverent, heartfelt, and hilarious novels to come my way in a long time.

In this episode, Marianne opens up about her new book, Christina the Aston...

On this Halloween episode of Up+Adam, Amy Hargreaves and Landry Bender drop in with a thriller built for tonight. Self-Help follows a young woman who goes undercover inside a self-actualization community to pull her mother away from its dangerously charismatic leader. We talk about power, persuasion, and the thin line between guidance and gaslighting. Amy and Landry open up about the scenes that rattled them, what they protected as...

What does it mean to tell a powerful story with no words? In this episode of Up+Adam, Adam Montiel sits down with Theresa Slobodnik and Blair London, the powerhouse duo behind Ballet Theatre San Luis Obispo (BT-SLO). Theresa, a lifelong choreographer and artistic director, and Blair, a retired engineering professor turned ballet teacher, are proving that ballet isn't just an art form. It’s a soulful, emotional experience that can m...

In this episode of Up+Adam, Adam Montiel welcomes Karla Langner, owner of Central Coast Bride and the creative powerhouse behind the San Luis Obispo Fall Wedding Expo. Whether you're newly engaged or just deep in the Pinterest-scroll phase, this conversation is your permission slip to breathe. Karla breaks down why this isn't just a wedding expo. It’s an experience.

From VIP swag bags to signature cocktails, from meeting the region’...

In this episode of Up+Adam, we welcome award-winning author and cultural historian Jeff Chang for a powerful conversation about his upcoming book, Water Mirror Echo: Bruce Lee and the Making of Asian America.

This isn’t just about Bruce Lee the legend, it’s about the human behind the icon. The immigrant. The artist. The man navigating masculinity, identity, and expectation in a world that demanded he be a symbol before he could even...

What do you get when you think you're interviewing Lin-Manuel Miranda… but instead end up with the scholar who might know him even better?

In this episode of Up+Adam, Adam Montiel sits down with Daniel Pollack-Pelzner - New Yorker contributor, Shakespeare scholar, and author of Lin-Manuel Miranda: The Education of an Artist. Daniel spent years talking with over 150 people from Lin’s world, his family, mentors, collaborators, and Lin...

What do you get when you combine aerospace engineering with live comedy? You get Dane Larkin. As Director and founding board member of the Central Coast Comedy Theater, Dane is helping to shape a community where laughter isn’t just entertainment, it’s healing. From designing rocket thrust-vectoring systems in college to now teaching improv two nights a week, Dane brings left-brain brilliance and right-brain heart to the local arts ...

Grenache Giddy-Up at The Loading Chute Barn

Creston is calling. One grape in three colors - Paso powerhouses pouring in Creston. One grape in three colors inside the Loading Chute Barn. Meghan Ball and Kristen Parker join Adam to talk why Grenache hits in white, rosé, and red, who is pouring, what to pair with a Chute bite, and how that barn turns into a Sunday afternoon party.

Event details

• Sunday, October 26, 2:00 to 4:30 p.m.
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Delta Force to Bestseller: The Brad Taylor Debrief

In this episode of Up+Adam, we step into the shadows with Brad Taylor, former Delta Force commander and New York Times bestselling author whose thrillers hit harder because they come from real-world experience. With 21 years in the Army, including eight inside the elite and secretive 1st Special Forces Operational Detachment–Delta, Brad knows exactly how modern conflict moves… quiet...

On today's episode of Up+Adam, Adam sits down with Jonathan Goldstein, the creator and host of the acclaimed podcast Heavyweight. Known for helping real people revisit the moments that still weigh on them—lost friendships, family fallouts, the apology that never happened—Jonathan brings his signature mix of humor, depth, and emotional precision to a conversation that’s part storytelling masterclass, part human excavation.

They talk ...

What if the mountain in front of you wasn’t meant to break you, but to build you?

On today’s episode of Up+Adam, Adam Montiel sits down with Joshua Rosa, a nationally recognized speaker, author, and the voice behind the powerful podcast Made For This Mountain. Joshua shares his journey through trauma, redemption, and obedience, inviting listeners into a deeper understanding of faith, failure, and healing.

Raised in New Jersey by a pr...

She’s photographed the gods of rock, from Pink Floyd and Bob Dylan to Amy Winehouse and Leonard Cohen, and somehow, in the eye of Britpop’s loudest storm, she captured the rise and fall of Oasis like no one else ever could.

In this episode of Up+Adam, award-winning music photographer Jill Furmanovsky joins Adam to talk about her stunning new book, Oasis: Trying to Find a Way Out of Nowhere, created in collaboration with Noel Gallagh...

What happens when a football team becomes a time capsule for a country on the edge of change? In this episode, Adam sits down with award-winning journalist and author David Fleming to unpack A Big Mess in Texas, the jaw-dropping, hilarious, and deeply human true story of the 1952 Dallas Texans.

You don’t have to know a first down from a fumble to love this story. Whether you're a sports fan or not, this one grabs you with its chaos,...

In this #TrueCrimeTuesday episode of Up+Adam, Adam Montiel goes deep Inside the Cartel with former FBI Special Agent Martin Suarez, the man known inside the Bureau as its most prolific undercover operative in FBI history, and Ian Frisch, the acclaimed journalist who helped him bring his untold story to life.

For 23 years, Suarez lived as “Manny,” infiltrating a Colombian narco empire, smuggling $1 billion in cocaine, and laundering ...

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Continuing with Artober coverage on Up+Adam, we’re diving into the whimsical and slightly wicked world of Hansel and Gretel, but not the b...

What happens when the dream of reality TV becomes a nightmare? In this episode of Up+Adam, broadcaster Adam Montiel sits down with award-winning journalist and podcast host Bridget Armstrong to talk about her hit investigative series, Curse of: America’s Next Top Model.

Bridget takes us behind the scenes of one of the most iconic and controversial shows of the early 2000s, peeling back the glamorous facade to reveal a world of contr...

Part of our month-long ARTober on Up+Adam series

This week on Up+Adam, Adam welcomes Andrew Sewell, the visionary conductor and Music Director of the San Luis Obispo Symphony, for a rich and revealing conversation about the power of music, the art of conducting, and the emotional undercurrent of performance. From the magic of the baton to the subtle skill of knowing when to disappear into the music, Andrew shares what it really take...

She’s been possessed, kidnapped, cloned, and married more times than we can count, and we’ve loved her for every second of it. On this episode of Up+Adam, Adam Montiel sits down with the incomparable Deidre Hall, the woman behind one of television’s most iconic characters: Dr. Marlena Evans of Days of Our Lives.

As Days celebrates its upcoming induction into the Broadcasting & Cable Hall of Fame, Deidre reflects on her nearly 50...