The Finest

At a live taping of KPBS' Sun Drenched Sounds music series, three San Diego artists share music and the stories behind it. Divina talks about building her own sound through live looping and production, and how a song she heard as a child helped shape her artistic path. James Spaite reflects on growing up in the church, wrestling with faith and channeling philosophy a...

Why is everyone suddenly playing mahjong? From neighborhood meetups to viral social media posts, interest in the game is growing fast. This episode explores mahjong's history, its roots in the Chinese diaspora and the ways families and communities have carried traditions across generations. Through a night of learning Filipino-style mahjong in San Diego, we look at h...

Pokémon started as something simple: trading cards on the playground, Game Boys passed around between friends and the dream of catching 'em all. Thirty years later, it's the highest-grossing media franchise in the world — and Pokémon cards have become big business.

In this episode, collecto...

Long before San Diego became defined by freeways, parking shortages and long commutes, electric streetcars connected the region's urban core to beaches, business districts and growing neighborhoods more than 100 years ago.

In this episode, KPBS metro reporter Andrew Bowen talks with The Finest ab...

San Diego skateboarder Brandon Turner moved up quickly in the sport, moving from local skate spots to major sponsorships and world tours. From skateboarding prodigy to rock bottom, now he's redefining addiction recovery and constantly evolving his understanding of control, identity and success.

The Iran many Americans see is often defined by conflict. But for those who grew up there and those who carry its traditions abroad, the story is far more layered. Artist Maryam Bayat turns Persian rugs into immersive sculptures, drawing on memories of her childhood in Iran, from bustling cities to quiet forests. Writer Zohreh (Zoe) Ghahremani and illustrator Susie G...

In this rebroadcast from Season 1, we explore  how the streaming era has changed music — not just for the people who make it, but also for us as listeners. 

For indie musicians like Julianna Zachariou, Spotify has made music more accessible than ever — but at a cost. With p...

What is a prop?

For Deb Hatch, it's almost everything. After more than 40 years working in theater, including decades at La Jolla Playhouse

Ahmad Joudeh risked his life to dance, performing in a refugee camp while ISIS fighters targeted him. The act of defiance, captured on video, made him known worldwide. But fame came with a cost. He became a symbol he never wanted to be. In this episode, Ahmad tells the full story in his own words, from growing up stateless in Syria and navigating the complexities of identity to starting the camp's...

What's growing in your backyard?

In San Diego, one of America's most biodiverse regions, the answer is more complicated than you might think. It's home to roughly 3,000 plant species, with many still undocumented.

Matcha has become a worldwide sensation. The bright green powdered tea now appears in lattes, smoothies, desserts and viral foods across social media feeds. Demand has surged so quickly that producers in Japan are struggling to keep up. But matcha's story didn't begin in a cafe. For centuries, the tea has been at the center of a carefully choreographed ritual known as the tea ceremony, a practice ...

Lou Curtiss dedicated his life to preserving forgotten music — and now his extraordinary personal collection is being shared with the community he nurtured for decades. At Folk Arts Rare Records, thousands of vinyl records, CDs, tapes and rare recordings are being unboxed, cataloged and placed on shelves for music lovers to explore and purchase. In t...

Content note: This episode contains discussion of suicide and domestic abuse. If you or someone you know needs support, call or text 988 for the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline.

This episode is a special feed share from One of Their Own, a KPBS true crime podcast created and hosted by KPBS racial justice and social equity reporter Katie Hyson. In 2018, 25-year-old San Diego police officer Ciara Estrada was found dead in her apartment ...

San Diego's Topeka Clementine brought the KPBS patio to life with a performance as part of the Sundrenched Sounds live music series — spontaneous, communal and emotionally charged. Blending sharp storytelling with sing-along moments and unexpected humor, the set moved seamlessly between intimate confession and collective call to action. We sat down a...

The bold, joyful sculptures of Niki de Saint Phalle are woven into San Diego’s landscape, even if many people don’t know her name. In this episode, we explore the life and legacy of the artist behind Queen Califia’s Magical Circle, the Sun God at UC San Diego and the beloved Nikigator in Balboa Park. After decades of boundary-breaking art and personal hardship, Niki came to San D...

Jessica Sanchez grew up in the South Bay, the daughter of Filipino and Mexican American parents. Her mother says she started singing as soon as she could talk. By age 10, Jessica was performing all over San Diego's South Bay, including her local Seafood City grocery store, before taking the national stage on the very first season of "America's Got Talent."...

Elizabeth "Ely" Rosales Aguilar has built Raíz Chocolate from her San Diego home kitchen, turning a childhood love of chocolate into a small but thriving business. She carefully sources Mexican cacao and crafts silky bars and rich drinking chocolates, like champurrado, using recipes passed down ...

Risograph printing was built for efficiency — a fast, economical way to make thousands of identical copies for offices, churches and schools. It was never meant to be expressive or personal. After newer technology pushed the machine into obsolescence, artists began discovering risography — drawn to its unpredictability, physicality and limits. From a squa...