Exploring the evolving identity of the American West. Produced by Wyoming Public Media and PRX.
An unflinching look at the American West--its problematic history, its modern-day struggles and resilience, and how its present and future are being shaped.
07/02/2025
The Gray In Between is taking a quick break this week to share another podcast with you. It’s all about why teachers are leaving the profession and produced by our former sound designer, Charles Fournier. I’m also the editor on this project! Highly recommend.
The Modern West presents Those Who Can't Teach Anymore Season 2
This time, an episode from another podcast we care a lot about. It’s called Those Who Can’t Teach Anymore, produced by Charles Fournier, the former sound designer of the Modern West.
Our latest episode takes a ride deep into the National Elk Refuge to find out about how chronic wasting disease is banging at the door here. Take a listen and let us know what you think.
Coming out Tuesday – Wasting Away – Episode 6 of The Modern West
Hop in a pickup as we head out into the National Elk Refuge outside Jackson, WY to hear all about the debate over whether to wean elk off winter feeding before chronic wasting disease strikes.
My episode about Pinedale Roundup editor Cali O'Hare and how she manages when her entire staff is laid off by her corporate publisher. And what happens when major global news breaks on her watch. Take a listen and let me know what you think!
05/14/2025
Woohoo!
Wyoming Public Media has been awarded three prestigious Regional Edward R. awards. Congratulations to Caitlin Tan and Melodie Edwards!
🏆Excellence in Sound - Beavers do it best. Humans recreate the animal’s engineering to restore a waterway in Sweetwater County
🏆Hard News - Anthrax. Cattle. Ranchers. Government mistrust. The fallout of Elk Mountain’s rare disease outbreak
🏆News Documentary - Wolves #2101 and #2301: Part Three of High Altitude Tales
“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” - Edward Murrow
05/07/2025
A brave and amazing new episode by WPR's own Caitlin Tan. Take a listen.
04/29/2025
Need some road tripping storytelling as you cross the American West? You’re welcome.
Listen to Podcasts from the West!
Reporting on Ecosystems, Nature, Economy and Indigenous issues: WyomingPublicMedia.org click on Podcasts.
Photo by Howie Garber
02/08/2024
On December 14, just two weeks before the two year anniversary of the Marshall Fire, The Modern West hosted a panel over Facebook Live. We featured Ariel’s family and friends, who you’ll recognize from The Burn Scar, along with someone from Paradise, California, who survived the fire that raged through that community.
The panel offered our guests an opportunity to share their experience of living through climate disaster, and presented a look toward the future. In this special bonus episode, we share an edited version of this panel discussion and give you a unique perspective on living in a climate crisis.
Listen: apple.co/4bteBwU
01/25/2024
Ariel makes the trip out to see the new construction of her family home. But it's nothing like the one that burned down in the Marshall Fire. Her feeling of solastalgia is long gone.
"It's clear to me that this place doesn't resemble my childhood home at all," says Ariel. "The feeling I had of familiarity isn't really here anymore."
It's the final episode of . Listen now: apple.co/48OPUcG
01/23/2024
What happens when green building codes – designed to help fight climate change by lowering emissions – make rebuilding after a climate disaster prohibitively pricy?
Listen to Part 4 of now: apple.co/48vyDF6
01/11/2024
Ariel's family and neighbors are starting to rebuild after the Marshall Fire destroyed their homes. But now new green building codes are making it super expensive.
Ariel's brother is dubious. "It's really elitist," he says. "It's saying if you can't afford any of this, you're not going to live here."
Listen to Part 4 of : apple.co/48vyDF6
01/02/2024
In Part 3 of , Ariel, her family, and neighbors try to figure out the science behind what caused the Marshall Fire.
"Mom doesn't think any of this is a test," she says. "My parents are scientists, researchers, and they raised me to evaluate the evidence."
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Winner of a 2020 Edward R. Murrow award for Best Documentary, The Modern West story takes listeners on a sound-rich journey into some of America’s most iconic landscapes to discover the people and places shaping the American West’s present and future.
Writer Wallace Stegner called the West “the native home of hope” because it’s here we’re striving to create a society to match our scenery. In the shadows of that scenery, our cities grow, our small towns shrink, our ranches are consolidated, our National Parks overflow.
Yet, as Westerners, we continue to feel deeply connected to our mountains, prairies, forests, and deserts. It’s what we came for (or our great-great grandparents came for) and it’s why we don’t plan to leave, no matter the boom or bust.
Guided by host Melodie Edwards’ personal connection to the region, The Modern West seeks out the people who still believe that the West is the native home of hope.
We’re digging deep, searching out diverse perspectives that recognize not only the origin stories of this place but also its darkest days. And as a new vision for the future forms, The Modern West podcast is here to document the evolving identity of the American West.
