Martina Castro

We rely on a large dose of passion to do what we do at KALW, so we want to honor those around the Bay who do the same – for their work, families, neighborhoods, etc. Help us find them!

Maybe it's your child's teacher who goes the extra mile, the owner of your local corner store who goes out of his or her way to keep customers happy...whoever comes to mind, let us know, and we might feature them on the air.  

Just leave us your nomination on our tipline at (415) 264-7106. 

This morning, thousands of young undocumented immigrants became eligible for temporary legal status due to the implementation of President Obama's policy, Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, which is considered the most expansive immigration policy to take effect in the past 25 years. The federal initiative grants access to work permits and temporary protection from deportation to undocumented immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

There’s talk that we’re in the midst of a second tech boom in San Francisco. Twitter is opening its new headquarters in the Central Market district and residents are buzzing about what’s to come. Mayor Ed Lee has been courting start-ups since he came into office, hoping they’ll bring thousands of new jobs to the city.

So far in KALW News’ series of conversations about sound, we’ve taken you to the planetarium of the California Academy of Sciences, and to the unique San Francisco sound theater called Audium.

For this segment of “Audiophiles,“ where we talk with the most creative minds working in sound, we want you to close your eyes and imagine you've walked into a diner…

MARTINA CASTRO: You go up to the jukebox, throw in your quarter and pick a random song. It sounds like a pretty cool song, but listen closely…

Generally, pornography isn’t something that comes up in casual conversation. It’s a taboo topic for obvious reasons – but local author Stephen Elliott says this means people know very little about the people who work in that industry, and often consider them victims or bad people. In his twenties, Elliott was a stripper in his hometown, Chicago, and he's part of the sex worker community here in San Francisco. He and his friend Lorelei Lee, an adult film star, decided to co-write a screenplay that would share their perspective of what it’s like to work in porn.