An honest yet unflinching look at American politics is what KRUI’s American Reason is all about. Tuning in on Sundays from 4-5, you won’t find music. Instead you’ll get two friends with a serious passion for everything about politics, debating the issues closest to America’s collective heart. Their mission is simple: find the truth within the story. Host Matt Sowada says the show’s mission statement is “to be an insightful yet intellectually honest source for political discourse, and to not be afraid to inflame passion in people.”
Sowada and co-host Vik Patel both come from science backgrounds, and this is clear from their meticulous source research. They comb through thousands of news articles from sources such as slate.com, NationalReview.com, PBS Newshour, the New York Times, and many others. Sowada counts The Daily Show as a favorite of his for unbiased news. The point, though, is to find the absolute truth, to do this they use official reports and legal documents far more than releases from major news outlets. Like America itself, American Reason comes from an unassuming background with a simple mission in mind. During the 2008 election season, both men realized that their political discussions could be the stuff of great radio, and took to making podcasts as a sort of training grounds.
Eventually, they landed a show on KRUI. Their early days were difficult, but hard work has paid off. American Reason is now teaming up with Little Village, Iowa City’s News and Culture Magazine, to provide exclusive content every week. They are also hosting “Little Village Live,” which is a monthly live radio broadcast from Public Space 1. The show has also seen its fair share of guests, including Iowa Representative David Jacoby and Francis Thicke during his campaign for Secretary of Agriculture. They don’t plan on limiting guests to only those of political nature though, because Patel believes “politics touches every aspect of life, and limiting our show to political guests only would prevent us from truly examining the way it affects us.”
They also love listener feedback, so get involved by listening to their podcasts.
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