Small Lake City
Small Talk, Big City
Join host Erik Nilsson as he interviews the entrepreneurs, creators, and builders making Salt Lake City the best place it can be. Covering topics such as business, politics, art, food, and more you will get to know the amazing people behind the scenes investing their time and money to improve the place we call home.
Follow along for more!
Episodes
188 episodes
A Murder Verdict, A Pulled Bachelorette Season, And Utah Back In The Spotlight
A bachelorette season vanishes three days before it airs. A Utah murder case ends with a fast jury decision. People are reportedly seen in handcuffs at the Salt Lake City airport. If you felt like Utah hit the national feed on every app at once...
•
10:16
The Mystery of Fun Time Kidz Kare: What is this Place Really?
A neon green building with purple doors shouldn’t feel terrifying, but for years Salt Lake City drivers couldn’t shake the same question: why does a “working daycare” look abandoned, silent, and sealed off from the world? Fun Time Kidz Kare at ...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 8
•
14:17
.png)
Tuesday Update 3/17: Discord Launch Plus, The Biggest Salt Lake Stories This Week, and This Week's Conspiracy Deep Dive Episode
•
8:35
Vault Episode 13: Howard Lyon
A good life in art rarely follows a straight line. We sit down with fine artist Howard Lyon—whose work spans Magic: The Gathering, Dungeons & Dragons, and the worlds of Brandon Sanderson—to trace a path that runs from a tech-filled childhoo...
•
1:45:13
How Weather, Budgets, And Culture Collide In Utah Right Now
Headlines don’t always line up neatly, but this week in Utah they traced a clear arc from climate reality to civic choices and the culture that holds us together. We start with Salt Lake City’s warmest winter in roughly 150 years—February feeli...
•
6:40
S2, E7: Brendan Nicholson - Momentum Climbing Gyms
What happens when a lifelong climber with an artist’s eye and a designer’s brain gets the keys to build the gyms he always wished existed? We sit down with Momentum Climbing’s creative director, Brendan Nicholson, to chart the leap from medical...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 7
•
43:14
Tuesday Announcements 2/25: Earthquakes, Dirty Sodas, And The Guy Making You Fall Off Plastic Holds
The week hit hard: reports of a gunman targeting Imam Shuab Din, a fresh wave of controversy over Prop 4 signatures, and courts signaling the redistricting fight is nearly done. Add a new constitutional court fast-tracking hot-button cases, mea...
•
8:18
S2, E6: Keven Johnson - Johnson Natural Beef
What happens when a fifth-generation ranch kid earns a PhD in molecular biology and decides to rebuild the bridge between land and table? We sit down with Keven Johnson to unpack how a century-old Wyoming ranch now feeds Utah families and top r...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 6
•
50:27
.png)
Tuesday Announcements 2/17: Earthquakes, Politics, And A Castle You Can Buy
A hard choice came first: I pulled a planned conversation after learning about alleged misconduct tied to the guest. That accountability moment set the tone for a brisk, honest tour through a week when Salt Lake City felt alive in every directi...
•
5:47
Tuesday Announcements 2/10: From CSAs To The Great Salt Lake: How Utah Chooses Its Future
Ever wonder how a single week can reveal what a city wants to become? We unpack a fast-moving stretch for Salt Lake—where your dinner plate, your commute, and your sense of home all tie back to choices on the hill and stories on the ground. We ...
•
6:31
S2, E5: Moonshadow Farm - Andrea Morgan
What if your favorite restaurant’s best dish started as a quiet decision at dawn—harvest now, while the sugars are high? We sit down with Andrea Morgan, the farmer behind Moonshadow in Hoytsville, to explore the winding path from ballet shoes t...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 5
•
1:08:07
.png)
Tuesday Announcements 2/3: Billboards, Ballots, & Big Tours — This Week in Salt Lake
Local stories rarely arrive one at a time, and this week proves it. We kick off with a new narrative series exploring Salt Lake lore through the Billboard Queen, Julia Reagan—how one woman’s image turned into a citywide mirror for grief, money,...
•
6:35
The Woman on Every Billboard: The Shocking Julia Reagan Story
A single image. A simple line. And then that face was everywhere. We dig into the story of Julia Reagan—how a quiet memorial spread across Utah and into multiple states, why it captured national attention, and what it reveals about the collisio...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 4
•
14:19
.png)
Tuesday Announcements: NEW SEGMENT, Protests, Sundance Turmoil, And The Fight For Utah’s Future
A week of Utah headlines rarely lands with this much force. Downtown protests over the killing of Alex Pretti brought thousands into the streets and sent a charge through the Wasatch Front, while Sundance wrestled with the pressure of politics,...
•
8:34
S1, E3: She Bought A Beauty School And Discovered A Mission To Empower Women - Skinworks, Natalie Parkin
Reinvention isn’t always a straight line. Natalie Parkin grew up sweeping hair in her mom’s salon, built a high-performing career in IT and telecom sales, then bought a beauty school and discovered a larger mission: empower people—especially wo...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 3
•
54:05
.png)
Tuesday Announcements 1/13: Rocksteady Duo, Upcoming Events, Heading Somewhere Warm(er), Newsletter
Salt Lake thrives on people who build with heart, and this week we spotlight two of them. We share why Rocksteady Body Works—launched by Jeff Roche and Jessa Munion—caught our attention, blending Pilates, bodywork, and teacher training into a s...
•
3:29
S2, E2: Rocksteady Bodyworks - Jessa Munion & Jeff Roche
A phone call during 9/11. A train ride west. A splitboard cut by hand and a whiteboard full of climbs. That’s the unlikely path that led Jessa Munion and Jeff Roche to build Rocksteady Body Works, a place where movement isn’t a trend—it’s medic...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 1
•
1:42:18
.png)
Tuesday Announcements 1/6: Happy New Year, Season 2 is LIVE!, and this Week's Bodyworks Guests...
The calendar turned and our city feels wide open again. We’re back from a December reset with clear eyes, a full slate, and a promise to feature the people who make the Wasatch Front feel like home. Season Two kicks off with a story where hospi...
•
3:59
S2, E1: Grand Hyatt Deer Valley - Inside Deer Valley’s Mission to Make Luxury Affordable for Military Families
A luxury mountain resort that actually lowers the cost of family time for those who serve—this is the story unfolding at Deer Valley’s East Village. We sit down with Kristen Kenney Williams of MIDA and Grand Hyatt GM Nate Hardesty to unpack how...
•
Season 2
•
Episode 1
•
1:01:07
Vault Episode 12: Ali Vallarta
A house struck by lightning, a six-month Sundance stint that turned into home, and a resolution to have one drink at all 218 bars in Salt Lake County—our conversation with City Cast Salt Lake host Ali Vallarta is a fast walk through how a city ...
•
1:30:32
Tuesday Update 12/23: Matteo Vault Episode, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year
Need a quick, satisfying listen for the holidays? We’re dropping a short update with a heavy hitter from our Vault: the Mateo Sonier story—born in Italy, record-breaker at the University of Utah, and the force behind a beloved Italian restauran...
•
3:13
Vault Episode 11: Matteo Sogne
A small town in Italy where balsamic vinegar and Ferrari share the same air taught Matteo two things: food should slow time, and precision is a kind of love. That’s the heartbeat of this conversation—a founder who brought his family to Utah to ...
•
1:15:56
.png)
Tuesday Announcements: Julian Carr Vault Episode, Kilby Block Party, Warm December, Upcoming Season 2
The shortest updates can point to the biggest stories. This week we spotlight a Vault favorite with Julian Carr—his journey from professional skier to repeat entrepreneur to new dad—and unpack why that arc lands for skiers, founders, and anyone...
•
3:38
