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Twin Cities

We make podcasts and newsletters that connect people with the cities they love.

City Cast Twin Cities

, the trailblazing local media venture, is launching in the Twin Cities, further expanding its nationwide network of daily local podcasts, email newsletters, and social media channels. The City Cast Twin Cities podcast, hosted by local radio legend 

The City Cast Twin Cities podcast will be your new companion as you walk around Lake Nokomis, ride the light rail home from work, or get stuck in traffic on 94. Posted every weekday at 6 a.m., the podcast will feel like eavesdropping on a smart, friendly chat between friends at Cafetto – no Minnesota Nice here, just informed and meaningful real talk, where all are welcome.

The Twin Cities team includes Host Sean McPherson, Executive Producer Anna Weggel, Creative Producers Tiffany Bui and Adam Sage, and Audience Development Manager James Napoli. Each episode they'll be joined by one of seven contributors: Tane Danger, Denzel Belin, PaviElle French, Hans Buetow, Em Cassel, Sam Choo and Winter Keefer.

And the podcast is just one piece of City Cast Twin Cities. Sean and the team will also celebrate the city on 

 with daily news updates, memes, and tips on the best donuts and worst intersections in town. City Cast’s daily email newsletter will soon be your essential guide to living better in the Twin Cities, with the headlines you need, the best event calendar around, and 

. You can subscribe to the podcast, newsletter, and social channels – and learn more about the folks behind them – at 

, and catch us in your podcast feeds on Oct. 29.

 is a trailblazer in local media. A national network of daily local podcasts, newsletters, and social media, City Cast launched in 2021 in Chicago and Denver and has since expanded to 13 cities across the U.S. City Cast is launching two new cities in October 2025, the Twin Cities and Seattle.

In every market, City Cast drives the local conversation with a passionate, informative daily local podcast, an incredibly useful daily email newsletter, and lively social media channels. City Cast has more than 500,000 email subscribers and 200,000 regular listeners across the network, and has won award after award for its podcasts. AdWeek named City Cast and founder and CEO David Plotz their Podcast Innovators of the Year for their groundbreaking efforts in local podcasting.

City Cast was cofounded by CEO David Plotz

 the longtime host of the Slate Political Gabfest, former Editor in Chief of Slate, and CEO of Atlas Obscura, and Chief Creative Officer Andi McDaniel, the former Chief Content Officer at WAMU who resides in the Twin Cities and once led digital strategy and innovation at Twin Cities PBS. City Cast is owned by Graham Holdings, the publicly traded conglomerate based in Arlington, Va.

Contact: Executive Producer Anna Weggel, 

City Cast Is Launching in the Twin Cities

News and updates about City Cast Twin Cities.

City Cast Twin Cities Announcemenets

Announcements

As the executive producer for City Cast Twin Cities, I am overjoyed that our podcast is hosted by the person our team has come to lovingly refer to as “radio legend Sean McPherson.” If you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting Sean, seeing him on stage playing bass in his band 

, or hearing him across the Twin Cities airwaves on The Current or Jazz88 (or in the podcast world on Trivia Mafia’s “

”), here are a few questions that will help you get to know him better before City Cast Twin Cities launches later this month.

What twists and turns did your life take for you to land here at City Cast Twin Cities?

It’s certainly been a circuitous path to land at City Cast Twin Cities but there is a throughline; connecting with people.

I spent my twenties traveling with my group Heiruspecs. We put out some great records, opened up for Ja Rule during the absolute nadir of his professional career, and I ate one of those 72 oz. steaks in Amarillo, TX. I spent our long days in the van asking the band increasingly outlandish questions about food choices, album preferences and preposterous hypothetical situations. I know whether most of my friends would rather give up Netflix or pizza and if they would never swear again in life for $50,000. Sadly, this is far from an employable skill. But I’m a riot on a road trip!

I spent my thirties traveling as Dessa’s bassist and turning Trivia Mafia into a successful trivia business. Somewhere in there, I started running trivia once a week on The Current and doing food reviews for City Pages (RIP). My trivia hosting at The Current turned into contractor work, then part-time work, then full-time work. I ended up hosting the Saturday night request show “Radio Free Current” and co-hosting the limited run magazine show “The Warming House” with my friend Nina Moini on MPR.I love the experience of connecting with listeners; of playing a request for somebody on a tough day and sending that good energy through the airwaves. I felt the same connection yapping on the radio that I felt sitting in the back of the van and asking questions; I was sharing a moment with someone.

In my forties my wife and I kicked things off by trying to survive a global pandemic and a societal uprising all while raising two young children. What-a-treat™. I had the opportunity to join Jazz88 as their afternoon host and music director in 2022 and blossomed as a radio person! Again, what-a-treat™.

Throughout these years I had gone deep on podcasts: 

Juan Ep, Political Gabfest, The Right Time with Bomani Jones, WTF with Marc Maron, Combat Jack, 60 Songs that Explain the 90s 

and more. I love the format, I love the intimacy, I love the immediacy. I wanted in on podcasts!

I had been tracking the progress and developments at City Cast nationally, hoping that they would come to the Twin Cities. When they started working to staff City Cast Twin Cities I was beyond eager to submit my name. Landing at City Cast Twin Cities is a dream come true! The team that you [Anna] have assembled is top-notch and I am so excited to connect with the Twin Cities with the care, humor and dedication they deserve.

What’s one of your favorite interviews you’ve ever done? Why?

. I was scared shitless. Right off the bat Treach shared gems about his time coming up under Queen Latifah in Jersey. The whole crew lived up to their reputation as very down-to-earth artists who care about their fans. It was a fork in the road moment. If that interview had gone poorly, I might’ve just decided that broadcast work was not for me. Instead, after having a great conversation with these heroes, I felt energized to keep on going strong and sharpen my craft.

I grew up in rural Massachusetts and I moved to Minnesota in 10th grade. As a young artsy kid I struggled being my full self in Massachusetts. Making art wasn’t appreciated. Being a musician wasn’t appreciated. And that makes it sound nicer than it was. Making art was frowned upon. I remember playing a concert in my elementary school gymnasium in sixth grade with my punk band the Fungle Toxins. Plenty of kids came to the concert just to make fun of us. I ended up crying in the corner while my mom packed up the sodas we brought.

I would have signed a life-long lease in Minnesota the day I walked into St. Paul’s Central High School. I was deciding which high school I would go to and Central was my neighborhood school. I walked into the recording program, which was led by Red Freeberg and felt a rush of belonging hit me like a ton of bricks. I had found my people. The now storied, live hip-hop band Black Hohl was rehearsing in what I learned was called “The Jazz Room.” There was a young rapper who had just performed live for the first time the previous evening talking with Red Freeberg about the performance. I had never seen a conversation like this take place in a high school – with a teacher no less! We had a school that celebrated musicians. Central even invited bands to play in the entryway before homeroom on Fridays. I felt I could blossom as a creative spirit.

The Twin Cities were the first place I saw a path to the life I wanted to live, and the Twin Cities are the 

 place where I’ve seen that path. I’ve never looked back. The same creative drive to connect that animated me at Central and through my years as a musician and radio host animated my work here. At City Cast, we will celebrate the Twin Cities, we will dive deeper into the Twin Cities, and when we critique the Twin Cities we’ll do it only the way people who love it can. I love the Twin Cities. I am thankful everyday for how good they’ve been to me. I hope City Cast Twin Cities can make this place better and more hospitable for all.

Meet The Host of City Cast Twin Cities

The Twin Cities are overflowing with amazing music! In fact, the music scene is such a key part of the Twin Cities’ appeal that it’s easy to take it for granted. We will make no such mistake here at City Cast Twin Cities. We can’t tell the stories of the Twin Cities properly without playing the music being made here. We will profile great artists who are celebrating new releases and sharing their sounds on stages all around town and beyond. To that end, we’d like to invite Twin Cities artists to fill out our music form and submit some of their music for consideration to be played on a future episode of City Cast Twin Cities.

We hope that through sharing some of the great music being made in the Twin Cities we can inspire our neighbors to step out and take in that show, pick up that 7-inch and spread the word with others. The algorithms do everything they can to reward the controversial, the well-funded and the national. Sharing original music is an uphill battle and getting folks to lend an ear to a new project is a significant part of the challenge. We hope that we can use our platform on City Cast to help artists share their music far and wide and help our listeners fall in love with new Minnesota music!

Submit your song today!

Twin Cities Musicians: Want To Be on Our Podcast?

A couple weeks ago, I drove around the Twin Cities with my wonderful City Cast co-workers to make an introduction video for our new podcast. I parked near the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden assuming a few things: I wouldn’t ride on a scooter, I wouldn’t eat a huge omelet from Mickey’s on 7th Street, and I definitely wouldn’t get down to just my Destination gray boxer briefs and wade into Cedar Lake. As it turns out, I was wrong on all counts. 

We knew our introduction post had to convey our mission, and showcase all the love we have for our hometown(s). My first plan was to get all fancy voiceover-guy and share scenes from the cities in my most serious journalist voice. I’m thankful that creative producer Tiffany Bui kiboshed the plan, post haste, and pointed out we needed something that focused on the sights, sounds, and idiosyncrasies of the Twin Cities.

So, we developed a list of questions commonly asked by the people who actually live in the Twin Cities: Why can’t anything stay open at Lyn-Lake? Which college teams could beat the Twins in a game of kickball? Is it illegal to put bathrooms in the skyway or is it just a terrible choice?

By mid-afternoon, I was standing in my backyard pouring a pitcher mostly into my nose and shirt while celebrating the joy of tap water with Tiffany and fellow creative producer Adam Sage. We finished filming, and the next day Adam took these disparate shots and created a visual introduction to City Cast Twin Cities. It captures our passion for these cities and our desire to tell the stories that matter to the amazing people who live here. 

Announcements

City Cast Is Launching in the Twin Cities

Meet The Host of City Cast Twin Cities

Twin Cities Musicians: Want To Be on Our Podcast?

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