Park City Municipal has a new way to reach residents.
The city last week launched a new podcast that it hopes will connect with the community in an accessible, natural way.
The show is called “PCCast — Where Context Meets Community,” and it’s hosted by Claire Wiley, who also produces and co-hosts “This Green Earth” on KPCW.
The first episode, released Aug. 5, has Wiley interviewing the city’s budget director, Jed Briggs, and senior analyst, Robbie Smoot, who break down the city’s $98 million budget for the 2026 fiscal year, which it just adopted in June.
The 26-minute episode is available on most podcast platforms and at rss.com/podcasts/parkcitygov/2147118.
Linda Jager, community engagement manager, said the podcast is just one of the ways the city is seeking to meet residents where they are.
“We were thinking about, are there any new ways that we could connect with the community and have an opportunity to spotlight the stories about the work and the people and the decisions that shape life here in Park City,” said Jager.
Communications manager Clayton Scrivner said that the podcast format was appealing for a couple of reasons.
“Podcasts tend to be a longer communications format,” Scrivner said, “and that’s a way to do a deeper dive into … the programs, the people and the policies, the day-to-day efforts that it takes to run a city. It’s a way to get context, get history, get to know an issue at a deeper level. … This platform allows us to tell more of a story.”
The episodes are currently planned for release monthly, and the topics for upcoming shows will depend on community feedback.
“We have some different ideas in mind, and I think going forward, we really want to open up to the community and our listeners to give us suggestions of what they’d like to learn more about,” Jager said. “With the budget (episode), it was really timely, as we just passed the budget in June, and we often say it’s one of the most important things that we do here at the city.”
In the episode, Briggs and Smoot don’t just speak about where the city’s money is being spent. They explain the mechanics of how the city makes and funds the budget, too, as well as concepts like a fiscal year.
“A big difference between an operating and capital (budget), operating is a one-year budget, whereas capital can be multiple years,” Briggs said on the show’s first episode. “In fact, we adopt a five-year capital plan, and you can see why you would do that because a lot of our capital projects take multiple years to accomplish.”
Wiley records the episodes at the KPCW studio in Old Town. The city asked Wiley to host because of her reputation as a media personality, Jager said.
“And we wanted to utilize recording at KPCW, and it all kind of came together very conveniently. So, I think it’s been a really great fit.”