© 2024 Wyoming Public Media
800-729-5897 | 307-766-4240
Wyoming Public Media is a service of the University of Wyoming
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Transmission & Streaming Disruptions
Red states and blue states are drifting further apart, ideologically. Rural youth are migrating faster and faster to urban centers. Small town newspapers and radio stations are going silent. Families can't even carry on a respectful conversation at the 4th of July potluck! Never has it been more important for the media to step forward and moderate conversations across divides.

A Year Of Respectfully Disagreeing: Reporter Reflects On How People Can Talk Past Politics

Anna Rader

It seems like people don’t agree on much these days, but there’s one thing many people do agree on: the need for more dialogue across ideological divides. So, Wyoming Public Radio's Melodie Edwards started setting up these kinds of conversation for the series, “I Respectfully Disagree.” 

Over the last year, she’s been sitting down with people with opposing views and moderating their discussions. Wyoming Public Radio Morning Edition Host Caroline Ballard sat down with Edwards to hear what she’s learned about talking to someone you really don’t agree with.

Melodie Edwards is the host and producer of WPM's award-winning podcast The Modern West. Her Ghost Town(ing) series looks at rural despair and resilience through the lens of her hometown of Walden, Colorado. She has been a radio reporter at WPM since 2013, covering topics from wildlife to Native American issues to agriculture.
Related Content