Show overview
Growth Machine has been publishing since 2023, and across the 2 years since has built a catalogue of 12 episodes, alongside 4 trailers or bonus episodes. That works out to roughly 7 hours of audio in total. Releases follow a roughly quarterly cadence.
Episodes typically run thirty-five to sixty minutes — most land between 27 min and 44 min — though episode length varies meaningfully from one episode to the next. Roughly 33% of episodes carry an explicit flag from the publisher. It is catalogued as a EN-US-language News show.
The catalogue appears to be on hiatus or wound down — the most recent episode landed 1.2 years ago, with no new episodes in over a year. The busiest year was 2023, with 10 episodes published. Published by KUT & KUTX Studios, Audrey McGlinchy.
From the publisher
Housing prices in Austin have exploded in the past decade, leading to a city that’s not just unaffordable — but also highly segregated. None of this happened by accident. It’s the result of decades of decisions about what — if anything — gets built in Austin and where. From a master plan to move Black and brown residents to one part of town, to fights over how to protect the environment, to an outdated land development code — all of these are pieces in a machine that’s engineered Austin’s housing market.
Latest Episodes
Introducing Season 3 of The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout
bonusThe Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout is back for a third season, and Growth Machine host Audrey McGlinchy will be co-hosting some of the episodes with Mose Buschele. In this season of The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout, the podcast explores the history of oil and gas regulation, how the industry […] The post Introducing Season 3 of The Disconnect: Power, Politics and the Texas Blackout appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
Introducing: 24 Hours in Austin
EThe new podcast 24 Hours in Austin tries to answer the question: What does a day in the life of Austin, Texas sound like? A team of audio producers from KUT spent the last several months documenting a handful of days in the life of Austin. They spent 24 hours straight in one location, talking to anyone who’d talk to them. They found that as big as Austin has gotten, standing still, it gets a little smaller. The post Introducing: 24 Hours in Austin appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 7Grow or Die
(Episode 7) Now that the machine has done its job, what now? We explore some of the existential questions that Austin’s housing market has wrought. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is also available as subtitles or captions on some podcast […] The post Grow or Die appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
Pigs in a Parlor
bonus(BONUS — Deleted scene!) We go back 100 years to tell the origin story of modern zoning. The post Pigs in a Parlor appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 6There Go The Neighborhoods
E(Episode 6) Austin last re-wrote its land development code in 1984. Sounds boring, right? Well, that rewrite made it harder to build denser forms of housing. We explore the history of zoning in Austin and the opposition to changing the rules today, which could make the biggest difference in fixing Austin’s affordability crisis. The full […] The post There Go The Neighborhoods appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 5Welcome to Silicon Gulch
(Episode 5) Not that long ago, Austin’s economy was sleepy, to put it mildly. People came here for UT, to work for the state or for the military. A little more than 50 years ago, a bedsheet changed everything — including the housing market. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available […] The post Welcome to Silicon Gulch appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
Fertility Drugs for Cars
bonus(BONUS) We talked in episode 2 about cars and roads — and how they affect where we live. We didn’t talk about one other way that cars affect housing: making places to put all the cars. The post Fertility Drugs for Cars appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 4Smart Growth or Dumb Growth?
E(Episode 4) When a new mayor came to power, he found what he thought would be a compromise — a way to bring new businesses and build housing for all the people coming to Austin without threatening the city’s ecological gems. It turned out to be more complicated than that. The full transcript of this […] The post Smart Growth or Dumb Growth? appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 3Listen to This Podcast or We’ll Poison Barton Springs
E(Episode 3) In the 1990s, Austin voters passed landmark protections for parts of southwest Austin that sit on top of the aquifer that feeds Barton Springs. That set off a chain of events that had a profound effect on how the city would grow in the coming decades. The full transcript of this episode of […] The post Listen to This Podcast or We’ll Poison Barton Springs appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 2Roads to Everywhere
(Episode 2) I-35 is more than a road. It’s been sculpting Austin’s housing scene for more than 60 years, encouraging endless sprawl and making gridlock a lifestyle. Take a drive with us through the highway’s history. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The […] The post Roads to Everywhere appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
S1 Ep 1We Planned This
(Episode 1) Austin has grown a lot in recent years — and the East Side has been impacted the most. To understand the city’s pattern of displacement, we have to go back to 1928. The full transcript of this episode of Growth Machine is available on the KUT & KUTX Studio website. The transcript is […] The post We Planned This appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.
COMING JUNE 22 | Growth Machine: How Austin Engineered Its Housing Market
trailerHousing prices in Austin have exploded in the past decade, leading to a city that’s not just unaffordable, but also highly segregated. It’s the result of decades of decisions about what — if anything — gets built in Austin and where. Hosted by Audrey McGlinchy. The post COMING JUNE 22 | Growth Machine: How Austin Engineered Its Housing Market appeared first on KUT & KUTX Studios -- Podcasts.