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City Cast Houston

City Cast Houston staff

City Cast Houston and Hey Houston have suspended operations. Our last podcast episode and newsletter were published on Oct. 24, 2025.

You’ve given us support at every turn, but (news flash!) media is a hard business, and local media is even harder. We haven’t been able to bring in as many listeners, readers, advertisers, and members as we need. Ultimately, our bosses decided to close up shop here for now, with the hope that City Cast will be able to return to Houston in the future. For now, City Cast will continue operating in 13 other cities across the U.S., including our two newest shows in Seattle and the Twin Cities.

We’ve loved the conversation we’ve been having with you for the past four years — the funny, messy, boisterous conversation about this city we all love. From covering Hurricane Beryl to the HISD takeover, highlighting our amazing food scene, and debating why exactly we say feeder roads in Houston — it’s never been a dull moment.

Thanks for trusting us with your stories, Houston.

Goodbye from City Cast Houston and Hey Houston

News and updates about the City Cast Houston podcast and Hey Houston newsletter.

City Cast Houston Announcements

Announcements

Welcome to City Cast Houston Neighbors, our brand-new membership program that helps deepen your connection to Houston. Here’s everything you need to know about our growing Neighbor community.

What It Means to Be a City Cast Houston Neighbor

At City Cast Houston, our team brings you the stories that matter — right here in our own backyard. We dig deep into the conversations shaping our communities, the Houstonians who give the city its heartbeat. In a time with increasing rhetoric and a barrage of national headlines, we spotlight the conversations impacting our neighborhoods, and celebrate the neighbors who make Houston unique.

Because better neighbors make for better cities.

 And City Cast Houston Neighbors are the best.

Your membership directly supports local journalism and the stories you rely on to better understand Houston. Here’s what else you get:

 You’ll get access to regular events like special insider tours, local volunteering meetups, happy hours with other City Cast Houston Neighbors, and other Neighbors-only events where we share ideas about how to make the city better for everyone.

submit your favorite local business or organization

 to be mentioned in the show and in the Hey Houston newsletter. It’s your chance to shine a light on the local spots making a difference.

 right in your inbox every Monday, so you can make the most of your time in the city.

 A special feed just for Neighbors where you can listen to the City Cast Houston podcast without advertisements.

Become a City Cast Houston Neighbor and help us build a better city, one good neighbor at a time.

Join the growing community of City Cast Houston Neighbors

Become a member of City Cast Houston for $10 per month or $100 per year through our exclusive membership program. 

 What It Means to Be a City Cast Houston Neighbor

Like you, we really LOVE H-town and we’re meeting up on July 10th at Saint Arnold Brewing for a Pre-713 Day Celebration. Come hang out with the entire City Cast Houston and Hey Houston team from 5:30-7:30 p.m. under the covered pavilion at Saint Arnold Brewing as we get ready for 713 Day. This event is FREE, 

. The first 25 people who show up will get a drink on us. If that’s not enough, we’re also giving away a two-night stay at Margaritaville Lake Resort, Lake Conroe at the event. You must RSVP and be at Saint Arnold for the drawing.

Come meet the City Cast Houston team at Saint Arnold Brewing on July 10. 

City Cast Houston's 713 Day Pre-Party

Have you enjoyed reading Hey Houston and listening to the City Cast Houston podcast? Then, you should come out and meet the team at a pre-game mixer when the Houston Rockets play the Atlanta Hawks on March 25 at the Toyota Center. We can't wait to meet you! Get your 

 at a discounted price with the special code: CITYCAST2025

Meet the City Cast Houston team at an upcoming Houston Rockets game. 

Meet the City Cast Houston Team Before the Rockets Game

City Cast is committed to tracking–and publishing–demographic information about our podcast guests. Diversity is a 

, and accountability is another. We want to have podcast guests who are diverse in race and ethnicity, gender, economic background, and geography. Tracking and publicizing guest demographics is a way to hold us accountable for representing the diversity of Houston.

So are we living up to our values? How diverse is our podcast guest pool, really?

This is the third year of data we have about City Cast Houston’s guests. (

.) We ask each of our City Cast Las Houston podcast guests a few questions about their gender identity, racial/ethnic identity, and neighborhood. About 95% of guests responded in 2024. The following data encompass a total of 104 responding guests who appeared on the podcast between Nov. 1, 2023 and Oct. 31, 2024. (We did not count City Cast Houston staffers who appeared on the podcast.)

We then used census data to compare our podcast guests to the broader city population. This helps us see how well we’re reflecting the community we’re serving.

City Cast Houston had a higher percentage of white and Asian-American guests than the city and metro area, and about the same percentage of Black guests as the community. City Cast Houston had about a third of the Hispanic guests you’d expect based on Houston’s population, up slightly from 2023.

We also asked about gender identity. A 51% majority of our guests identified as female, with 49% identifying as male. This is a big shift from 2023, when 65% of City Cast Houston guests identified as male.

Learn more about guest diversity on other City Cast podcasts here.

This is the third year of data we have about City Cast Houston’s guests. We ask each of our City Cast Las Houston podcast guests a few questions about their gender identity, racial/ethnic identity, and neighborhood. 

How Diverse Were City Cast Houston’s Podcast Guests in 2024?

Get excited! Have you wanted to meet the City Cast Houston podcast and newsletter team? Mark your calendar and

 RSVP for free to the City Cast Houston Audience Appreciation Fest

 at Saint Arnold Brewing Company on Wednesday, Dec. 4. at 5:30 p.m. 

This in-person event is our way of saying thank you to our listeners and 

 readers. Join us to chat about H-town, meet other fans, and get to know the team, including City Cast Houston host Raheel Ramzanali, Hey Houston newsletter editor Brooke Lewis, producer Carlignon Jones, and executive producer Laura Isensee. The first 25 people will receive complimentary drink tickets, plus we will have a photo booth and fun giveaways!

The City Cast Houston team will host a community event at Saint Arnold Brewing Company on Wednesday, Dec. 4 at 5:30 p.m. 

City Cast Houston Hosts Event at Saint Arnold Brewing Company 

Come to Our Community Event at Saint Arnold Brewing Company

When we launched City Cast in 2021, we committed to tracking–and publishing–demographic information about our podcast guests. Diversity is a 

This is the second year of data we have about City Cast Houston’s guests. (

.) We ask each of our podcast guests a few questions about their gender identity, racial/ethnic identity, and neighborhood. About 95% of guests responded in 2023. The following data encompass a total of 113 responding guests who collectively made 152 podcast appearances from Nov. 1, 2022 through Nov. 9, 2023. (We did not count City Cast Houston staffers who appeared on the podcast.)

As you can see in the chart, City Cast Houston had a higher percentage of white and Asian-American guests than the city and metro area, and about the same percentage of Black guests as the community. City Cast Houston also had a number of Middle Eastern guests, a category we survey for but the Census does not. City Cast Houston had about a quarter the Hispanic guests you’d expect based on Houston’s population–only 11% compared to 39% for the metro area.

There are understandable reasons for this shortfall: Many Hispanics and Latinx people are immigrants, and immigrant communities are traditionally hard for journalists outside those communities to access. Some may not consume much English-language media. As a result, Hispanic/Latinx residents of Houston may be less likely to know City Cast Houston and be part of the community we’re building. But we need to keep pushing to get more excellent Hispanic/Latinx guests on City Cast Houston.

We also asked about gender identity. A 65% majority of our guests identified as male, with 34% identifying as female and 2% identifying as non-binary. City Cast Houston had the highest percentage of male guests of any podcast in the 11-city 

Diversity is a core City Cast Houston value, and accountability is another. Here's how diverse our City Cast Houston podcast guests were in 2023.

Announcements

Goodbye from City Cast Houston and Hey Houston

What It Means to Be a City Cast Houston Neighbor

City Cast Houston's 713 Day Pre-Party

Latest articles

Meet the City Cast Houston Team Before the Rockets Game

How Diverse Were City Cast Houston’s Podcast Guests in 2024?

Come to Our Community Event at Saint Arnold Brewing Company

How Diverse Were City Cast Houston’s Podcast Guests in 2023?