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The Magic City of the Southwest

The Magic City of the Southwest is a new history podcast created in partnership with KSUT.
Magic City Studios/KSUT
The Magic City of the Southwest is a new history podcast created in partnership with KSUT.

The Magic City of the Southwest is a podcast inspired by the work of an informal group of local history enthusiasts in Durango.

In early 2022, KSUT reporters Kirbie Bennett and Jamie Wanzek joined the group. They discovered an abundance of archival documents, oral histories, and a range of new details that are not accounted for in the common telling of Durango histories.

The Magic City of the Southwest seeks to tell those stories.

The first season of The Magic City of the Southwest explores pieces of Durango's history that don’t fit neatly inside the frame of a historic Western town, especially the many neglected and forgotten stories of non-white residents. The podcast will also address unflattering aspects of city history, such as the influence of the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in the first half of the 20th century.

The Magic City of the Southwest is produced by Magic City Studios in partnership with KSUT Public Radio.

Catch new episodes monthly on KSUT. Airtime is Sundays at 2 p.m.

Other ways to listen

Explore companion pieces and podcast episodes on this page.

Those attending Durango's Clown Around Snowdown in 1992 saw a sea of red noses.
Magic City Studios/KSUT
The Magic City of the Southwest
The Magic City of the Southwest: 1992 may have been the edgiest in Snowdown history
Kirbie Bennett
A winter festival that started as a counter-culture "cabin fever reliever" 45 years ago has become a tourist draw for city boosters and local businesses. But in the early 1990s, organizers may have inadvertently sent a few pedestrians running for the hills.
A few clues behind Durango's mysterious origin story
Magic City Studios/KSUT
The Magic City of the Southwest
The Magic City of the Southwest: Durango's mysterious origin story
Adam Burke
Durango loves its frontier town mythos. But was the city born through the spirit and determination of early settlers? Listen to the real story on The Magic City of the Southwest.
The Magic City of the Southwest is a new history podcast created in partnership with KSUT.
Magic City Studios/KSUT
The Magic City of the Southwest
KSUT partners with Magic City Studios to launch "The Magic City of the Southwest," a podcast about Durango's history
The podcast is built around a series of relatively unknown stories that will add to Durango’s history books. It explores stories that have often been ignored in the common telling of the city’s history. Hear episodes on the first Sunday afternoon of each month at 2.