Podcast Season 2 Episode 2: These Hats are Made for Working

What your ears need: our latest podcast episode speaking with New Mexicans about what their heads need

By Katherine Lewin
In this episode, I’m taking you with me as I worked on an article about hats.

It all started when the The Santa Fe New Mexican published a glowing page 1 story about Mayor Alan Webber's very expensive collection of custom hats.

One of his hats alone cost our mayor $1800. He told the New Mexican it was custom fit to his bald head with a special machine and that his quote “classic style” is inspired by a few of his heroes: Indiana Jones and US presidents Harry Truman and Lyndon Johnson.
(Just as an aside, I would like to point out that Indiana Jones, while a very good-looking man with the perfect amount of chest hair and a great hat, was also a white guy, paid by other white guys, to raid native peoples’ sacred temples.) 
Anyway, this puff piece on A1 got me thinking — what do regular people wear on their heads? Why do they wear hats? How much do they cost? If they had $1800 just lying around, what would they spend it on? I figured probably not a custom hat. 
So I decided to go and find out.

You can listen to the episode here or on iTunes and Spotify. Feel free to leave a rating and a review.

>> Read the story

Thanks for listening! These episodes take a lot of work. To support our podcast, consider donating to Friends of the Reporter.

Have story ideas for the podcast? Email me at katherine@sfreporter.com.

Letters to the Editor

Mail letters to PO Box 4910 Santa Fe, NM 87502 or email them to editor[at]sfreporter.com. Letters (no more than 200 words) should refer to specific articles in the Reporter. Letters will be edited for space and clarity.

We also welcome you to follow SFR on social media (on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter) and comment there. You can also email specific staff members from our contact page.