Episodes

This week’s guest is Victor Reyna, vice president for business banking at Amegy Bank in San Antonio, who also serves as president of the Asociación de Empresarios Mexicanos in San Antonio. AEM, or The US – MX Business Association, as it is...

Belinda Román, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor of Economics at St. Mary’s University. Locally, Dr. Román is also Secretary/Treasurer of the San Antonio Business and Economics Society, and has conducted impact studies for the SABÉR Research...

How did the South Texas Medical Center become San Antonio's leading smart jobs engine over the last 25 years? This week’s guest is Jim Reed, the recently retired longtime chief executive of the San Antonio Medical Foundation, which led that...

This week’s guest is Mary Thorsby, the CEO of the nonprofit ABODE, whose mantra is contemplative care for the dying. ABODE operates end-of-life care in a single home on San Antonio’s near-Northside, caring for terminally ill individuals in the...

This week, two perspectives on innovation in San Antonio. We revisit our conversations with Jenna Saucedo-Herrera of Greater: SATX as she discusses how San Antonio is winning on workforce development, and Emily Royall of Smart Cities San Antonio on...

We have Garrett T. Capps in the studio this week with guest hosts Kory Cook of KTRU 91.7 and Nicholas Frank of the San Antonio Report. Garrett T. Capps tours internationally with his band, Nasa Country, and has been a longtime curator of unique...

Liz Tullis never gave up advocating for her son Conrad after his near-drowning and anoxic brain injury as an infant. Neither did Dr. Peter Fox, the founder and head of the University of Texas Health Science Center's Research Imaging Institute in San...

Today's guests are Bonnie Prosser Elder and David Zammiello, the volunteer co-chairs of Mayor Ron Nirenberg’s 15-member Charter Review Commission, formed last November to explore amendments to the city charter for voters to consider on the Nov. 5...

This week’s guest is Joe Holley, a longtime Texas journalist and the author of a new book titled “Power: How the Electric Co-Op Movement Energized the Lone Star State.” Power is a book that anyone who cares about Texas history and the state’s...

San Antonio entrepreneurs and startups often find themselves meeting with Cat Dizon, the chief operating officer at venture capital firm Active Capital and the chairwoman of the Geekdom board. The former senior Rackspace executive is the gatekeeper to...

Innovative interpretations of theatrical classics are creating a buzz in San Antonio at the San Pedro Playhouse under this week's guest, returning CEO Asia Ciaravino, who continues to re-energize the city's oldest performing arts organization. April's...

Why is affordable housing in San Antonio everyone's problem? This week’s guest is Mark Carmona, the city of San Antonio’s first Chief Housing Officer, a position created by City Council in 2018 when council members first approved Mayor Ron...

A special episode on food sustainability in San Antonio from farm to table that revisits two of the first episodes of bigcitysmalltown. Look back with us as food systems activist Mitch Hagney and Chef Elizabeth Johnson discuss the sustainability of...

How is San Antonio perfectly positioned to blend LatAm culture with an American mindset to attract and retain talent? This week’s guest is Ileana Gonzales, the CEO of Tech Bloc, a position she assumed in 2023. Like a storm in 2015, Tech Bloc’s...

Can you afford to die? This week’s guest is Maura Bobbitt, a death rights advocate focused on envisioning a future where our death and grief practices can be individually- and community-focused, radically accepting, environmentally-friendly, and...

Governor Greg Abbott and the Republican-controlled Texas Legislature failed to improve public school funding, despite a $33 billion surplus and the high cost of inflation. Listen as this week’s guest, Dr. Jaime Aquino, shares his vision for...

This week’s guest is Veronica Salazar, Executive Vice President for Business Affairs and Chief Enterprise Development Officer at the University of Texas at San Antonio.  Could UTSA's Institutute of Texan Cultures become the future site of a new...

This week’s guest is Humberto G. Garcia, a San Antonio attorney, avid golfer, and author of "Mustang Miracle," a book chronicling the inspiring small-town Texas story of five Mexican-American caddies in segregated Del Rio who overcame seemingly...

This week’s guest is Charles Blank, co-founder of the local nonprofit River Aid San Antonio (RASA), the volunteer organization that leads monthly cleanups of litter and dumped materials that perpetually clog and deface San Antonio’s watershed, its...

On this episode of bigcitysmalltown with Bob Rivard, Bob is joined by Nicholas Frank, senior arts reporter for the San Antonio Report. as they speak with Juan Tejeda, founder of the San Antonio Conjunto Festival. He has published a family memoir...

This week’s guest is Laura Terrill, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood South Texas, a position she assumed last year following the retirement of longtime CEO Jeffrey Hons. Laura joined Planned Parenthood in 2012 as executive director of Planned...

This week on the bigcitysmalltown podcast, host Bob Rivard welcomes Carlos Contreras, CEO and President of Goodwill Industries in San Antonio. As Carlos shares insights about San Antonio’s economic challenges—with nearly half its population...

The setting is Velocity TX, once a cold storage complex now reimagined by Rene Dominguez and his team at the Texas Research and Technology Foundation (TRTF). They're igniting growth in the city's near East side with a focus on bioscience and...

bigcitysmalltown will return on January 8th, 2024 with a brand new episode. We extend heartfelt thanks to Graham Weston and his company Western Urban, alongside Geekdom for their unwavering support throughout the year. Our journey has been enriched by...