When City Cast Denver promised to deliver a little bit of anything Denver each weekday, the developing podcast needed a host who has lived her life a little bit all things Denver.

Enter Bree Davies, whose identity over the past two decades has spanned journalist to rocker to civic cheerleader to community organizer to disability advocate to urban planner and back to journalist again. Also, at the moment: Nine-months pregnant mother who can hardly contain her passion for her new job – or the city she loves.

“My first thought was this is the perfect opportunity for me because this is exactly what I do already,” Davies said. “My niche is Denver. And now I have this platform to reach an even broader audience with thoughts and ideas and opinions and information about the city that I really care about.”

Davies was always at the top of the list for potential hosts, said lead producer Paul Karolyi. “That’s because when I moved here, she was the person who did for me what we want City Cast to do for everyone: Provide a way in and offer human-scale access points to the issues shaping the city,” he said.

City Cast Denver offers up headlines, weather and one deeper reported story each day in digestible, 15-minute chunks. Episodes can touch on civic issues, social justice, vanishing neighborhoods, culture, history, music, art, food, sports, the pandemic and more. Whether intentional or not, that often means tackling equity head-on in everything from weed profits to minorities in local journalism to how fairly vaccines and Scooters are distributed throughout low-income Denver neighborhoods.

Most every episode is a snapshot of the city at a time of rapid change. Then again, when is Denver not in a time of rapid change? Just about everything City Cast takes on becomes, in its way, a study of old vs. new Denver. “And what we are calling New Denver now, people will be calling Old Denver 10 to 15 years from now,” artist Karl Christian Krumpholz says on an episode about his new book “Queen City,” which takes an illustrated look back at iconic haunts past and present such as Gabor’s and the 15th Street Tavern. (Which, by the way, closed in 2004 – seven years before Krumpholz moved here.)

There have been fun episodes pitting old vs. new Elitch’s, home renters vs. buyers, real Mexican food vs. Chipotle – all while maintaining an open-armed, “we are all Denver” vibe.

“I think this whole transplant vs. native argument is so pointless,” said Davies. “What’s really at the root of that is the question, ‘Who belongs here?’ To me, it doesn’t matter how long you have been here. It’s about your level of involvement in the city you live in. How much do you show up for other people in the city?”

Davies wants City Cast Denver to be a vehicle for all Denverites to learn more about their city, no matter how long they have claimed it as their own. (Another touchy, topical and recurring theme of the podcast.)

“I have lived here my whole life, and I had no idea that we had a Japantown that stretched into what is now known as RiNo,” said Davies, a graduate of George Washington High and Metro State (to old Denver; that’s Metropolitan State University to new Denver).

“I live in the Barnum neighborhood, which is named after P.T. Barnum because he owned land here. Those are the kinds of things that really drive me to make this show. What can I help discover for you about Denver that makes you excited to be here?”

When City Cast Denver launched on March 25, the team of four knew just who would make the perfect inaugural guest to establish the intended identity of the podcast: Restaurateur Frank Bonanno.

Bonanno, who has dreamed up 10 of Denver’s most iconic restaurants, is presently celebrating the 20th anniversary of his flagship, Mizuna – but with a 10,000 pound cake hanging over his head. At the end of February, Bonanno’s landlord filed a demolition notice for the Cap Hill property that includes Mizuna, Vesper Lounge, Luca and Lou’s Food Bar. The spaces won’t exist two years from now.

“That story worked so well as an introduction to us because it was a little bit of everything,” Davies said. “It was a food story, but it was also a real-estate story. It was a historic preservation story, and it was the story of a rapidly changing neighborhood. It was a story about the fight over development and density. It was the story of how Denver works.

“What is so difficult about living in Denver for a long time is that things that you love can disappear overnight. And all of those things were components of this one story that was all centered all around a guy who moved here to go to college, started cooking and basically created his own section of the city.”

The episode also broke a bit of news: Bonanno sounded completely sincere when he said he is considering a run for Denver mayor in 2023.

It’s hard to believe City Cast Denver has only been around since the King Soopers massacre, which speaks to its immediate impact. Six weeks after launching, Westword named it “Best Podcast” in its annual “Best of Denver” issue. Yes, Davies contributed to Westword for eight years as a freelance writer (her column was titled “Breeality Bites”), but there’s a reason the Virginia-based Graham Holdings Company media giant (former owner of The Washington Post) chose Denver and Chicago as models to launch its coming national network of city-specific podcasts.

“I believe the future is local,” said David Plotz, the former longtime editor of Slate who dreamed up the City Cast concept. “This feels like the moment to explore what local journalism sounds like in podcast form. It’s also the moment to explore what kind of business model can sustain it.”

It’s a model unlike anything that has come before it. At a time when traditional media sources are in steep decline, Graham has created a four-person, full-time newsroom in Denver that is fully dedicated to two weekday tasks: The 15-minute podcast and an emailed newsletter. Davies and Karoyli, who hosted a like-minded podcast called Changing Denver from 2015-18, are joined by producer Xandra McMahon (formerly of Colorado Public Radio) and newsletter writer Peyton Garcia. At a time when The Denver Post is cutting its staff to the bone, it is significant that Graham has committed to hiring up to six full-time journalists in each of its upcoming cities.

So what is Davies doing to capitalize on her momentum? Well, first she’s going on maternity leave. You can do that when you are working the first journalism job of your life that comes with benefits. Karolyi, McMahon and Garcia will rotate in the host role while she’s gone.

“Honestly, I had never worked on anything in the media where I made a living wage before,” Davies said with a laugh. “It makes me really excited that someone outside of Denver was interested enough to say, ‘This city matters, and there are people here who care about it.’

“When you look around at the declining media landscape, you have to wonder what stories are not being told. We still want to know about our community. We still need information. It’s more valuable now than ever.”

Davies believes that 15 minutes a day is the sweet spot for City Cast Denver, so her hope for growth over the next year is not a longer podcast or a larger staff but in another measurable way.

“My hope is that we are doing the exact same thing a year from now – but just have thousands more listeners,” she said. “I would love for us to reach as many people as possible.”

Denver Gazette contributing arts columnist John Moore is an award-winning journalist who was named one of the 10 most influential theatre critics by American Theatre Magazine. He is now producing independent journalism as part of his own company, Moore Media.