The San Francisco Experience

The San Francisco Experience

We are a data driven news commentary podcast with Global Reach, serving listeners in more than 65 countries. Our mission is to give the listener succinct, fact based analysis both non-ideological and independent from a California, Silicon Valley perspective, featuring newsmakers, thought leaders and authors as guests.

Your host

Jim Herlihy is a published author: his novel “Deceit and Dirty Money” is available on line. He served as President of the SF Public Library Commission 1992 - 1996. While working in Latin America, he was a stringer for The Economist, The Times and the BBC. Jim serves as a director on two SF sister city boards : Bangalore, India and Cork, Ireland.

LogoTSFEP was named top 25 California News Podcasts by Feedspot.com

Recent Episodes

April 22, 2025

The Return of the Strong Gods. Nationalism, Populism and the Future of the West. Talking with author Rusty Reno.

The Postwar consensus, based on Karl Popper’s Open Society and Hayek’s Road to Serfdom is based on secularity, individualism and internationalism, has served to keep the Peace for 80 years since 1945. But it’s coming to an end. What will replace it ?
April 18, 2025

The Sisterhood of Ravensbruck. How an Intrepid Band of Frenchwomen Resisted the Nazis in Hitler's all Female Concentration Camp. Talking with author Lynne Olson.

How four young French women who were in the Resistance made a huge impact on the all female concentration camp in Germany.
April 14, 2025

The Telepathy Tapes: A British Perspective. Talking with Michael Marshall.

The Telepathy Tapes have been a worldwide podcasting phenomenon. Today’s episode brings a British point of view.
April 9, 2025

Jim: The Life and Afterlives of Huckleberry Finn's Comrade. Talking with author, Professor Shelley Fisher Fishkin.

Jim teams up with Huckleberry Finn to raft down the Mississippi to freedom: the runaway slave and irreverent scamp are an unlikely duo. But 140 years after the publication of Twain’s greatest novel, Jim continues to be misunderstood.
April 7, 2025

Portal: San Francisco's Ferry Building and the Reinvention of American Cities. Talking with John King, The San Francisco Chronicle's former urban design critic.

The Ferry Building of San Francisco, like many of its citizens, has faced hard times, lost its purpose but reinvented itself for the 21st Century.
April 3, 2025

The Lost and The Found. A True Story of Homelessness, Found Family and Second Chances. Speaking with author Kevin Fagan.,

Homelessness in San Francisco has a human face. And from time to time, there are success stories when someone is rehabilitated, often with the intense help of family. The Lost and The Found relates two such cases.

Recent Blog Posts

April 8, 2023

Peking to Paris 2019 Motor Rally with Jim Gately

The 8500 mile rally began in 1907, was revived in 1997 and draws participants from around the world. Jim Gately of Incline Village, Nevada set out on the 34 day trek in 2019 across Asia and Europe with 105 other participants. Jim will join The San …

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Dec. 31, 2022

Ruth Paine, one of the few surviving Warren Commission witnesses, to …

Ruth Paine befriended Lee and Marina Oswald in February 1963. From April 1963 until November 22, 1963 they lived with her at her suburban Dallas home. She will be my guest on The San Francisco Experience next Thursday to share her memories and Warr…

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Dec. 2, 2022

Power Failure: The Rise and Fall of an American Icon.

William D. Cohan, New York Times best selling author has written a sweeping history of General Electric and its CEO in the 1980s and 90s Jack Welch. The book has earned plaudits from The New Yorker and The Financial Times as one of the Best Books of…

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TSFEP was named top 25 California News Podcasts by Feedspot.com