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Focus: Adults in the Room

KUOW News and Information
Weekly podcast. Next episode on Tuesday.

The production team behind the Peabody-nominated "Lost Patients" returns with a new investigative series: "Adults in the Room" begins on February 24, 2026.

Seattle, 1999. At Garfield High School, Mr. Hudson is a legend. With a thundering voice and imposing stature, Mr. Hudson — or “Tom” as select students call him — teaches biology and leads an elite outdoors program. But when teen reporters at the school paper start exploring a rumor that he sexually abused students, all hell breaks loose. Adults close ranks, and schoolmates turn on the young journalists. And then one day, a voice on the school intercom announces that Mr. Hudson is dead. Isolde Raftery is one of the students who first hears about and reports allegations against Mr. Hudson. Three decades later, she is an investigative journalist in Seattle. In "Adults in the Room," Raftery re-reports the story to understand what really happened in 1999. Was a whole school community groomed by a charismatic predator? Or was she part of a whisper campaign that cost the life of a great teacher?

"Focus" is KUOW’s home for immersive audio documentaries. Each season zooms in on a single story that challenges commonly held narratives about life in the Pacific Northwest and reveals something bigger about American society. 

9 episodes  •  0 archived  •  
S2 E1·
February 24
February 24
33 mins
Season 2 Trailer·
February 3
February 3
2 mins
S1 E6·
Apr 23, 2024
Apr 23, 2024
50 mins
S1 E5·
Apr 9, 2024
Apr 9, 2024
53 mins
S1 E4·
Apr 2, 2024
Apr 2, 2024
46 mins
S1 E3·
Mar 26, 2024
Mar 26, 2024
47 mins
S1 E2·
Mar 19, 2024
Mar 19, 2024
42 mins

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