About Us

Host

Emmett O’Connell was born in Olympia in 1976. He lives on the side of town that feels like it is unfair to pick favorites, since it really is the best side. In addition to this podcast, Emmett writes about local history and politics at olympiatime.com and from time to time at thurstontalk.com. He has also served on the Timberland Library board of trustees. Outside any interests in local going-ons, Emmett is a father of three, plays and watches soccer as much as he can, and likes to run.

Producer

Jemmy Joe is half of Olympia Pop Rocks and the producer for The Olympia Standard. He plays music a lot, asks open-ended questions to induce conversation, and has a lot of hats.

Host emeritus

Dani Madrone landed in Washington in 2004 after a summer road trip from Virginia that took her all over the country. She has since called Olympia home. She lives on the best side (west side) of town with her tweenage daughter. Her career has included many roles working on issues of social and environmental justice, and currently Puget Sound recovery. When she’s not working on local issues, she’s off exploring mountains or paddling around the sound.

Dani co-founded the podcast in the summer of 2017 with Emmett. She has been pulled in so many different and important directions that she stepped back from the podcast in 2021.

What’s with the logo? Some have asked us why our logo appears to be a broken pipe spilling water onto the ground. This is what the artesian well in downtown Olympia used to look like. It represents a public resource that is freely available to everyone… and also a great source of controversy.

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The Olympia Standard is produced by Olympia Pop Rocks!