This year, San Francisco welcomed the Golden State Valkyries, a WNBA expansion team owned by the same group as the NBA’s beloved Golden State Warriors.

As fans followed the Valkyries’ historic season, KALW reporter Erin Lim bridged the gap between newcomer Valkyries fans and seasoned basketball veterans with her Valkyries podcast, “BOUNCE: The Valkyries’ 1st Season in the Bay.”

Following a wave of increasing popularity in women’s sports across the country, Lim pitched the idea of “BOUNCE” early in her KALW fellowship.

Ben Trefny, KALW executive producer, saw Lim’s pitch as an opportunity to reboot a 2019 Warriors podcast, “BOUNCE,” with the newfound moxie of the Valkyries. 

BOUNCE podcast producer Ben Trefny shows off his comfy work attire at the KALW studio on Oct. 1, 2025. (Jolie Willson / Golden Gate Xpress) 

Lim was born and raised in the Bay Area, originally hailing from San Leandro. Despite living in San Francisco for the last 20 years, she never found herself part of the basketball frenzy that surrounds the Warriors until now.

While Lim’s original area of expertise is baseball, reflected by her brief stint of employment with the San Francisco Giants in the early 2000s, she traded the bats for baskets and fell for the violet fervor that follows the Valkyries. 

“I’m not going to pretend like I know a lot about basketball. I actually grew up as a baseball fan.” Lim said, “I fell out of love with the Giants and fell in love with the WNBA and the Valkyries. I am on a huge learning curve right now.”

Coming from a non-basketball background, Lim had specifically honed in on the Valkyries’ head coach, Natalie Nakase, and Rikki’s, the first women’s sports bar in San Francisco, as some of her introductory topics. 

Nakase broke ground this year as the WNBA’s first Asian American head coach. Through “BOUNCE,” Lim focused on the Valkyries, both off and on the court, and the community that surrounds them. 

“It’s this community of sports, women’s sports, women, Valkyries themselves and Bay Area people who love all these different things,” Trefny said. “Being part of that community and being able to feed that community is really fulfilling.”

Sports fans in the Bay Area have a rampant appetite for championships, and while the Valkyries didn’t take home the championship, their inaugural season was still record-breaking. The Valkyries became the first WNBA team to ever make the playoffs in their inaugural season. 

Lim and Trefny have worked to chronicle the culture of women’s basketball in the Bay Area and have also extended their reach toward live studio podcasting events. 

KALW’s studio event space in downtown San Francisco boasts an impressive lineup. Following an overwhelming amount of positive response from listeners, Lim and Trefny decided it was time to open the floor to their “BOUNCE” audience. 

A KALW microphone sits in the studio while BOUNCE podcast producer Ben Trefny talks about the end of the podcast on Oct. 1, 2025. KALW, a radio station based in the Bay Area, is home to the BOUNCE Podcast. (Jolie Willson / Golden Gate Xpress)

During these events, Lim and Trefny sat in conversation against a purple-light-flooded background, speaking casually about the latest events of the season. Over 40 attendees filled the room, laughing along and raising hands to contribute.

Demetrius “Meech” Johnson, a KALW reporter and “BOUNCE” contributor, worked closely with Lim and Trefny on the production of these live events. Despite Johnson’s background in both sports and audio production, he was pleasantly surprised by the robust Valkyries fan base. 

“When it comes to the live events, it surprised me how many people would actually show up,” Johnson said. “As time went on, I started becoming less surprised. Valkyrie fans show up. That’s what they do.”

While the Valkyries’ season has come to a close, “BOUNCE” listeners are left wondering what’s next for the podcast. Lim shared some ideas for another season, planting a seed for the continual cultural growth of the Valkyries in the Bay Area. 

However, KALW is an NPR affiliate public media radio station, making it subject to the cuts to funding for public media by the Trump Administration. 

Maya Goldberg-Safir, “BOUNCE” contributor and creator of “Rough Notes,” a women’s basketball blog, highlighted the role of independent freelancers in the creation of audio stories like those told in “BOUNCE.” 

“There’s not a full-time role for me to tell the stories that I am most passionate about,” Goldberg-Safir said. “It’s about collaborating with other folks, and bringing these stories to life.”

Like many working in public media right now, Lim considered the future of “BOUNCE” to be dependent on its funding and support from the community. Lim attributed the initial possibility of another season and overall production of “BOUNCE” to public media’s future as a whole. 

“This thing that I was able to do for the last six months wouldn’t be possible without public media,” Lim said. “I would love to just continue the conversation around the Valkyries, ’cause what’s going to happen next year is going to be crazy.’”

Lim revamped “BOUNCE” to honor Bay Area basketball culture and connect the KALW community to women’s sports. 

“At KALW, we do so many things just for the community because we think it’s the right thing to do. Finding the money is less important than finding the way,” Trefny said. “If we could find both, that’s going to make it possible for ‘BOUNCE’ season two for sure.”