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Data centers, testosterone, more dads taking parental leave, Irvine's music history and more
An aerial view of a 49.5 megawatt three-level data center under construction on July 8, 2026 in Vernon, California.
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Today on AirTalk: Data centers, testosterone testing, fathers taking parental leave, community building in sports and Irvine's live music history.
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Data centers powering AI have become contentious. Are concerns warranted?
The topic:
Data centers have gone from run-of-the-mill industrial buildings to the powerhouses behind AI, and also at the same time garnered mixed attention from the residents of communities where they are being built. Today on AirTalk, we break down what these data centers are, the concerns around them, and what their future in the state looks like.
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34:40
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Guests: Blanca Begert, LA Times reporter, Khara Boender with the Data Center Coalition, João-Pedro Ferreira with UVA's Center for Economic and Policy Studies and Shaolei Ren, USC professor.
Background: Data centers as a concept aren’t new, and the internet has long relied on buildings built specially to house networking and data storage equipment. The advent of commercial cloud computing in the mid-2000s allowed data centers to not just store data, but also do things with the data with large, rentable computers.
What’s new: AI training and use has created new, unprecedented demand for data centers with large amounts of computer power. Power monitoring service Cleanview estimates that between 2016 and 2025, the average data center size more than doubled from 41 megawatts to 91 megawatts, and that the average could exceed 600 megawatts by 2030. For context, estimates vary widely, but one megawatt can be expected to power between 670 and 1,000 homes, depending on the time of day.
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Public opinion: Recent public opinion polling from Gallup has shown that roughly seven in ten Americans oppose local construction of AI data centers. Water use, electricity use, as well as concerns around noise and land use were cited as reasons from respondents for being against these centers.
Yes, but: Actual water use from data centers in California is largely unknown, and public opinion polling on pre-AI, lower megawatt datacenters is scant.
Local ban: Monterey Park made their city the first in the nation to permanently ban new data centers, with more than 86% voting yes on the ballot measure. Meanwhile, a private company is pitching small data centers at fairgrounds up and down the state, including the Antelope Valley Fair in Lancaster.
Existing and planned: As of April, there are 277 operating datacenters in the state. Thirty-two more are planned or in development, and are expected to add an additional 2,270 megawatts of capacity.
Hyperscalers: The current largest data center in the state has a capacity of 83 megawatts. The planned Terra Data Center in Santa Clara would become the largest if built, with a 417-megawatt capacity, according to Cleanview.
Resource management: The California Energy Commission forecasted as of January that data center load on the grid would increase by another 1,800 megawatts by 2030. The California Public Utilities Commission voted in February to mandate state load-serving entities to bring at least 6,000 additional megawatts of renewable energy onto the grid by 2032, with 2,000 megawatts online by 2030.
More about our guests:
- Blanca Begert, climate and energy reporter for the Los Angeles Times
- João-Pedro Ferreira, acting director of the Center for Economic and Policy Studies at the University of Virginia
- Shaolei Ren, professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the University of California Riverside
- Khara Boender, director of government affairs - west at the Data Center Coalition (DCC), the membership association for the data center industry
What testosterone levels really say about you?
A supply of testosterone medication in Mississippi on May 4, 2023
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The topic:
Testosterone replacement therapy prescriptions have surged in the past decade. While there are health concerns for someone with low testosterone, it has become synonymous with a person’s masculinity. Today on AirTalk, we talk about what testosterone is and isn’t and the impact of testosterone testing in the U.S. military.
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14:50
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Guests: Dr. Jessica Yih, M.D., assistant professor of urology at UCI and director of Women’s Sexual Health and Male Infertility, and Chris Frueh, author and professor of psychology.
Context: In the age of social media and the internet, many online communities like the manosphere have taken testosterone replacement therapy out of its medical context, as the intervention has become a way for many to achieve masculinity by having “High T” or by “T-maxxing.”
More about our guests:
- Jessica Yih, M.D., assistant professor of urology at University of California Irvine and director of Women’s Sexual Health and Male Infertility
- Chris Frueh, professor of psychology at University of Hawai’i and author of Operator Syndrome
More dads are taking parental leave than moms in California. Why?
Do you know any fathers taking parental leave?
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The topic:
For the first time since California’s Paid Family Leave program started, more fathers are taking leave than mothers. In 2025, over 50% of the program’s applicants were men, a stark contrast to the only 18% when the program first became available in 2004.
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15:21
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Guest: Elly Yu, senior Early Childhood reporter at LAist.
Why now? The amount a worker can recoup from lost wages on the program increased in 2025. Instead of previously getting 60% of their income, applicants can now get up to 90%.
Changing gender norms: Another reason for this increase can be attributed to the changing expectations of fatherhood, where new dads are encouraged to take up more of the caregiving responsibilities than previous generations.
Listen to LAist’s Imperfect Paradise: New dads now make up more than 50% of paid family leave claims
How sporting events bring people together
United States fans cheer after the U.S. scored their first goal in their World Cup match against Paraguay while watching the match at the FIFA Fan Festival at LA Memorial Coliseum on June 12, 2026.
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The topic:
Whether you’re on the field or watching from stadium seats, sports have the power to bring people together and build community. So, in honor of the World Cup ending, we’re asking listeners to share how sports help them to connect to people.
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16:40
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Guests: Dunja Antunovic. associate professor of sports sociology at the University of Minnesota, and Faheem Khan, associate producer for AirTalk.
SoCal History: A look at the rise of Irvine and its live music scene
Afternoon light illuminates the landscape at the Irvine Orange County Great Park.
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The topic:
The city of Irvine’s rise to prominence from its early days as an agricultural community to the SoCal cultural hub it is today is in part due to the popularity of live music venues across the Orange County region, particularly over the last 40 years. Now, with the Irvine Great Park’s massive ambitions, the city seeks to be at the forefront of live events in Southern California.
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17:40
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Guests: Alan Hess, architect and historian, who has written numerous books on Modern architecture and urbanism in the mid-20th century, and Chris Epting, journalist and author.
Master Planning: By 1959, under the tutelage of planner William Pereira, the Irvine Company committed 1,000 acres of crop land to be converted into centralized schools, communities, and greenbelts. This led to the eventual incorporation of the city’s land, and by the 1980s the city became synonymous with massive outdoor concerts —most notably at the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre.
OC live music lure: Legend has it, Orange County was drawing crowds of over 100,000 at the OC Fairgrounds in Costa Mesa, dating back as far as the late '60s, featuring lineups like Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and The Byrds. By the '70s, The Who played their first major rock concert at Anaheim Stadium (now Angels Stadium), inventing what we know as the stadium rock format.
Major acts of today: Inspired by the work of Sarah McLachlan and the groundbreaking Lilith Fair music festival of the '90s, pop star Olivia Rodrigo created her own all-women event called Daisy Chain Fields, which is expected to draw thousands to Irvine Great Park this summer.
More about our guests:
- Alan Hess, architect and historian based in Irvine, who has written numerous books on Modern architecture and urbanism in the mid-20th century
- Chris Epting, journalist and author of Rock ‘n’ Roll in Orange County: Music, Madness and Memories
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LAist sat down with chef Adrienne Borlongan to talk about Wanderlust's unique seasonal and signature flavors. -
Today on AirTalk: Trump's election fraud claims, summer skincare, Wanderlust Creamery, FilmWeek and Christopher Nolan'sThe Odyssey. -
Today on AirTalk: Trump's national address, Newport Beach teen takeover, beach canopy bans, World Cup final, Ross McElwee and TV Talk.
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You come to LAist because you want independent reporting and trustworthy local information. Our nonprofit newsroom doesn’t answer to shareholders looking to turn a profit. Instead, we answer to you and our communities. We are free to follow facts wherever they lead and to hold power to account without fear or favor. Our only loyalty is to our readers and listeners and our mission: to inform, engage, and strengthen Southern California’s communities.
If this story helped you, please become a monthly member today to help sustain this mission. It just takes 1 minute to donate below.
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