517- The Divided Dial
6 December 2022 - 46 minsIf you’ve ever flipped through the radio dial — not satellite, not podcasts, but good old-fashioned AM and FM radio — you may have noticed something. Right wing radio talk is everywhere.
But the airwaves weren't always so dominated by such a narrow range of voices. Reporter and friend of the show Katie Thornton has the story of how talk radio has evolved (and perhaps devolved at times) over the past century, and what all of it means for the airwaves today.
The Divided Dial
Hear the rest of the the series from On the Media
Series Episodes
Service Request #3: Why Is There So Much Litter in San Francisco?
Why did it take nearly a decade to redesign a city trash can, and why haven't more bins made the streets cleaner?
28 mins
31 March Finished
Constitution Breakdown #8: Jill Lepore
Roman and Elizabeth discuss Article V, which lays out the process to amend the Constitution. Jill Lepore is our guest.
1 hour 6 mins
27 March Finished
Service Request #2: Why Is This Red Light So Damn Long?
What the world's most advanced traffic system can—and can't—do for the city that invented gridlock.
28 mins
24 March Finished
Service Request #1: What Happens When I Call 311?
The surprising power of a simple phone number to connect a community.
34 mins
17 March Finished
A Man, a Plan, a Canal—Mars!
How one wealthy, amateur astronomer convinced the world Martians were real.
32 mins
10 March Finished
Where the F*** Are We?
For centuries, the world's greatest minds were stumped by the deadly mystery of longitude, until an obsessive underdog entered the fray and changed navigation forever.
47 mins
3 March Finished
