Brooke Gladstone

There are a lot of ways to watch TV: free streaming online, via a traditional cable or satellite package, paying for services like Hulu Plus, etc. But the TV industry makes vastly different amounts of money depending on how you choose to watch. We invited Peter Kafka, media reporter for the website All Things Digital, to play the part of a moustache-twirling cable baron, and explain which of our staffers have viewing habits he can support, and why.

Earle Hagen and Herbert W. Spencer - The Fishin' Hole

Red Foley - Television

On a Sunday evening in the late 1980s, two or more unknown men hijacked the signal for two Chicago area TV stations. They broadcast a spooky, subversive, disturbing message — twice. Brooke talks to Bohus Blahut, a Chicago broadcaster, who saw the broadcast and was unable to forget it. 

 

Doctor Who Theme - Delia Derbyshire/Ron Grainer

One of the surprising side effects of the upheavals in the TV industry’s business model is that, for now, we’re actually living in a golden age of scripted television. Television networks have found that one of the few predictable ways to build an audience is to create content that’s really, really good. Alan Sepinwall covers TV for Hitfix.com and is the author of the new book The Revolution Was Televised. He tells Bob about the unlikely path that led us to this TV renaissance.

 

Battles - White Electric (Shabazz Palaces Remix)

People who watch TV when it actually airs and blab about it online can ruin it for those of us who watch shows at our leisure. Their excited Twitter chatter about the great twist in last night’s Mad Men is frustrating if you haven’t yet watched last night’s Mad Men. New Yorker TV critic Emily Nussbaum is a prolific tweeter who began grappling with this problem after Twitter users complained about a phenomenon they called "Nussbombing." She talks to Brooke about her evolving system of spoiler etiquette.

 

Big Joe Turner - TV Mama

Supreme Court nominee and Constitutional originalist Robert Bork died this week at the age of 85. In a segment that originally aired in 2005, Brooke muses over the verb "to bork," coined in honor of the man whose unsuccessful bid for the bench earned him a place in Webster's.

Frank Ocean - Crack Rock

A hundred years ago this week, a human-like skull and ape-like jaw were presented at a special meeting of the Geological Society in London. The so-called "Piltdown Man" became widely accepted as a crucial link in the human evolutionary chain; crucial, that is, until 1953, when the bones were exposed as a total hoax. Nova Senior Science Editor Evan Hadingham talks to Brooke about this tantalizing example of "scientific skullduggery." 

Califone - Lunar H

With the fiscal-cliff fight in its umpteenth week, Republicans want House Speaker John Boehner to sell his fiscal cliff solutions outside the safe confines of Fox News. Buzzfeed's McKay Coppins talks to Brooke about the GOP strategists who want their party to diversify their media appearances.

Archers of Loaf - Mark Price P.I.

On last week's show, Brooke interviewed astrophysicist Martin Rees about a new research center that will study existential risks to humanity, including the risk of killer robots. After playing some audio of Kyle Rees, a character from the original "Terminator" movie, Brooke jokingly remarked that there was no relation between Martin and Kyle. OTM listener Ralph Kohler saw a problem with that, and explains it to Brooke.

This week’s press screening of "Zero Dark Thirty" has yielded a new headline about the controversial film: that the depicted use of torture to get to Bin laden is dangerously misleading.

This week a man was shoved off a New York subway platform and killed by an oncoming train. A freelance photographer on assignment for the New York Post happened to be on the platform, camera in hand. He shot the scene, and the Post printed a photo of the man’s last moment before being struck by a train on the front page. Brooke talks to New York Times media columnist David Carr about the resulting controversy around the photo.

Private funding of medical studies has eclipsed public funding on the order of billions of dollars a year. Peter Whoriskey, writer for The Washington Post talks to Bob about the potential for bias and misleading information in drug studies funded by the drug companies.

B. Fleischmann - Lemmings

The New York Times isn't just a source for news; its also the authority on the latest cultural trends—at least, so says Slate contributor and chronically un-hip Brooklynite Justin Peters. He recently used the Times' Style section as a blueprint for living the trendiest life possible. Brooke asks Justin about the results of this "scientific" experiment.

The next print edition of the Associated Press Stylebook will include a new note on the word "phobia," advising writers to avoid the word in "political or social contexts," such as "Islamophobia" or "homophobia." The AP's announcement comes as a disappointment to George Weinberg, the New York pychotherapist who coined the term "homophobia" in 1965. He defends his word to Brooke as both an accurate descriptor and a valuable tool for the LGBT movement.

Do you have suggestions for a word to replace "homophobia" in the 21st century? Let us know! 

Vic Chesnutt - You Are Never Alone

The Hollywood Reporter celebrated its 65th anniversary by publishing a feature story on its founder Billy Wilkerson's role in launching the Hollywood blacklists. Brooke talks to Hollywood Reporter senior writer Daniel Miller about the genesis of Wilkerson's anti-communist campaign and why The Hollywood Reporter published this article now.

William 'Willie' Wilkerson III, the son of Hollywood Reporter founder Billy Wilkerson took it upon himself to write an article apologizing for his father's role in the blacklists. Brooke talks to Willie about how the legacy of his father's behavior has followed him.

Johan Borger - Goodnight My Friend

In the summer of 2009, Neda Agha-Soltan became the face of the Iranian Green Revolution after her tragic death by gunshot was caught on cell phone camera and uploaded online for the whole world to see. The international media rushed to put a face to the victim--but the face they used was that of another Iranian woman by the name of Neda Soltani, who was still very much alive. Brooke speaks to Neda Soltani, author of My Stolen Face: The Story of a Dramatic Mistake.

Ballake Sissoko & Vincent Segal- Oscarine

The publishing industry is not the first to be shaken by a newly digital world. It’s also not the first to resist that change. Brooke speaks with Mathew Ingram, a senior writer at GigaOm, who thinks the publishers’ efforts to tame Amazon may delay a brighter future for the book industry.

John Williams - Hedwig's Theme

Michael Shatzkin, publishing futurist, tells us the story of Pottermore, J.K. Rowling's one-woman attempt to challenge the mighty Amazon.

Harry and The Potters - This Book is So Awesome

Without the ability to work together, industry watchers say the 'Big 6' publishers won’t be able to stop Amazon from pricing books as the company sees fit. Brooke speaks with Barry C. Lynn, a senior fellow at the New America Foundation, who believes that the DOJ decision opens the door to an Amazonian monopoly in the book industry.

Publishers are trying to adapt as the book industry changes dramatically, and they're doing so in the face of rapidly changing reading habits among consumers. Brooke talks to journalist David Streitfeld and publishing industry analyst Mike Shatzkin about the changing reading landscape and the ongoing war for readers’ attention.