Shows / Phonograph
Phonograph
A podcast that lovingly deconstructs the history and art of audio storytelling, hosted by former public radio producers Rob McGinley Myers (The Writer's Almanac, Anxious Machine) and Britta Greene (Minnesota Public Radio, The New Yorker Radio Hour).
Episodes
- Phonograph
A Brief History of Podcasts Talking About A.I.
Overview: Rob and Britta listen back to four years of podcast stories about artificial intelligence, from The Daily's first demo of ChatGPT through Bing…
- Phonograph
Nikole Hannah-Jones: What the Evidence Shows
In light of Nikole Hannah-Jones's recent essay about the fallout from choosing a school for her daughter, Rob and Britta to go back to a discussion of "The…
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An Audio Mural with Alex Kotlowitz
Overview: On this episode, Rob and Britta explore the audio work of Alex Kotlowitz, a documentariean and writer best known for There Are No Children Here. He's…
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Ancient High School Regrets
On this episode, a break from the usual format. About a year ago, Rob came home from his 30th high school reunion with a story he couldn't stop telling: how he…
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Julia Barton and the Invisible Clock of Audio Stories
Overview: On this episode, Rob and Britta dig into the career of editor and writer Julia Barton, whose incredibly varied career has spanned the golden era of…
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Its Own Kind of Clock: "24 Hours at the Golden Apple" with guest Joe Richman
On this episode, Rob and Britta dig into the classic This American Life episode "24 Hours at the Golden Apple," (November 17, 2000) in which a team of…
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Knob Feel: the Story of the Greatest Podcast Ad Campaign of All Time
On this episode, Rob and Britta tell the story of the golden age of podcast advertising — how it started, why it worked, and why it seems to be over. Along the…
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Found Footage Horror: Podcast Coverage of the Ice Invasion
In the weeks since Alex Pretti's murder, Rob and Britta have been listening to numerous podcasts that covered the ICE invasion of American cities over the past…
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To Show What's Going On - Photojournalists in Minneapolis
Rob and Britta both live in the Twin Cities, so on this episode, we took a break from discussing audio storytelling, and Britta interviewed two…
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Some Crazy Joyous Thing - Apocalyptic Vox Pop from Scott Carrier and Erica Heilman
At the tail end of 2025, Rob and Britta discuss work by Scott Carrier and Erica Heilman that captures something about how it felt to live through this…
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Weirdly Fun - What Podcast Bonus Feeds Are Offering
To explore the phenomenon of podcast bonus feeds, Rob and Britta start by discussing an episode of Yowei Shaw's podcast Proxy (with guest Alex Goldman) about…
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Hey Jackie - The Evolution of Jonathan Goldstein
Episode Description: With the triumphant return of the podcast Heavyweight, Rob and Britta trace the career of Jonathan Goldstein through several of his…
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What a Wonderful Thing - 99% Invisible
As the 15th anniversary of 99% Invisible approaches, Rob and Britta dig into four very different episodes from the first four years of that show's run (as well…
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What Covid Did to Them - Nancy Updike's "We Were Three"
Episode Description: Rob and Britta discuss Nancy Updike's podcast "We Were Three," which tells the story of one family devastated by Covid and what that…
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Where People Put the Radio Tower - Signal Hill
Rob and Britta discuss the new podcast Signal Hill, which takes its inspiration from the world of print magazines. Rob talks to Liza Yeager and Jackson Roach…
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I Don't Know If It's God - Alix Spiegel's "Pray"
Rob and Britta discuss the classic Alix Spiegel story "Pray" from This American Life, including Spiegel's origin story as a producer and what happened to her…
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The Story Becomes the Medicine - The Retrievals (with guest Sophie Nikitas)
Rob is joined by the audio producer Sophie Nikitas to discuss Susan Burton's Peabody award winning podcast from 2023: The Retrievals. Show Notes: Sophie's…
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I Wanted to Be a Stranger - Cement City (with guest Samantha Hodder)
Rob is joined by the podcast critic Samantha Hodder, who writes the newsletter Bingeworthy, to discuss the podcast Cement City: a sound-rich, character-rich…
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What the Evidence Shows - The Problem We All Live With
Rob and Britta discuss a ten year old story from This American Life called "The Problem We All Live With" produced by Chana Joffe-Walt and reported by Nikole…
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What's Fun About Being in the Dark - Love and Radio
Rob and Britta dig into two classic episodes of the podcast Love and Radio, "The Wisdom of Jay Thunderbolt" and "Choir Boy," sparking a discussion about the…
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Do We Ever Go Back to That? - TAL: Notes on Camp
Rob and Britta share a discussion they had in 2019 (but never released) about the classic This American Life episode "Notes on Camp." Topics include their own…
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Suitcase Full of Cash - Startup Part 2
On the second of a two-part series about the podast Startup, Rob and Britta talk about how the mini-seasons of the podcast Startup about the growth of Gimlet…
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Alarmingly Long Pause - Startup Part 1
On the first episode of the new season Rob and Britta talk about what made them want to restart a show about narrative audio. And they discuss the complicated…
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Season 2 Teaser
After more than five years of silence, new episodes of this podcast finally are on their way. Season 2 starts September 5, 2024.
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S1 E5: One Long Poetic HIPAA Violation - The Job That Takes Over Your Life
Rob and Britta discuss This American Life Episode 37 - The Job that Takes Over Your Life, as well as Britta's former job fixing scandals for big companies, and…
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S1 E4: The Cruelty of Children - Tarantula in a Bowl
Rob and Britta discuss whether this episode is TAL's first real masterpiece, the role of David Sedaris in the show's early years, why "The Man in the Well" is…
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S1 E3: Accidental Documentaries - Non-humanoid Member of the Family
Rob and Britta discuss This American Life Episode 14: Accidental Documentaries, including their own experience creating accidental documentaries. The main…
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S1 E2: Double Lives - The Birth of This American Life
A discussion of This American Life Episode 10: Double Lives. Topics include Rob and Britta's own experiences leading double lives, Rob's childhood habit of…
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S1 E1: New Beginnings - F*** You, Django Reinhardt!
Rob and Britta discuss the very first episode of This American Life, as well as why the show is worth discussing, how they and others became fans of the show…
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S1 E0: American Whatever
Episode 0 Show Notes Clips from following were used in this episode: This American Life, Episode 1: New Beginnings This American Life, Episode 17: Name…