Phonograph

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 way we tell the story of what happened when Cards Against Humanity partnerned with a very opinionated tech podcaster to create the most entertaining ad campaign in the history of the medium. Guests include Lex Friedman, one of the first people to sell podcast ads, and John Siracusa and Casey Liss, co-hosts of Accidental Tech Podcast. Discussed in this episode: The Wolf Den: Lex Friedman, Midroll's EVP of Sales and Development [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/71-lex-friedman-midrolls-evp-of-sales-and-development/id413948820?i=1000386768247] (Episode 71) Hypercritical: Episode 1 [https://hypercritical.fireside.fm/1] Hypercritical: The Wrong Guy [https://5by5.tv/hypercritical/42] (Episode 42) Hypercritical: Pinching the Harmonica [https://5by5.tv/hypercritical/49] (Episode 49) Hypercritical: Worse and More Diverse [https://hypercritical.fireside.fm/18] (Episode 18) Casey Liss: Siracusa on Toasters [https://www.caseyliss.com/2015/9/10/siracusa-on-toasters] Lex Friedman: lexfriedman.com [https://lexfriedman.com/] John Siracusa: hypercritical.co [https://hypercritical.co/] Music from Blue Dot Sessions [https://www.sessions.blue/]

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 year. Ingesting a year of audio ICE coverage puts this story (not to mention our conception of audio journalism) into a whole new perspective. Come for the heartfelt media criticism. Stay for Rob's brutal takedown of The Daily. If you'd like to donate to people helping those targeted by ICE in Minneapolis, you can do that here [https://www.standwithminnesota.com/]. If you like the work we're doing, you can support us on our Patreon [https://patreon.com/Phonograph_podcast?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=creatorshare_fan&utm_content=join_link]. Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions. Discussed in this Episode: This American Life: "The Largest Deportation Operation in American History [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/846/this-is-the-cake-we-baked/act-one-14]" Reveal: "Taken by ICE" [https://revealnews.org/podcast/ice-immigration-raids-families-trump-la-taco/] Radio Atlantic: "When Border Patrol Comes to Town" [https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2025/11/when-border-patrol-comes-town/684989/] What Next: "Everyone Saw ICE Kill Renee Good" [https://slate.com/podcasts/what-next/2026/01/ice-shooting-renee-good-minneapolis] The Daily: "On the Front Line of Minnesota's Fight with ICE" [https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/21/podcasts/the-daily/minneapolis-minnesota-ice-trump.html] Panic World: "We Were at ICE's Invasion in Minneapolis" [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/panic-world/id1740187810] Radio Atlantic: "Another Death in Minneapolis" [https://www.theatlantic.com/podcasts/2026/01/another-death-minneapolis/685747/] This American Life: "What Is Your Emergency?" [https://www.thisamericanlife.org/880/transcript] 5-4: "Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo" [https://www.fivefourpod.com/episodes/noem-v-vasquez-perdomo/] Heavyweight: "Minneapolis" [https://www.pushkin.fm/podcasts/heavyweight/minneapolis]

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 photojournalists who've been covering ICE in Minneapolis. It's a conversation about what they've seen, about the vital role of photojournalism at this moment, and the personal toll of doing this work. Stand with Minnesota Donation Directory [https://www.standwithminnesota.com/] Our Guests: Evan Frost [https://www.evanfrost.com/reportage#1] Ben Hovland [https://www.instagram.com/benjovland/] Media: Video of Aliya Rachman being dragged from her car by ICE [https://youtube.com/shorts/G7sRoRfnnpo?si=WGRyDgpXzaTFfL5a] Music by Blue Dot Sessions [https://www.sessions.blue/]

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 harrowing year. To support our show and access our bonus story feed, follow this link to our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/Phonograph_podcast]. Show Links: * "The End of the World" [https://homebrave.com/home-of-the-brave/end-of-the-world] from Scott Carrier's Home of the Brave * "What Now Sounds Like" [https://www.rumblestripvermont.com/episodes/tcbjyejp0425fixpo00mgxvxqd5zc2] from Erica Heilman's Rumble Strip * Rob and Britta's discussion of Scott Carrier's story The Test [https://beforeithadatheme.libsyn.com/s1-e5-the-job-that-takes-over-your-life-one-long-poetic-hipaa-violation] * Erica Heilman's episode of Rumble Strip "The Party" [https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-party/id664663777?i=1000735047083] * Erica Heilman's episode of Rumble Strip "Thanksgiving" [https://www.vermontpublic.org/show/rumble-strip/2025-12-15/a-show-about-the-holidays-and-how-much-we-love-and-hate-them] * The Listeners [https://transom.org/the-listeners/] from Transom.org

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 the struggle of podcasters having to ask listeners for money. We then dig into several podcast bonus feeds (This American Life Partners, Slate Plus, and others), to find what they're offering. And we are pleasantly surprised. To access our bonus feed story of Rob's harrowing Thanksgiving road trip back in 2008, follow this link to our Patreon [https://www.patreon.com/Phonograph_podcast]. You can listen for free with a seven day trial membership and see if it's worth it. Podcasts discussed in this episode: * Alex and the Impossible Ask - Proxy with Yowei Shaw [https://pod.link/1746433334/episode/cHJ4Xzk4NjJfOTI0ZTcwODktYTk3OS00Y2IwLWE4ZWItNGU2ZmQ5MGE2ZjI0] * Hyperfixed with Alex Goldman [https://www.hyperfixedpod.com/] * Slate Culture Gabfest [https://slate.com/podcasts/culture-gabfest] * Slate Plus [https://slate.com/plus] * This American Life Partners [https://thisamericanlife.supercast.com/] * If Books Could Kill Mile High Club [https://www.patreon.com/cw/IfBooksPod] * The Selects Podcast [https://pod.link/1802651867] Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions [https://www.sessions.blue/]