Fishko Files – Details, episodes & analysis

On May 9th, 1961, a still-celebrated speech rocked the world of broadcast television. In it, FCC Chairman Newton Minow zeroed in on television's vapid programming landscape, and the words "vast wasteland" became a contemporary catchphrase. More from WNYC's Sara Fishko in this edition of Fishko Files.

This is the final edition of Fishko Files at WNYC. The episodes will live online and in the WNYC archives. You can find more extended Fishko work on our website.

Tomorrow, May 1st, marks the 90th anniversary of the opening of the Empire State Building. As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, the building's rise to its 102-story height is only one of the ways it towered over all the rest. More, in this episode of Fishko Files.

Pieces of music, as WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, can change in impact over time. On the 80th anniversary of a beloved violin concerto's premiere, Sara and guests consider the case of the American classical composer, Samuel Barber, in this episode of Fishko Files.

Hilary Hahn's Barber & Meyer: Violin Concertos and Isaac Stern's Barber: Violin Concerto, Op. 14 are available on Amazon.

Hilary Hahn's upcoming album Paris is set for release next Friday, March 5, and is available for pre-order.

The composer Frédéric Chopin, whose first published music appeared about two hundred years ago in the 1820s, eventually wrote hundreds of piano pieces, many of them memorable and popular. The musical influences that struck him along the way are considered by WNYC's Sara Fishko and guests in this edition of Fishko Files. (Produced in 2017)

On Valentine's Day 1962, in the simpler days of television, all three networks aired a now-celebrated tour of the White House led by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy. A stunning number of Americans tuned in and took notice, as WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us in this archival Fishko Files. (Produced in 2012)

The recent death of screenwriter Walter Bernstein has WNYC's Sara Fishko ruminating on the subject of dissent, protest and the movies, in this edition of Fishko Files.

Walter Bernstein is memorialized in many obituaries, including this one in The New York Times.

MLK/FBI and The Front are available on Amazon Prime. The Trial of the Chicago 7 is now streaming on Netflix.

Judas and the Black Messiah comes to theatres and HBO Max on Friday, February 12.

The United States vs. Billie Holiday begins streaming on Hulu on Friday, February 26.

Minamata is set for release later this year, with the date to be determined.

Composer Alex North was best known for his sharp and observant film scores, including the iconic music for "A Streetcar Named Desire" - but his music always spoke for itself. 30 years after his death, WNYC's Sara Fishko looks at one of Hollywood's most modest citizens. (Produced in 2012) 

Our interviewee and North's good friend, composer and teacher George Burt, died in 2015.

It's 45 years since the film Network had its premiere. It seemed pretty far out in its time - but now seems remarkably prescient, thanks to the writing by Paddy Chayefsky, the subject of this archival Fishko Files. (Produced in 2006)

Today, the new documentary film MLK/FBI is available to screen. As WNYC's Sara Fishko tells us, it's a dark and revealing update to civil rights movement history. That, and an older Dr. King film, are the subjects of this edition of Fishko Files.

MLK/FBI is out today in select theatres and on VOD. King: A Filmed Record...Montgomery to Memphis is available to rent or buy.

It's 125 years since the birth of Dziga Vertov, the Russian documentary film and newsreel director. That's a good excuse, says WNYC's Sara Fishko, to look at his remarkable and pioneering 1920s film Man with a Movie Camera, the subject of this Fishko Files. (Produced in 2011)

Man with a Movie Camera is streaming on Kanopy and Vudu and available to rent or buy on Amazon.