On the Media – Details, episodes & analysis

President Trump is asking lawmakers to claw back over a billion dollars in federal funds for public broadcasting. On this week’s On the Media, the long history of efforts to save—and snuff out—public broadcasting. Plus, the role of public radio across the country, from keeping local governments in check to providing life-saving information during times of crisis.

[01:00]  Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger explore the history of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and break down its funding with Karen Everhart, managing editor of Current.

[07:59]  Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, a member of the Subcommittee which oversees the Corporation For Public Broadcasting, on his decades-long fight with Republican lawmakers to keep NPR and PBS alive.

[13:45]  Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Mike Gonzalez, a senior fellow at The Heritage Foundation, who authored a part of the foundation’s Project 2025 chapter on ending CPB funding. 

[26:15] Hosts Brooke Gladstone and Micah Loewinger on how public radio stations across the country work to hold local governments accountable, ft: Scott Franz of KUNC in Colorado, Matt Katz formerly of WNYC, and Lindsey Smith of Michigan Public. 

[34:27] Host Micah Loewinger takes a deep dive into the role of public radio during crises, ft: Tom Michael, founder of Marfa Public Radio and Laura Lee, former news director for Blue Ridge Public Radio.

[41:28] Host Brooke Gladstone sits down with Sage Smiley, news director at KYUK in Bethel, Alaska, to talk about the station’s life-saving coverage of the Kuskokwim Ice Road in southwestern Alaska, and what the region would lose without public radio.
 

Further reading:
 

• “End of CPB funding would affect stations of all sizes,” by Adam Ragusea
• “Is there any justification for continuing to ask taxpayers to fund NPR and PBS?” by Mike Gonzalez
• “Should New Jersey Democratic Officials Keep Jailing Immigrants for ICE?” by Matt Katz
• “A secret ballot system at Colorado’s statehouse is quietly killing bills and raising transparency concerns,” by Scott Franz
• “Not Safe to Drink,” a special radio series by Michigan Public
• “The Rock House Fire: 5 Years Later,” by Tom Michael

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

Today's country music industry is deeply associated with a certain jingoistic ‘rally around the flag,' ‘support the troops’ spirit. In this week’s podcast, we're re-airing a conversation with Joseph M. Thompson, author of Cold War Country: How Nashville's Music Row and the Pentagon Created the Sound of American Patriotism.

Micah and Joseph discuss how hillbilly music transformed into the powerful country music industry, starting with a little assistance from the US military in the 1940s and 50s. Plus, how country music came to be linked to a certain type of American patriotism, and why some of country music’s most famous jingoistic songs are more complex than many listeners think. 

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

On Tuesday, NPR and three Colorado public radio stations sued the Trump administration for violating the First Amendment. On this week’s On the Media, the soon-to-be lone Democratic commissioner at the FCC speaks out against what she calls the weaponization of her agency. Plus, the final episode of The Divided Dial introduces the unlikely group trying to take over shortwave radio.

[01:37] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Anna Gomez, soon to be the lone Democratic commissioner at the Federal Communications Commission, about her makeshift media tour–where Gomez is speaking out about what she sees as the weaponization of her agency. 

[12:47] Episode 4 of The Divided Dial, Season 2: Wall St. Wants Your Airwaves. In recent years, creative, often music-focused pirate broadcasting has been thriving on shortwave. Reporter Katie Thornton reveals how these surreptitious broadcasters are up against a surprising enemy: not the FCC, but a deep-pocketed group of finance bros that is trying to wrestle the airwaves away from the public, and use them for a money-making scheme completely antithetical to broadcasting. What do we lose when we give up our public airwaves?

Further reading:

• Remarks of FCC Commissioner Anna M. Gomez at the 2025 Media Institute Communications Forum, May 15, 2025

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

At the Republican National Convention, Donald J. Trump named J.D. Vance as his pick for Vice President. On this week’s On the Media, hear how Vance went from liberal darling to MAGA leader, with a little help from a billionaire. Plus, meet the right-wing Christians who see the failed attempt on Trump’s life as evidence of his divine anointing by God.

[01:00] Host Brooke Gladstone charts the media’s role in shaping J.D. Vance's rise. Vance rose to fame as a liberal media darling who frequently lambasted Donald Trump after the publication of his blockbuster memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” to Trump’s VP pick and a new leader of the MAGA movement. Ian Ward, a reporter at Politico, and Simon van Zuylen-Wood, a staff writer at New York Magazine, speak to how Vance’s vision of America extends far beyond Trumpism. 

[15:03] Host Micah Loewinger speaks with Andrew Prokop, senior politics correspondent at Vox, about Vance’s roots in the so-called New Right, a scrappy but growing offshoot of conservatism that aims to seize and destroy societal institutions they believe are controlled by the left. Plus, John Herrman, tech columnist at New York Magazine, explains what Big Tech sees in MAGA.

[36:35] Brooke speaks with Matthew D. Taylor, author of the forthcoming book The Violent Take it by Force, about how the attempted assassination of Trump has amplified a subset of evangelicals who believe that prophecy foresaw the event. These right-wing Christians see Trump as an anointed candidate, saved by God. 

Further reading / listening:

• The Radicalization of J.D. Vance by Simon van Zuylen-Wood
• 55 Things to Know About JD Vance, Trump’s VP Pick by Ian Ward
• J.D. Vance’s radical plan to build a government of Trump loyalists by Andrew Prokop
• Why Silicon Valley Elites Are Turning MAGA by John Herrman
• How the Assassination Attempt Has Ignited the Prophecy World by Matthew D. Taylor
• The Violent Take It by Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy by Matthew D. Taylor

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

A special hour on the dodgy world of health news, from scary studies and so-called “medical breakthroughs” to celebrity-endorsed miracle cures and people who fake illness online.

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

Some of Donald Trump's opponents have labeled him a demagogue - but are they right? And, if so, what is there to be done? Plus: Bob reflects on the media feeding frenzy in the house of the San Bernardino shooters; and the life, and self-documented death, of New York Times reporter and AIDS victim Jeffrey Schmalz.

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

Donald Trump’s statements about Muslims cheering after 9/11 are just the latest in a long record of false claims. But if Trump is the most recent, maybe most flamboyant, falsifier to enter US politics, he's not the first and won't be the last. OTM takes a look at political lies, including a taxonomy and history of political untruths; a psychological examination of how and why we lie; and whether, at the end of the day, the most damaging lies aren't the ones we tell ourselves about our fellow citizens.

Discuss on Twitter: #OTMlies

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

In the wake of the attacks in Paris, global terror threats, and renewed debate about mass surveillance and national security, we revisit our special hour on the origins of the infamous Patriot Act, born in a post-9/11 climate of fear. We examine what's in the act: warrantless search and seizure, bulk collection of personal data, intelligence sharing, and more...as well as how much of what we associate with the Patriot Act actually lies in a wild-west of lesser-known programs. Plus, new conversations about France's current state of emergency and a frank look at the sheer ineffectiveness of mass surveillance in fighting terrorism since 9/11. 

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

Amid the emotion, fear, and confusion following an attack, a Breaking News Consumer's Handbook for the coverage of terrorism. Plus, the semantics surrounding acts of war and terror, and a look back at lessons learned, and forgotten, in the years since 9/11.

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].

OTM examines how the media try to reach us on an emotional level. We look at the New York Times' dive into virtual reality-inspired empathy, and Europe's "compassion fatigue" with migration. Plus: why clickbait is king, the lucrative "hate read", why the University of Missouri protesters' media-free zone is about more than press freedom, and more.

Discuss on Twitter: #OTMempathy, #OTMmissouri, #OTMvr, #OTMaylan, #OTMupworthy, #OTMcarebot, #OTMheart, #OTMclickbait, #OTMhatereads

On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing [email protected].