Phone Messages

Phone Messages

By Paul Mason FotschSociety & Culture
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Phone Messages episodes

  • 171 Pancakes (James 24)
    The first pancake mix in a box was made by Pearl Milling Company, but soon other companies would follow such as Pillsbury and General Mills, which came out with the multipurpose Bisquick in 1931.
    9 min
  • 169 The Wedding (Dad)
    The building for the old Minnesota Club is now occupied by a restaurant
    dedicated to Herb Brooks. The St. Paul Athletic Club building now
    hosts wedding receptions and special events, and guests can stay
    in its boutique hotel.
    10 min
  • 168 Brian's Instruments (Brian 11)
    The Music Man got his start in Rock Island, Illinois. The horns
    he sold likely came from Elkhart Indiana, the drums from Gretsch,
    the pianos from Wurlitzer and the violins from a Sears catalog.
    10 min
  • 167 WIndmills of my Mind (Chris 26)
    Rod McKuen was one of the best selling poets of the late twentieth century and recorded hundreds of albums both singing and reading poetry. His also introduced Belgian singer Jacques Brel to a wider audience by translating many of his lyrics into English.
    10 min
  • 165 Hey Man (James 21, 22)
    The word "Man", was used as a form of greeting back in the 16th century, but in the contemporary U.S. it most likely comes from African American jazz musicians. Willie Mays inspired a song by The Treniers and a generation to say "Hey" instead of "Hi".
    9 min
  • 164 This is Ben (Ben 10)
    The term Fanzine was coined in 1940 to distinguish fan created publications from professionally produced Hollywood fan mags. Later, the shortened term zine became associated with a punk rock DIY aesthetic and often featured interviews with iconoclastic musicians like Weasel Walter.
    10 min
  • 163 Your Machine's On (Joel 9)
    As part of an effort to integrate Milwaukee schools, in 1976 Rufus King High School became a magnet school focused on college prep and welcomed students from far away suburbs, including Gordon Gano of the Violent Femmes.
    10 min
  • 162 That Tone is Long (Ben 9)
    The National Autonomous University of Mexico became a UNESCO world heritage site in 2007. A lesser known attraction, also located in Mexico City's Coyoacán borough, is the home of film director El Indio Fernández.
    10 min

About Phone Messages

From the publisher's feed

This podcast will play and discuss old phone answering machine messages. In the late 1980s, while living in Chicago, I selected certain messages to be duplicated using a double cassette recorder. Playing them back leads me to explore the intersection of personal history and the larger social and cultural context through the lens of an outdated technology.