Phone Messages

Phone Messages

By Paul Mason FotschSociety & Culture
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Phone Messages episodes

  • 131 I Like That (Joel 6)
    After the destruction of Flytown, the Short North became the name for the area just short of the Ohio State campus and north of downtown Columbus. Mike's Grill is the oldest bar in the neighborhood, and at one time had a very rough reputation.
    8 min
  • 130 This is An (Anjali 5)
    A PK is a Pastor's Kid. A PGK is a Pastor's Grandkid. A Super PGK has grandparents and great grandparents as Ministers and Divinity School Professors.
    10 min
  • 129 A Very Silly Message (unknown)
    A frequent trope in movies and TV shows, is for someone to give a potential suitor a fake phone number as a way to avoid further contact. One must be careful not to write the number on something of value.
    6 min
  • 127 Phone Book (Chris 23)
    Before phone books emerged in the late nineteenth century, many U.S. towns had city directories. In recent years, cell phones and the internet have made printed directories obsolete.
    9 min
  • 126 Nobody Wants to Answer (unknown)
    In the 1960s Pierre Capretz developed his technique of mixing illustrations and movie clips into his classroom. In 1987, his method was realized in the TV series French In Action, which continues to have dedicated fans.
    6 min
  • 123 I think of you often (Grandma 5)
    In 1920, the United States ratified the 19th amendment guaranteeing women the right to vote. A growing number of women also attend college and join literary societies, where intellectual clashes could be intense.
    8 min
  • 122 It's a New One (unknown)
    The first radio soap opera was probably Painted Dreams, which began on WGN radio in 1930. The daytime soap reached its peak in 1981, when millions tuned in to watch the wedding of Luke and Laura on General Hospital.
    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me to explore the intersection of personal history and the larger social and cultural context through the lens of an outdated technology.