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. If you like the work we're doing, you can support us on our Patreon. Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions.

Discussed in this Episode:

This American Life: "The Largest Deportation Operation in American History"

Reveal: "Taken by ICE"

Radio Atlantic: "When Border Patrol Comes to Town"

What Next: "Everyone Saw ICE Kill Renee Good"

The Daily: "On the Front Line of Minnesota's Fight with ICE"

Panic World: "We Were at ICE's Invasion in Minneapolis"

Radio Atlantic: "Another Death in Minneapolis"

This American Life: "What Is Your Emergency?"

5-4: "Noem v. Vasquez Perdomo"

Heavyweight: "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

Our Guests:

Evan Frost

Ben Hovland

Media:

Video of Aliya Rachman being dragged from her car by ICE

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

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.

Show Links:

• "The End of the World" from Scott Carrier's Home of the Brave
• "What Now Sounds Like" from Erica Heilman's Rumble Strip
• Rob and Britta's discussion of Scott Carrier's story The Test
• Erica Heilman's episode of Rumble Strip "The Party"
• Erica Heilman's episode of Rumble Strip "Thanksgiving"
• The Listeners from Transom.org

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. 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
• Hyperfixed with Alex Goldman
• Slate Culture Gabfest
• Slate Plus
• This American Life Partners
• If Books Could Kill Mile High Club
• The Selects Podcast

Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions

Episode Description:

With the triumphant return of the podcast Heavyweight, Rob and Britta trace the career of Jonathan Goldstein through several of his stories, including his early work at This American Life, the CBC radio show Wiretap, and his podcast Heavyweight.

Stories and episodes discussed:

• "Baby Scientists with Faulty Data" - This American Life
• "You Call That Love?" - This American Life
• "A Fate Most Of Us Fear" - This American Life
• "Buddy Picture" - This American Life
• "Other People's Problems" - Wiretap
• "Jesse" - Heavyweight
• Jonathan Goldstein on the Longform Podcast
• Nieman Storyboard on The Little Mermaid story

Our music comes from Blue Dot Sessions. To support Phonograph, subscribe to our bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling.

As the 15th anniversary of 99% Invisible approaches, Rob and Britta dig into four very different episodes from the first four years of that show's run (as well as the story of the time Rob met Roman Mars):

• Episode 6: "99% Symbolic"
• Episode 29: "Cul de Sac" (Produced with Katie Mingle)
• Episode 103: "U.T.B.A.P.H" (Produced with Sam Greenspan)
• Episode 83: "Heyoon" (Produced with Alex Goldman)

To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling, including this month's story about a young mother's relationship to her hearing aids, having refused to wear them since she started losing her hearing in the 6th grade.

Show Notes:

Invisible Ink (featured on Transom.org) "Genesis Object" on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on 99% Invisible HowSound episode on Heyoon Alex Goldman's new podcast Hyperfixed Music from Blue Dot Sessions

Episode Description:

Rob and Britta discuss Nancy Updike's podcast "We Were Three," which tells the story of one family devastated by Covid and what that devastation revealed. Also discussed: Nancy Updike's status as as one of the all time great audio producers.

To support Phonograph, subscribe to our new bonus feed, which features experiments in audio storytelling. This month's story comes from Rob: a collage of recordings he made in the spring of 2020 around the theme of anxiety and grocery shopping.

Show Notes:

ICU nurse Kelley Anaas talking about the state of nurses near the end of 2020

Serial Productions podcast We Were Three

Nancy Updike's talk at the Third Coast International Audio Festival

Nancy Updike's story for This American Life about private contractors in Iraq

The Longform Podcast interview with Nancy Updike and Jenelle Pifer

Maintenance Phase episode about Covid Conspiracies

Music - Blue Dot Sessions

Rob and Britta discuss the new podcast Signal Hill, which takes its inspiration from the world of print magazines. Rob talks to Liza Yeager and Jackson Roach about the project, and then we dive into a handful of the stories from Signal Hill's first "issue."

Show Notes:

Signal Hill

Fishing the Sky by Jackson Roach

Desperado by Neena Pathak

A Porous Place by Hannah Sassoon

On the Family Group Chat by Hannah Kingsley-Ma

Music by Blue Dot Sessions

Rob and Britta discuss the classic Alix Spiegel story "Pray" from This American Life, including Spiegel's origin story as a producer and what happened to her when members of the megachurch she was reporting on urged her to become a Christian.

This is the second of three episodes Rob and Britta recorded in 2019 and never released until now. The first of those was our episode about TAL's "Notes on Camp."

Show Notes:

Pray - This American Life

Tape: A radio show about people who make radio, hosted and edited by Mooj Zadie

Alix Spiegel's manifesto at Transom.org

Music:

Defect 2: Curiosidade - Tom Ze (John McEntire Remix)

Coffaro's Theme - Bill Frisell

Other Music - Blue Dot Sessions

Rob is joined by the audio producer Sophie Nikitas to discuss Susan Burton's Peabody award winning podcast from 2023: The Retrievals.

Show Notes:

Sophie's online dating podcast miniseries The Zoo

Sophie's horror anthology podcast Out Cold

Susan Burton's story "In The Event Of An Emergency, Put Your Sister In An Upright Position"

Susan Burton's story "Tornado Prom"

Music from Blue Dot Sessions