Behind the Scenes Minis: Pens and Dog Radios

Summary

Stuff You Missed in History Class: Episode Summary – "Behind the Scenes Minis: Pens and Dog Radios"

Release Date: July 11, 2025

Hosts: Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson | Produced by iHeartRadio

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Introduction

In the episode titled "Pens and Dog Radios," hosts Holly Fry and Tracy V. Wilson delve into the fascinating histories and personal anecdotes surrounding everyday objects: pens and radio toys. Their conversation not only uncovers the intricate developments behind these items but also highlights the sentimental value they hold in personal lives.

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The Allure of Pens

Retractable Pens and Their Evolution

Tracy kicks off the discussion by reminiscing about the design and functionality of retractable pens:

Tracy V. Wilson [02:50]: "I was reading the back of the cat's flea and tick prevention medicine that said if you ingested it, to call poison control. And I was like, huh, how did we get a system in which there's poison control to the point that it's printed on the box?"

This observation leads her to ponder the ingenuity behind retractable pens, questioning when and how the retractable mechanism was first conceived.

Personal Pen Preferences and Experiences

Both hosts share their personal preferences and experiences with various types of pens:

Holly Fry [04:21]: "I have a mix like Tina. I have different kinds that I like."

Tracy V. Wilson [05:16]: "I've only written with a fountain pen one time. It is possible that there are fountain pens that I would like, but that one fountain pen, I was like, nope, feels too scratchy on the page."

Tracy recounts her encounter with a glass dip pen, highlighting the tactile experience that turned her admiration into mere decoration due to its impracticality for writing.

Memorable Pens and Brand Loyalty

Holly expresses her fondness for specific pen brands and models, emphasizing reliability and personal attachment:

Holly Fry [07:34]: "I have passed through, as I'm sure you have, many pens over the years, where I'm like, this is my current favorite. For a long time, I liked the Pilot thick ink rollerball. Great. But right now, it's so silly. And it's been this for a little over, like, a year and a half now."

She highlights her current favorite, a Lego lightsaber gel pen, praising its smoothness while expressing frustration over its structural vulnerabilities.

The Quest for the Perfect Pen

Tracy shares a nostalgic story about a favorite promotional pen she couldn't replace after its ink ran out:

Tracy V. Wilson [08:13]: "The pen that they gave us for free with our little packet of materials, I loved it, wrote really beautifully. When it ran out of ink, I sat there studying it, trying to figure out... I did not figure it out."

This story underscores the personal connections and challenges in sourcing beloved writing instruments.

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Nostalgia and Memories of Radio

AM vs. FM Radio: Personal Reflections

Transitioning from pens, the hosts explore their memories associated with radio technologies:

Holly Fry [16:02]: "I remember sitting in that '67 Pontiac Le Mans futzing with the radio nonstop. It's like ingrained in my soul."

Tracy adds her childhood memory of a toy radio dog that played AM radio, blending affection for the device with the sensory experience it provided.

The Significance of AM Radio in Emergencies

Tracy discusses the practical importance of AM radio:

Tracy V. Wilson [16:10]: "AM radio was one of the ways that you can get, here in the United States, broadcasts from the emergency broadcast system when there is some kind of emergency."

This highlights AM radio's enduring role beyond entertainment, serving as a critical communication tool during crises.

Cultural References and Modern Implications

Holly references popular culture to illustrate the romanticized view of radio:

Holly Fry [12:28]: "It is also like a mythology that is perpetuated by a lot of period film and television where someone's like, I must sign my name and they whip out a quill pen that's got gigantic pill feather plumage like as far as the eye can see."

This segue connects historical developments in radio and writing instruments to their portrayal in media, enhancing the audience's appreciation of these technologies' societal impact.

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Anecdotes and Shared Experiences

Childhood Adventures and Radio Dogs

Tracy shares an endearing childhood memory:

Tracy V. Wilson [20:03]: "I acquired at what was effectively a yard sale, a toy plush dog that had a radio in its belly... I would go up there and sit with my radio dog and listen to the AM radio and brush its fur with the brush."

This story illustrates how simple toys like a radio dog can create lasting memories and spark curiosity about technology.

Generational Lessons and CB Radios

Holly reflects on her family's history with CB radios:

Holly Fry [20:28]: "My dad's car had a CB radio in there, and my grandfather's car, his dad's car, also a CB radio. I never really learned to use the CB radio."

She contrasts this with Tracy's experience of using CB radios to communicate during road trips, highlighting generational differences in technology usage.

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Insights and Conclusions

Appreciating Everyday Objects

Through their discussions, Holly and Tracy emphasize how everyday objects like pens and radios are intertwined with personal history and technological progress. They showcase how curiosity about these items can lead to deeper historical understanding and appreciation.

Tracy V. Wilson [10:25]: "It's one of my favorite things to happen on this show."

Their appreciation for the small inspirations that lead to expansive conversations underscores the podcast's mission to uncover the hidden stories behind seemingly mundane objects.

The Intersection of Functionality and Sentiment

The hosts highlight the balance between functionality and emotional attachment:

Holly Fry [12:00]: "It's also like a mythology that is perpetuated by a lot of period film and television."

This reflection suggests that while technological advancements improve functionality, the sentimental value remains a key aspect of human interaction with these devices.

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Closing Thoughts

Holly and Tracy wrap up the episode by encouraging listeners to find joy and wonder in the everyday objects around them. They advocate for a mindful appreciation of the tools that facilitate our daily lives, urging an exploration of their historical contexts and personal significances.

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Notable Quotes:

• Tracy V. Wilson [02:50]: "How did we get a system in which there's poison control to the point that it's printed on the box?"
• Holly Fry [07:34]: "I love the way a Bic ballpoint rolls. They're pretty consistent. Those are my scribblers."
• Tracy V. Wilson [20:10]: "Radio now I just keep thinking about Elvis Costello songs... It’s ingrained in my soul."

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Listen to the full episode on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast platform to explore more intriguing histories behind everyday items!

Transcript

[Tracy V. Wilson]

This is an iHeart podcast.

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Hello, I'm John Lithgow.

[Buzz Aldrin]

We choose to go to the moon.

[John Lithgow]

I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That's one small step for man about.

[John Lithgow]

Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space.

[Holly Fry]

You're a great pilot, Buzz.

[John Lithgow]

That's the story you think you know. This is the story you don't. Buzz, starring me, John Lithgow, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcast. You get your podcasts.

[Dexter Thomas]

Are there any pictures of you online? Then you could already be in a massive police database without even knowing it.

[Buzz Aldrin]

Clear View scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, a podcast about how living in the future is affecting us right now.

[Buzz Aldrin]

Police, they are trusting the software with this magical ability to lead them to the right suspect.

[Dexter Thomas]

In this episode, we dive into how cops are using AI and facial recognition and sometimes getting it wrong and putting innocent people behind bars.

[Buzz Aldrin]

So if your accuser is this algorithm, but you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

Listen to Kill Switch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unnamed Tech Host]

OpenAI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm gonna tell you why on my show, Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry, where we're breaking down why OpenAI, along with other AI companies, are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you happen to get your podcasts.

[Holly Fry]

So what happened to Chappaquiddick? Well, it really depends on who you talk to.

[Unnamed Kennedy Historian]

There are many versions of what happened in 1969 when a young Ted Kennedy drove a car into a pond and.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Left a woman behind to drown.

[Unnamed Kennedy Historian]

Chappaquiddick is a story of a tragic death and how the Kennedy machine took control. Every week we go behind the headlines and beyond the drama of America's royal family.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Listen to United States of Kennedy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

[Holly Fry]

Welcome to Stuff youf Missed in History Class, a production of iHeartrad.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Hello and happy Friday. I'm Tracy V. Wilson, and I'M Holly Fry. We talked about pens this week. The thing that this reminds me the most of in terms of inspiration for an episode is the one where we talked about poison control.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That literally came about because I was reading the back of the cats flea and tick prevention medicine that said if you ingested it, to call poison control. And I was like, huh, how did we get a system in which there's poison control to the point that it's printed on the box? Like, that's the thing that the people who made this can take for granted that the people reading it would have access to poison control. How do we get to that? In this case, we're just sitting around the table, just kind of chatting as we are preparing to start hour and something ish process of signing paperwork. And I thought, huh, who thought of pens like this? They also were retractable. And we did not talk about retractable pens at all. I don't know when somebody came up with how to retract them. But, you know, we're clicking on the retractable pens, and I went, huh, pens. Let's talk about that on the show.

[Holly Fry]

People feel very strongly about pens.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I feel incredibly strongly about pens.

[Holly Fry]

Me too. I've never felt more seen. I will once again invoke Bob's burgers. But there was an episode where someone needed a pen, and their daughter Tina. I think it's Linda that needs the pen. Their daughter Tina, hands it to her and says, this is my third favorite pen. And then she doesn't hand it back right away. And Tina's like, can I have it back? Cause like I said, it's my third favorite pen. And I was like, oh, Tina. Oh, Tina, I see you and I feel you.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. So the part of the episode where we read the thing that was about the person saying that they did not think that this fountain pen would really take off because it felt so much better to write with a quill. I have never written with a quill. However, that really resonated with me, because if I don't like the sensation of writing with a pen, forget it. I'm never using that pen again. I, not that long ago, Impulse bought some gel pens at the drugstore, took one out to write with it the first time, and it felt scratchy, and I was like, nope, nope.

[Holly Fry]

That is the worst sensation.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I hate it.

[Holly Fry]

Especially if it's a pen. Like a gel pen that normally, like a decent gel pen has such a smooth hand.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

That if it doesn't, if for some reason it's Cheaply made. And the rollerball that conveys the gel does not smoothly do its job. It's like nails on a chalkboard. It's awful.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. And the fact that you're not expecting it because you expect the gel pen to have that smooth feel was incredibly jarring. I've only written with a fountain pen one time. It is possible that there are fountain pens that I would like, but that one fountain pen, I was like, nope, feels too scratchy on the page. Many years ago, I was someplace. I don't even know where, but the sort of place that sells gifts and knickknacks for your home.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

And it was a glass dip pen that came with a well of ink. And I was like, that is beautiful and I want to own it. And I bought it for myself. And the first time that I actually tried to write with it, it was a glass, like a handmade glass pen that you would dip into the well. And the very first time I tried to write with it, it felt so awful to me that that then became just a desk decoration.

[Holly Fry]

I have a mix like Tina. I have different kinds that I like. And I will tell you, I am the person who buys the old school Bic crystal ballpoint with purple ink in bulk.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

I'm like, send me that bulk thing. I want my purple ink. I like the way a Bic ballpoint rolls. They're pretty consistent. Those are my scribblers. And then my next thing is so specific and odd. I have passed through, as I'm sure you have, many pens over the years, where I'm like, this is my current favorite. Right. For a long time, I liked the pilot thick ink rollerball. Great. But right now, it's so silly. And it's been this for a little over, like, a year and a half now. I think there is a pen. I don't know who manufactures it, but it is a Lego lightsaber gel pen. That is the one.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

It is smooth as silk. I have many colors. Anytime I'm in a situation where I can buy one, I buy five. Like, I love them so much. My only criticism is that there's a little screw top on the end of the barrel where the actual, like, ink stick is inserted and the threads on that can fail and it can crack, and that makes me bananas. You will find around my house many bodged together pens because I cannot give the pen up even though it has had a structural failure.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Ugh.

[Holly Fry]

The obsession pens, One of the favorite.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Pens that I had that has now run out of ink one, I think the last trip that I took prior to the start of the pandemic, not the cruise that I was on when the pandemic started. I've told that story on the show many times. But you and I and several of our coworkers all went on a trip not long before that that was related to an advertiser. And the pen that they gave us for free with our little packet of materials, I loved it, wrote really beautifully. It felt really good in my hands. I was very into it. And when it ran out of ink, if I'm remembering correctly, I sat there studying it, trying to figure out, like, what is the source of this pen? Where can I get it another one? And I did not. I did not figure it out. I was unsuccessful.

[Holly Fry]

Did you ever consider. And I know this is crazy, but it's the kind of thing I would do, reaching out to that advertiser and being like, yo, I got this pen on this little adventure. Do you have a warehouse full of them somewhere?

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. I did not do that. I did not.

[Holly Fry]

I bet they do. There is somewhere an admin assistant with the key to the premiums closet who is like, ma', am, let me hook you up.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. I might confirm that I am not conflating it with a different source of pen. This is where I remember that one coming from. But it's always possible to be wrong, to remember things incorrectly after that many years. But, yeah, anyway, I really like it when a random thing in the world sparks my interest, whether it is pens or the poison control system or a random person who's who, you know, I stumble across a historical marker or one little sign in a museum or something like that, and I go, what is that about? And it becomes a whole episode. It's one of my favorite things to happen on this show.

[Holly Fry]

I feel like that's life.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

Do you know what I mean? Like, I don't. I'm never not going, like, where did that come from? What is that? My. My. Almost it would be a peeve if it had not become so funny among my friend group is when you know, you'll be out somewhere and someone will be like, huh, I wonder who invented this style of cheese slicer. And I'm always like, if only there were a magic box in our pocket that could tell us. So, like, I never wanna. I never have the. I wonder if. And look off into space. I'm always, like, looking it up, looking it up. When people think I'm walking and texting, I'm probably looking up. Like, what style of flower is that? What kind of thing is this? Who designed this building? Like, I'm such an information hound that I never stop looking things up.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I've started having this while watching TikTok. People will either reference a thing and I'm like, I don't know what that's about. Or there will be mention. It will be, you know, somebody who's made a video about the history of something and I don't know if they are correct or not. Not. And I will close TikTok and go start looking stuff up for myself. Yeah, yeah. I'm always laughing at giant ostrich plume quills.

[Holly Fry]

I mean, they're fun.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

They are very fun. They would be challenging to write with if you were trying to do that because of the air resistance against the big floofy plumage.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah, yeah. I think we had one of those at our wedding for the guest book. As do many people.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh yeah, sure, sure.

[Holly Fry]

As do many people. But it is also like a mythology that is perpetuated by a lot of period film and television where someone's like, I must sign my name and they whip out a quill pen that's got gigantic pill feather plumage like as far as the eye can see. It makes me giggle, but yeah.

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[Holly Fry]

We talked about Edwin Armstrong this week.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yep.

[Holly Fry]

Which ended on a sad note. But also, he's pretty cool. He's gotten so much recognition posthumously within the science community and specifically engineering. Even if a lot of laypeople don't really know much about him, which is nice to know. His colleagues all recognized his brilliance. We didn't talk a lot about one of the things that I thought was really charming about him. We mentioned in the 1920s that he suddenly made a boatload of money, which he spent largely reinvesting in science. But one of the things he did as an indulgence was he went to Europe and bought fast cars.

[Buzz Aldrin]

Okay.

[Holly Fry]

Because he really liked cars. And that was just one of the things where he was like, I'm gonna spend some money on this. And I'm like, I respect it. Yeah, I respect it. This episode and thinking about FM and AM gave me so many memories to growing up when streaming didn't exist.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Yeah. I mostly had one memory, which is that when I was in elementary school, I acquired at what was effectively a yard sale, a toy plush dog that had a radio in its belly and also came with a little brush because it was kind of a long haired dog. You could brush the dog's hair. So if you brush the dog's hair while listening to the AM radio that was embedded in its belly, it would just make ongoing static in time with the brush strokes of brushing. And there was a tree in our backyard that had. It had kind of grown out in an angle and it had a place that I like to go up there and sit. And I would go up there and sit with my radio dog and listen to the AM radio and brush its fur with the brush.

[Holly Fry]

Okay. Because I can't stop myself. I immediately looked up dog plush AM radio.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

There were different breeds you could buy.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh, really?

[Holly Fry]

And I'm real tempted to buy a poodle. Okay.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Okay.

[Holly Fry]

Will I ever listen to the radio on it? Probably not, but. Ooh, I like that. They're not super pricey either. Pretty exciting.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

That's very funny, though, the idea that you're inadvertently, like, changing.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

Creating more static.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It. It looked a lot like this one that just came up on ebay with like, kind of wild hair. So, yeah, AM radio is still around. There are still people listening to it. Working for IHEART means that, like, when we get newsletters about stuff, sometimes we get newsletters about things that are related to radio. And I remember getting one that was about the requirement for AM radios still to be in new vehicles.

[Holly Fry]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

In part because AM radio was one of the ways that you can get here in the United States. Broadcasts from the emergency broadcast system when there is some kind of emergency. And that stuck in my head. It was not that long ago.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah. We've gotten a kajillion emails about it, which you're probably filtering some of. Because it is a significant amount.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It's a lot of emails. Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

My memories about AM radio and FM radio and radio listening in general are all very tied to my youth. Right. Like I remember the big one is that I remember for a long time my dad was really into classic cars, so we did not have modern vehicles which meant all of the radios in the vehicles were amazing. And he would drive me to ballet initially twice a week and then six days a week because some of us become obsessive and I remember we would have to be like tuning into AM stations. And when I started ballet at the age of nine, I pretty much let him make those decisions. And as I hit my early teen years and I had an FM radio at home and I knew what was available.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Oh yeah.

[Holly Fry]

Musically I wanted to hear music that I was into. And I remember trying to tune around all the time and being frustrated as I'll get out at having to like find the AM station that would play contemporary.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

Charting music. And I just. It's such a distinct part of my youth that I remember sitting in that 67 Pontiac Le Mans futzing with the radio nonstop. It's like ingrained in my soul.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

And then arguing about the songs.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. I think probably would have been tricky because it seems like AM radio is more focused on like talk radio because it's clearer with spoken voices than music.

[Holly Fry]

Right. Music does not play great on AM nowadays. It's better than it certainly was when Armstrong was doing his work. But yeah, FM is a clearer, sharper. That's usually considered the high fidelity.

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[Tracy V. Wilson]

My dad's car had a CB radio in there, and my grandfather's car, his dad's car, also a CB radio. I never really learned to use the CB radio. I never really learned much about the, like, CB slang and lingo and etiquette. But what I do remember is whenever we were on road trips, we would hear the truckers warning each other about where the speed traps were.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Over that CB radio. Not exactly the same thing as a radio station to listen to.

[Holly Fry]

The other thing I thought about while working on this episode was DeForest as an example of someone who just stumbled into success and then believed himself to be at the same level as people in his field who clearly knew a lot more than him.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah.

[Holly Fry]

And how infuriating I would have found that to deal with.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Yeah. I found the Supreme Court case frustrating.

[Holly Fry]

Yeah.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

For obvious reasons. And, you know, because of parallels to more recent cases where, you know, there has been an expert, many experts have written amicus briefs on something, and then the decision goes in the opposite way of those expert opinions. And that was sort of what that reminded me of. And we got to the part about him trying to return his. His award and everybody, like, refusing to take the award back. Part of me was like, had those people written amicus briefs on his behalf for the Supreme Court cases? How did they feel about that? If so, probably angry.

[Holly Fry]

I don't know.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

I do know they were giving.

[Holly Fry]

There were a lot of people giving statements, like, to the press about. We all know he invented this. We all know. Listen to the testimony. I mean, it really is like, no, the audion is a magical wonder. We haven't figured out what it can do and how it works yet. And then somebody who's like, yes, we can. Here's how. Here's the circuitry that I had published two years ago about it. Here's everything. Like, it's at that point, it's one of those things where, like, you shouldn't even need an amicus brief. One of these men understands this science, and one of these men kind of comes off as a ding dong who's like, I don't know, you touch the wires together.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Like, it's really like.

[Holly Fry]

The fact that he describes it as having, you know, this phenomena as being a wonder that can't be understood is like, do you.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Think ghosts are doing this? Like, what?

[Holly Fry]

It's so weird.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

It's the small creatures living in the radio set kind of.

[Holly Fry]

I mean, it does feel like that sort of level of Like, I just don't know. We can never underst. It's the unknowable. And it's like, no, we know. We all know. We all know. This guy figured it out, tested it. We know, we know. And then again, the justice is going. Do we, though? I don't think we do know. I think he put the wires in the light bulb first. It's his. It's like, oh. So I can understand how they were all super frustrated. I do like, though, that the entire field rallied around him and it didn't, in that moment, impact his standing. It certainly, you know, meant that he, he got cheated out of some money, but he was still very wealthy at that point, so it probably didn't feel as painful other than just his pride. Radio now I just keep thinking about Elvis Costello songs, which is what we do. Anyway, if you're coming up on your weekend, whether you listen to the radio or some other form of entertainment or maybe you don't get to do any of that. And I'm sorry, but if you do get to do some things for yourself, I hope they are so delightful, super enjoyable. Leave you feeling relaxed, rejuvenated, recharged, at peace as much as possible in our very, very wild world. Right now, if you don't have time off, I still hope you get to do something fun and maybe listen to something that you enjoy as you commute, if you commute, or just, you know, wherever you can. And that I hope everyone eats something delicious. I hope everyone that loves cake has cake this week. That's my wish for the world and that we all are as kind to each other as we can possibly manage. We will be right back here tomorrow with a classic episode and then on Monday we will have something brand new.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Stuff youf Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.

[John Lithgow]

Hello, I'm John Lithgow.

[Buzz Aldrin]

We choose to go to the moon.

[John Lithgow]

I want to tell you about my new fiction podcast.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

That's One Small Step for Man about.

[John Lithgow]

Buzz Aldrin, one of the true pioneers of space.

[Holly Fry]

You're a great pilot, Buzz.

[John Lithgow]

That's the story you think you know. This is the story you don't. Buzz, starring me, John Lithgow, on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Dexter Thomas]

Are there any pictures of you online? Then you could already be in a massive police database without even knowing it.

[Buzz Aldrin]

Clearview scrapes together images from Facebook, from LinkedIn, from Venmo accounts.

[Dexter Thomas]

I'm Dexter Thomas, host of Kill Switch, a podcast about how living in the future is affecting us right now.

[Buzz Aldrin]

Police, they are trusting this software with this magical ability to lead them to the right suspect.

[Dexter Thomas]

In this episode, we dive into how cops are using AI and facial recognition and sometimes getting it wrong and putting innocent people behind bars.

[Buzz Aldrin]

So if your accuser is this algorithm, but you're not even being told that it was used, let alone given any of the details about how it works.

[Dexter Thomas]

Listen to Kill Switch on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

[Unnamed Tech Host]

OpenAI is a financial abomination, a thing that should not be an aberration, a symbol of rot at the heart of Silicon Valley. And I'm going to tell you why on my show, Better Offline, the rudest show in the tech industry where we're breaking down why OpenAI, along with other AI companies, are dead set on lying to your boss that they can take your job. I'm also going to be talking with the greatest minds in the industry about all the other ways the rich and powerful are ruining the computer. Listen to Better offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you happen to get your podcasts.

[Holly Fry]

So what happened at Chappaquiddick? Well, it really depends on who you talk to.

[Unnamed Kennedy Historian]

There are many versions of what happened in 1969 when a young Ted Kenned drove a car into a pond and.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Left a woman behind to drown.

[Unnamed Kennedy Historian]

Chappaquiddick is a story of a tragic death and how the Kennedy machine took control. Every week we go behind the headlines and beyond the drama of America's royal family.

[Tracy V. Wilson]

Listen to United States of Kennedy on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. This is an iHeart podcast.