“A proper puppeteer is a despot, one that makes the Tsar seem like a petty gendarme.” – #walterbenjamin
Author Archive | Matthew Lasar
Walter Benjamin radio diary: mailbag #1
Who knew that Walter Benjamin would generate this much correspondence?
Walter Benjamin radio diary entry #2: “the downside of radio.”
“Maybe someday I’ll meet one of you there,” Walter Benjamin once said to his radio listeners. “But we won’t recognize each other.” Was Benjamin right about that?
Walter Benjamin radio diary entry #1: selective snouting
Walter Benjamin’s first radio essay focused on the Berlin “Schnauze” or snout, but selectively so.
My Walter Benjamin radio diary
In which I comment on each and every one of Walter Benjamin’s radio broadcasts. But first, a quick introduction to some of his ideas.
How a radio show and comic book inspired the FBI’s name
It was 1934, and J. Edgar Hoover was sick of radio mysteries and comic strips that referred to “secret” government agents. We need a better name, he told his minions.
When it comes to classical music (and classical radio), don’t mess with (San Antonio) Texas
KPAC is another reason why San Antonio, Texas is a great place for classical music and classical radio.
How to turn your FBI surveillance into a radio show
As some of you know, I study and teach two subjects in depth: the history of broadcasting and the history of the USA National Security State. These two topics merge when the objects of government wiretaps realize that they are being listened to, then make strategic comments or even entertain their eavesdroppers. At this point […]
When radio (not Twitter) got you in trouble: the case of Sammy Davis Jr.
Once upon a time radio, not Twitter, was the place where you blew up your world. An old Rat Pack story serves to illustrate . . .
What was that “very serious” music I heard on the radio in 1959?
I am at the point when recalling events from my childhood feels like digging up another historical epoch. Nonetheless, if I do not attempt the memory excavation now, when will I get around to it? So here I ponder a question that has poked at me for many years: what was that strange music that […]