Call 'Em Like Museum with Eric Johnson

LightningPod

Call 'Em Like Museum is a weekly podcast exploring how museums really work, and why we love them. Host Eric Johnson talks with museum directors, curators, experts, and passionate fans about what drives them, from homegrown passion projects to world-famous institutions. Each episode digs into museum curation, exhibit design, and the visitor experience — plus the essential question: What's actually worth buying in the gift shop? Season One spotlights museums in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Walt Disney Family Museum, the deYoung Museum, and the Winchester Mystery House.

Episodes

  1. 3 days ago ·  Video

    In this pinball museum, the art is meant to be touched (with Evan Phillippe)

    At the Pacific Pinball Museum in Alameda, California, there are very few "don't touch" signs. In fact, this unique collection actually relies on visitors' touch to keep things running smoothly. "They actually function better when they're getting played a lot," says Evan Phillippe, the museum's executive director. "They seize up and they freeze when they don't ... The more they get played, the happier they are." Today on Call 'Em Like Museum, Evan talks about the myriad challenges of maintaining the world's largest playable pinball collection, including what to do with the 1,200 machines that don't fit in the current space. He explains how the museum educates visitors through rooms like "Beyond the Backglass," the first exhibit to celebrate women's contributions to pinball engineering, art, and software. Plus: The small army of volunteers that keeps the games working, what kids who grew up with iPads think of pinball, and the downsides of being thrifty as a nonprofit museum operator. Full transcript of this episode Subscribe to the newsletter This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod Listen to "Buzzers and Bells," my original short audio story about the Pacific Pinball Museum, on Twenty Thousand Hertz Chapters00:00 Introduction03:01 Evan's First Museum Memory07:12 A Tour of the Pacific Pinball Museum11:46 Why It's a Museum, Not an Arcade15:27 Fix-It Nights & Pinball Maintenance21:46 Getting New Generations Into Pinball27:19 Visitor Reactions & Pinball Nostalgia33:17 Investing in the Museum's Future40:50 Museum Inspiration & Tiny Details of Joy Music: www.purple-planet.com Images:Museum exterior Videos:Suzanne Ciani on Omni: The New Frontier

    In this pinball museum, the art is meant to be touched (with Evan Phillippe)

  2. 25 Aug ·  Video

    What's the point of going to a museum? (with Susan Crane)

    Did you know the Mona Lisa only got world-famous after it was stolen from the Louvre? In 1911, Leonardo da Vinci's masterpiece was just another portrait in the Salon Carré, shoved between a bunch of other Renaissance paintings. But when a former museum worker stole it, the public flocked to the museum to stare at "nothing," the blank space on the wall. This phenomenon fascinated Susan Crane, a history professor at the University of Arizona and author of "Nothing Happened: A History." In 2026, the Mona Lisa's status could not be more different: It has a wall entirely to itself behind bulletproof glass, drawing millions of visitors who wait behind stanchions to catch a glimpse & maybe take a selfie. Today on Call 'Em Like Museum, Susan questions our relationship to famous works of art in museums, and explains how to cultivate genuine surprise as a visitor. She also explores how museums have been reshaped by technology and politics, the ongoing debate of the Smithsonian versus the White House, and whether school field trips are actually worth the effort. Plus: The absolutely wild way the literary elite used to experience museums in the 19th century. Full transcript of this episode Susan’s book: Nothing Happened: A History Subscribe to the newsletter This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod Chapters (00:00) - Introduction (04:04) - The Meaning and Early History of Museums (07:58) - How Photography Became Fine Art (11:52) - Stealing and Photographing the Mona Lisa (18:14) - Why Museums Matter (23:58) - Who Decides What Belongs in a Museum? (29:12) - Goethe's "Gallery Dialogues" (31:13) - Politics, Control, and Change (40:37) - Exit Through the Gift Shop Music: www.purple-planet.com Images: Stealing Mona LisaVincenzo Peruggia and “Daily Scene in the Louvre” The blank space La “Joconde” a disparu Mona returns Mona Lisa in the Louvre Excelsior newspaper Galeries Des Antiques French Crown Jewels Allegory of Marriage Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine Feast in the House of Simon the Pharisee Videos: Photo Museum Benjamin Banneker

    What's the point of going to a museum? (with Susan Crane)

  3. 16 Aug ·  Video

    What do museums mean to you?

    Call 'Em Like Museum is a weekly podcast exploring how museums really work, and why we love them. Host Eric Johnson talks with museum directors, curators, experts, and passionate fans about what drives them, from homegrown passion projects to world-famous institutions. Each episode digs into museum curation, exhibit design, and the visitor experience — plus the essential question: What's actually worth buying in the gift shop? Season One spotlights museums in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Walt Disney Family Museum, the deYoung Museum, and the USS Hornet Museum. Subscribe to the newsletter: https://www.callemlikemuseum.com/ Music: www.purple-planet.com This episode was hosted, produced, and edited by Eric Johnson from LightningPod: https://lightningpod.fm/

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Call 'Em Like Museum is a weekly podcast exploring how museums really work, and why we love them. Host Eric Johnson talks with museum directors, curators, experts, and passionate fans about what drives them, from homegrown passion projects to world-famous institutions. Each episode digs into museum curation, exhibit design, and the visitor experience — plus the essential question: What's actually worth buying in the gift shop? Season One spotlights museums in the San Francisco Bay Area, including the Walt Disney Family Museum, the deYoung Museum, and the Winchester Mystery House.

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