200 episodes

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me to explore the intersection of personal history and the larger social and cultural context through the lens of an outdated technology.
New episodes will be posted Sundays.

Phone Messages Paul Mason Fotsch

    • Society & Culture
    • 5.0 • 14 Ratings

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me to explore the intersection of personal history and the larger social and cultural context through the lens of an outdated technology.
New episodes will be posted Sundays.

    The Last Message

    The Last Message

    In 1977, the Fonz jumped over a shark on the TV show Happy Days. Although the show went on to have six more successful seasons, it became a symbol of decline and something that everything from baseball teams to podcasts should avoid.

    • 8 min
    We're On For Thursday

    We're On For Thursday

    In the initial years of Television, Game shows were a popular part of networks' prime time schedule until a 1959 investigation revealed they were often scripted. During the 1970s and 80s, daytime TV broadcast shows like Password and 25,000 dollar Pyramid. In 1999, Who Wants to be a Millionaire brought the genre back to network Prime Time.

    • 9 min
    Gainesville

    Gainesville

    In the summer of 1990, a series of murders spread fear across Gainesville Florida. Nearly eighty years earlier, the collapse of a small bank led to tragedy on the lower east side of Manhattan.

    • 9 min
    Thank You For Your Attention

    Thank You For Your Attention

    In the mid 1990s, a Destroy All Music Festival held at the Ruiz Belvis Cultural Center in Wicker Park featured bands like Carnival de Carnitas, Scissor Girls, Blowhole and DragKing.

    • 9 min
    Santa Claus

    Santa Claus

    Batteries Not Included in Lincoln Park, had a brief life in the 1980s showcasing scrappy young bands ready to surprise. The 1980s club Gaspars in Lakeview, became Schubas and continues to host live music several days a week.

    • 9 min
    Not Ready for Marriage

    Not Ready for Marriage

    In the 1920s, JR Stewart was one of many companies that manufactured banjo ukuleles during the first uke boom. Ukes became popular again in recent decades thanks in part thanks to Israel Kamakawiwoʻole.

    • 9 min

Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5
14 Ratings

14 Ratings

reagan9000 ,

Great podcast

Paul’s podcast has it all: rashomon style recollecting, intimate memories, outdated technology, and analog recordings. I’ve listened to a bunch of episodes so far and enjoyed them all.

Louis Selby ,

Fun !

Exceptional content, interesting and fun to listen to!

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