Decoder Ring
Decoder Ring is the show about cracking cultural mysteries. In each episode, host Willa Paskin takes a cultural question, object, or habit; examines its history; and tries to figure out what it means and why it matters.
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76
The “Sex” Scandal That Made Mae West
Before she hit the big-screen, the sultry actress starred in a 1927 tabloid trial.
41 min
77
The First Alien Abductees
The alien abduction narrative started right here on Earth.
36 min
78
The Most Famous Poet No One Remembers
Searching for Rod McKuen.
43 min
79
The Mall is Dead (Long Live the Mall)
For a supposedly dying place, the mall keeps hanging around.
40 min
80
Summer 2022 Teaser
Decoder Ring's upcoming season.
1 min
81
The Storytelling Craze
How storytelling became a product.
35 min
82
“We Got Ourselves a Convoy”
How a fake country star gave voice to frustrated truckers across America.
29 min
83
The Sideways Effect
How one movie changed Americans’ wine drinking habits.
33 min
84
The Madness Behind ‘The Method’
Isaac Butler on how method acting became so widely misunderstood.
42 min
85
“F--k Everything, We're Doing Five Blades”
The story of how razors came to have so many blades.
36 min
86
Spring 2022 Teaser
Decoder Ring's upcoming season
1 min
87
Custer's Revenge
Custer's Revenge is widely considered one of the worst video games ever made.
41 min
88
The Fame That Got Away
Today on Decoder Ring: Three stories about fame, and one about monkeys.
37 min
89
Truly Tasteless Jokes
What's the difference between garbage and a girl from New Jersey?
43 min
90
The Philosophy of Vampires
In literature, the choice to become a vampire is a metaphor for transformative experiences.
31 min
91
You Just Lost The Game
When you think about the game, you lose the game.
21 min
92
The Alberta Rat War
Rats live wherever people live, with one exception: the Canadian province of Alberta.
37 min
93
The Great Helga Hype
In the summer of 1986, both Time Magazine and Newsweek ran blockbuster cover stories on the same subject: a secret cache of provocative, intimate paintings by Andrew Wyeth, one of America's most famous artists.
49 min
94
Selling Out
What happened to selling out?
46 min
95
Tattoo Flash
Today, four stories about tattoos whose meanings have shifted with the passage of years, decades, or centuries.
46 min
96
The Tootsie Shot
You know the Tootsie Shot. Why is it so sticky?
34 min
97
Who Killed The Segway?
This is the story of the invention and development of a potentially revolutionary device, how the hype got out of control, and how that speculation helped birth the modern internet.
41 min
98
The Sign Painter
What happens, to an artist—to anyone—when they’re good enough, but that’s not enough?
54 min
99
That Seattle Muzak Sound
Muzak, the purveyors of elevator music, had become a complete joke by the 1990’s when it found many of the players in the Seattle grunge scene working in its offices.
41 min
100
The Invention of Hydration
How did bottled water transform itself from a small, European luxury item to the single largest beverage category in America?
33 min