Just listened to the Orhan Pamuk episode.
If your particular kink is listening to this host libidinously stroke his own ego at the expense of any meaningful intellectual exchange, then this is the podcast for you!
Otherwise, a waste of time. Pamuk has much to say -- look elsewhere for it.
What an amazing show! I learned so much and am seeing a much clearer picture of our history and ideas. I’m going to replay the entire episode. Looking at the book, too! Thank you for another great show.
Since On Point days, I’ve known that C. Lydon is a gifted and empathetic moderator. His calling realized to great effect here.
I am gratified he is given space, support and freedom on this platform.
Podcasts can educate…routinely interesting.
I’ve listened to Christopher Lydon’s programs for decades on Public Radio, and on Open Source. Great mind, great topics and ideas, great staff and team, smart, ethical, personable, and relevant. This is the SHOW to listen to. Thank you.
There is no podcast that I enjoy more. There is also not a better podcast available that is so rich with a superbly diverse array of topics and themes. If there is any podcast that makes the world better and more informed, it’s definitely this one.
Christopher Lydon is the greatest podcast host of all time. His passion for understanding people & the world, along with these stories he brings to life is everything we love.
I thank you for being an amazingly warm human and friend, thank you Chris.
Everyone from Mattapan loves Chris!
In healing, love and peace,
Azan
Vietnam 1968 - I didn’t have a patriotic interest. That bacevich did doesn’t surprise me. He still can’t be honest as to the USA’s viciousness as regards any effort at world peace. Russia was provoked and responded as the responsible adult in the room. Someone had to say no to the USA and the USA can stop this aggression any time it wants. Russia is in the right. Can’t know if this war could have been avoided is asked. The answers are idiotic at best, whether the “talkers” know they are lying or not.
Christopher Lyndon’ treatment of the Van Morrison album Astral Weeks was phenomenal. I didn’t know the album before then and now it is a constant companion. This pod, and that album are gifts to all of us.
Excellent interviewing that brings out the deep knowledge & experience of his guests. Always get the feeling that he absolutely respects and likes his guests. Very much appreciate his emotional input to the interview.
The descriptions that accompany the podcast episodes are often misleading, making them out to be more interesting than they really turn out to be.
The host seems to be an old-style radio jock and brings a middlebrow manner to some very deep and challenging issues.
Also, I found that there is a staleness in the playlist, far too many repeat episodes. In the end one doesn’t get many new things to listen to each year.
Christopher Lydon is a renaissance man from music to politics to history philosophy and more. With respect to his amazing interviewees, he teaches me so much. This is my number one podcast.
He’s a lib not a neoliberal. He gets fantastic guests and then has real conversations that are smart and thought provoking. I don’t how I got into listening to him but it was long before I ever heard the word podcast. He’s the New Yorker of podcast but with more consistently good politics. Viva la Chris!
Christopher Lyndon is such a treasure of a host, and a rarity; very well read, deep thinker, and open minded, on so many different topics. I don’t listen to a lot of podcasts, but this has been a mainstay for me for the last 4 years.
Lydon is a well read master of inquiry who knows how to construct a question that digs into the heart of the issue. Whether is David Foster Wallace, Dickinson, or Mark Blyth, Lydon knows the subject and how to place it within the times we live. He has a talent for asking the questions you wish you could articulate, or that the interviewee has always wanted to be asked
Often, even when I've seen a title/subject of an episode that doesn't appeal to me, I find that if I begin listening I become interested and find benefit. Almost always excellent interviews and conversations on a wide variety of worthwhile topics.
Just started listening this year after hearing the Whitey Bulger episode on WBUR. This show is awesome and super intellectual; it’s impossible not to learn something every week. Lydon is a great interviewer; this dude blows Terry Gross completely out of the water. I enjoy hearing his questions as much as his guests’ answers.
Speaking of guests, I’ve yet to hear a dud; he’s always got interesting journalists, writers, filmmakers, psychologists, philosophers, and scientists on, usually 2-4 in a single show.
This show positively rocks, and I don’t think I’ve heard a better “conversation-style” show on American radio (or in an American podcast, of which this show is apparently the first one ever created back in 2003).
Thoughful, thought provoking, and assumes its audience is actually interested in digging a little deeper in order to better understand. What a pleasure to have Chris Lydon talk to us and with us, not down to us in the belief that we have tuned in merely to be infotained as is so often the case elsewhere. He is right. Keep it coming - good work!
Christopher Lydon is great, and he does fascinating deep dives into music and literature. I was first hooked by the episode on Bach's St. John Passion. Since then, I've subscribed to the podcast and been underwhelmed by the title--Bob Dylan as poet (when everybody was talking about it), for instance. Then listened to the podcast and was intrigued. This happens over and over again: the podcast is about something I think I know about or am not interested in, and I find myself growing more and more interested. You should listen to it.
For a far-left who despises modern day Democratic Party, this is great source for thoughts and ideas for advancing social and economic justice and fight neoliberalism.
A small drawback is that the host sometimes tends to put words in his interlocutors’ mouths.
This is the only thing I listen to every week. The content leaves Fresh Air's middle-of-the-road pop pandering in the dust. Not quite as diverse or comprehensive as Against the Grain (could use some radical politics to balance things out), but neither is it interminable and dry, as that is. And I do think Chris is one of the very best interviewers out there, especially because he is not timid or ego-bound but seems to be seriously putting himself on the line and exploring things for himself, along with the rest of us. So really, it's tops. I just wish there was more.
This podcast gives me something to look forward to every week. Christopher Lydon is a great interviewer, his voice is soothing and comforting, and the way he shouts out his crew at the end of every episode, especially his producer Mary McGrath, is squad goals. He and his team find the most interesting people to talk to, from experts in their respective fields to everyday people. Open Source makes me want to move to Boston where all the ideas apparently live!
Hands-down favorite podcast. Christopher Lydon can navigate an interview brilliantly. The research, thoughtfulness, and insights make this a memorable podcast series. Get your mind blown today
Open Source is one of my favorite podcasts because it features the most intelligent conversations you’ll hear on the radio. Christopher Lydon rounds up the smartest people on his show’s subjects and leaves out political spin. This show is always enlightening. Just when I think I understand an issue, I will hear a discussion that informs me even further. I often wish the conversation would just continue. Open Source is essential listening.
Love Open Source Always_ FINALLY !!! In this Episode!! Someone who ADMITS that the DEM Loss is because WOMEN POWER is still not accepted. I have been believing it, seing it, realized it, since the election, and I was yet to find in ALL the post-mortems I ve read about why the democrats loss..NOBODY addressed the WOman s Issue!!_ It s a TABOO. It is a n issue much IN DENIAL!_ and I am glad that in here, even if as a footnote, someone finally said it straight up. ....Jeeeezzz! _ Thanks Open SOurce_ Lydon always rocking- P.W.
Radio Open Source is a podcasting institution. Big ideas in politics, media, culture, philosophy. Cited at the first-ever podcast, its relevance is awe-inspiring; it's as fresh as ever. An essential part of your weekly routine.
Christopher Lydon is an idiot. That was my conclusion after listening to him smirk and chuckle his way through an hour on sexual violence. Progressive he is not. I'd just found this podcast, but it's not one I'll remain subscribed to.
The challenge for today's podcast listeners: what to listen to, and why? Christopher Lydon and his staff have a long history in issues reporting. Lydon looks out and seeks deeper meaning; a penetrating sense-making. For those looking for deeper insight and are discriminating with both their time and what they intellectually consume, subscribe. It's really an investment in yourself. Enjoy.
Great podcast for people who miss intelligent conversation about thought-provoking topics. None of the ranting that is so common to current talk shows. Thank you, Christopher Lydon.
Radio Open Source is like an awesome neighbor. Always off to do new and exciting things, and bringing home a constant stream of interesting people. Chris Lydon does tend to come back to what he knows-Yale, Emerson, jazz- but always new and fresh.
I’ve been a fan of this Podcast for years - from it’s inception to its hiatus (with occasional short podcasts) to its recent return to Boston radio. It’s always interesting and thought provoking. Even when the subject sounds boring I’m always glad I’ve listened. Definitely recommended!
Great content week in and week out. Chris's unfailingly polite and insightful questions open up not only the guests' minds but the listeners as well. The show is a must-listen event in our household every week.
In no particular order, the best NPR long-form shows are the Ray Suarez-hosted Talk of the Nation, This American Life, and the shows Christopher Lydon has hosted: first The Connection and now Radio Open Source. Lydon’s man of Yale, former NY Times reporter persona can be a bit much at times, but I’m willing to forgive him that because his topics are immensely interesting, his guests are top-notch, and he succeeds far more often than he fails in conducting an interview. He’s also immensely interesting to listen to in part because he doesn’t follow much of a script. He often thinks out loud, which makes the show unpredictable and rewarding. I also admire Lydon’s “stick-to-it-iveness.” He lost the host chair of the very popular and widely aired "The Connection” because of a dispute with what seemed a very inflexible station manager at WBUR Boston. Lydon didn’t give up on radio and the internet, though. Radio Open Source began as a show on the NPR station in Lowell, MA. He did great work there. When the grant funding for that show ran out, Lydon took it onto the internet as a podcast and also partnered with the Watson Institute at Brown University. Now he’s back on WBUR. Congratulations, Chris. I’m sure ROS is going to be picked up by NPR stations all over the country.
I’ve followed Chris Lydon since his WBUR days in the 90’s in Boston. His leaving The Connection was a huge disappointment to all WBUR listeners but we were glad to see follow him on Radio Open Source. He’s a voice of reason and a true renaissance man and he brings those qualities to his interviews. I strongly recommend this program.
