''Off the Hook'' is a hacker-oriented weekly
talk radio
Talk radio is a radio format containing discussion about topical issues and consisting entirely or almost entirely of original spoken word content rather than outside music. Most shows are regularly hosted by a single individual, and often featur ...
program, hosted by
Emmanuel Goldstein
Emmanuel Goldstein is a fictional character in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. He is the principal enemy of the state according to the Party of the totalitarian Oceania. He is depicted as the head of a mysterious ...
, which focuses on the societal ramifications of
information technology
Information technology (IT) is the use of computers to create, process, store, retrieve, and exchange all kinds of data . and information. IT forms part of information and communications technology (ICT). An information technology system (I ...
and the
law
Law is a set of rules that are created and are enforceable by social or governmental institutions to regulate behavior,Robertson, ''Crimes against humanity'', 90. with its precise definition a matter of longstanding debate. It has been vario ...
s that
regulate how
people
A person (plural, : people) is a being that has certain capacities or attributes such as reason, morality, consciousness or self-consciousness, and being a part of a culturally established form of social relations such as kinship, ownership of pr ...
use them. It airs Wednesday nights at 8:00 p.m.
Eastern Time
The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico, Panama, Colombia, mainland Ecuador, Peru, and a small port ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
on the
community radio
Community radio is a radio service offering a third model of radio broadcasting in addition to commercial and public broadcasting. Community stations serve geographic communities and communities of interest. They broadcast content that is popular ...
station
WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...
99.5 FM. It is also
simulcast
Simulcast (a portmanteau of simultaneous broadcast) is the broadcasting of programmes/programs or events across more than one resolution, bitrate or medium, or more than one service on the same medium, at exactly the same time (that is, simultane ...
online via streaming
MP3
MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Origin ...
, rebroadcast on various other
radio station
Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...
s,
and has been made available as a
podcast
A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...
(since long before that term was coined).
History
Premiere
''Off the Hook'' first aired on Thursday, October 7, 1988. It was originally set to debut Friday, August 12, 1988, but a fire on the radio transmitter floor of the
Empire State Building
The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from "Empire State", the nickname of the st ...
forced a postponement.
Notable events
Some notable events in the program's history include:
* On November 30, 1999, journalist
Amy Goodman
Amy Goodman (born April 13, 1957) is an American broadcast journalist, syndicated columnist, investigative reporter, and author. Her investigative journalism career includes coverage of the East Timor independence movement, Morocco's occupation ...
reported live from the
World Trade Organization protests, while being repeatedly approached by police and tear-gassed.
* As an
April Fool's Day
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which ma ...
prank in 2008, the crew faked a hack on
Barack Obama
Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the U ...
's campaign website.
* As an
April Fool's Day
April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day is an annual custom on 1 April consisting of practical jokes and hoaxes. Jokesters often expose their actions by shouting "April Fools!" at the recipient. Mass media can be involved in these pranks, which ma ...
prank in 2009, the show staged a
mock shutdown and takeover of
WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...
by a new
country
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...
station. Rather than the show's intro, the hour opened with an apparent station
sign-off followed by the
introduction
Introduction, The Introduction, Intro, or The Intro may refer to:
General use
* Introduction (music), an opening section of a piece of music
* Introduction (writing), a beginning section to a book, article or essay which states its purpose and g ...
of "New York's New Radio Station," playing a "10,000 song
marathon
The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of , usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There are also wheelchair div ...
" to celebrate the birth of "Country 99.5".
For 17 minutes WBAI broadcast to the
Greater New York area as a country station.
Possible Conclusion
On November 13, 2012, it was announced that "Off the Hook" was possibly facing conclusion due to "
2600"'s frustration with WBAI, as well as difficulty accessing the studio and its resources in the wake of
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy (unofficially referred to as ''Superstorm Sandy'') was an extremely destructive and strong Atlantic hurricane, as well as the largest Atlantic hurricane on record as measured by diameter, with tropical-storm-force winds spann ...
. However, new episodes have continued airing over WBAI.
Show format
After a quick presentation of the panelist(s) or on-air guest(s), the radio show normally starts with a report and discussion of the previous week's most interesting hacker,
technology
Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...
, and
activist
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
related news. Sometimes, it also features an interview with external guests.
Listener contributions
Toward the end of the program, Goldstein often reads listener
e-mail
Electronic mail (email or e-mail) is a method of exchanging messages ("mail") between people using electronic devices. Email was thus conceived as the electronic ( digital) version of, or counterpart to, mail, at a time when "mail" meant ...
s and/or takes listener phone calls, time providing.
Listener calls vary from people commenting and asking questions about previously discussed topics to reporting their own news. Calls are taken in an unfiltered fashion, with callers being selected at random and immediately put on-air (although there is a seven-second delay). The show does not utilize a
producer to
screen
Screen or Screens may refer to:
Arts
* Screen printing (also called ''silkscreening''), a method of printing
* Big screen, a nickname associated with the motion picture industry
* Split screen (filmmaking), a film composition paradigm in which mul ...
for 'valid' calls before bringing them on-air. As such, it's not uncommon for callers to speak
off topic, or seek help for a computer-related problem, possibly mistaking ''Off the Hook'' for the subsequent radio program on WBAI,
The Personal Computer Show'.
WBAI Program Schedule Overview
Retrieved July 2009. It is also not uncommon for calls to be dropped, or for callers to hang up, much to the consternation of the show's hosts.
Since the show has an international audience
An audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature (in which they are called "readers"), theatre, music (in which they are called "listeners"), video games (in which they are called "players"), or ...
, due to its streamed web presence and coverage of topics often of international interest, callers come
Come may refer to:
*Comè, a city and commune in Benin
*Come (Tenos), an ancient town on Tenos island, Greece
Music
*Come (American band), an American indie rock band formed in 1990
*Come (UK band), a British noise project founded in 1979
**Come ...
from many countries in addition to the US.
Personalities
Many individuals, from across the hacker, activist, computer security, etc. communities, have played active roles in or appeared on the show over the years.
Emmanuel Goldstein
Emmanuel Goldstein is a fictional character in George Orwell's 1949 dystopian novel ''Nineteen Eighty-Four''. He is the principal enemy of the state according to the Party of the totalitarian Oceania. He is depicted as the head of a mysterious ...
has regularly hosted the show since its inception.
See also
* 2600
* Gonzo journalism
* Hackers on Planet Earth
The Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference series is a hacker convention sponsored by the security hacker magazine ''2600: The Hacker Quarterly'' that until 2020 was typically held at Hotel Pennsylvania, in Manhattan, New York City. Occur ...
(HOPE) conference
* Hacker (programmer subculture)
The hacker culture is a subculture of individuals who enjoy—often in collective effort—the intellectual challenge of creatively overcoming the limitations of software systems or electronic hardware (mostly digital electronics), to ...
* Hactivism
In Internet activism, hacktivism, or hactivism (a portmanteau of ''hack'' and '' activism''), is the use of computer-based techniques such as hacking as a form of civil disobedience to promote a political agenda or social change. With roots in ha ...
* Phreaking
Phreaking is a slang term coined to describe the activity of a culture of people who study, experiment with, or explore telecommunication systems, such as equipment and systems connected to public telephone networks. The term ''phreak'' is a ...
References
{{reflist
External links
''Off the Hook''
official site
Show page
at WBAI
WBAI (99.5 FM) is a non-commercial, listener-supported radio station licensed to New York, New York. Its programming is a mixture of political news, talk and opinion from a left-leaning, liberal or progressive viewpoint, and eclectic music. ...
Audio podcasts
2600: The Hacker Quarterly
Pacifica Foundation programs
Works about computer hacking