Episode 7: Sedition

Faced with political defeat, Father Coughlin drops all pretense of diplomacy. He plagiarizes Joseph Goebbels in his Social Justice magazine and writes fan letters to Mussolini. His Kristallnacht broadcast gets him kicked off major radio stations. He incites his followers in a paramilitary organization known as the Christian Front to undertake violence in the streets. The FBI raids the Christian Front headquarters in Brooklyn, leading to the arrest of 17 men and the trial of the so-called “Brooklyn Boys.” Radioactive is hosted by Detroit journalist Andrew Lapin and produced by Tablet Studios, with support from Maimonides Fund, and in association with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative, Exploring Hate: Antisemitism, Racism and Extremism. The show’s theme music is from The Ghost Writer and was composed by Alexandre Desplat. All speeches and material of Father Coughlin, as well as music and other audio from his radio program, are authentic to the source. For more information on all of Tablet’s podcasts, visit tabletmag.com/podcasts.

Om Podcasten

Before CNN and Fox News, before shock jocks and powerful pundits, there was Father Charles Coughlin, an ambitious priest who invented political talk radio as we know it, brought down one president and crowned another, and was at one point considered the most powerful man in America. He was also a rabid antisemite who wrote fan mail to Mussolini and cheered on Hitler, and who used his enormous platform to spread hate.  In this 8-part podcast, Detroit journalist Andrew Lapin weaves together archival materials and incisive interviews to tell the story of Father Coughlin's alarming rise and dramatic fall. It’s a cautionary tale of how an unscrupulous bigot can manipulate mass media to spread hate and gather far too much political power. Radioactive is produced by Tablet Studios, with support from Maimonides Fund, and in association with The WNET Group’s reporting initiative, Exploring Hate: Antisemitism, Racism and Extremism.