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- 04 / 01 / 2026 -
A replay of the famous WBAI April Fools' Day conversion to country music prank from 2009, what it was like the first time this aired, the "Off The Hook" theme prevails, there are astronauts on the way to the moon during the show for the first time ever, the true danger to WBAI, the pledge drive for the station began today, thanks to Lazlow for putting together the country music piece, Trump is scheduled to give a speech tonight, Meta is found liable in the social media addiction trial, how WBAI has gotten much better with fundraising, Alex tries to analyze the trial in between fake country music raps, questioning whether or not these companies can survive in the wake of this result, Cindy Cohn's appearance on "The Daily Show," this is a phone-in show, there will be no "Overtime" this week, thoughts on age restrictions on the Internet, why it shouldn't be surprising that addiction is the revenue stream for many of the social media companies, the prospects of "another Brendan Carr" regulating the Internet, Kyle hits the dump button on an obscene caller without Emmanuel realizing it, Emmanuel stepping away leads to an extended silence from Alex, Emmanuel has issues with Rebel's demonstration, sounds of old step systems, thoughts on "Dark Shadows" as it relates to kids getting addicted, Kash Patel is hacked, who was behind the hack, questioning why Trump is giving an address on April Fools' Day, Rebel gets banned for calling twice, a caller explains the Comics Code Authority from 1954, the "digital control grid," a final appeal to help support the station, thoughts of the astronauts on their way to the moon.
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April 1
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- 04 / 08 / 2026 -
Alex is in New York for a change, wondering if kids today are interested in the space program, Emmanuel is proud of WBAI as an American institution, why science is the future, Artemis II astronauts made a phone call to the space station, how NASA has changed over the years, how people can follow this mission, Kyle's hopes for how this will pay off, Alex's memories of CCC hacking into NASA, there won't be an "Overtime" tonight due to short staffing, encouraging people to support the radio station in the midst of its fundraiser, a controversial online game called "Five Nights at Epstein's," Alex describes the history of "Five Nights at Freddy's," Alex is typing loudly, Microsoft issues a warning on Copilot, why this could be a way out of the A.I. mess, Alex describes how we should think of A.I. systems, how A.I. is incapable of caring, Target tries to disassociate itself with any mistakes its A.I. agents make, Kyle details how all of this will play out, naming Walmart's A.I. shopping assistant, Kyle describes how an A.I. assistant contradicted itself in the middle of a project, why correcting A.I. can be pointless, the humor and frustration of not knowing whether you're talking to a human or A.I., Amazon will stop supporting older Kindles on May 20, other examples of companies not supporting their own products, what these companies should do instead, why old technology should be preserved and respected, how we're all trained to keep buying new phones, encouraging people to support WBAI.
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April 8
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- 04 / 15 / 2026 -
Jason Scott joins the discussion, why some news organizations are blocking archive.org, why this isn't a significant issue for the archive, The New York Times goes overboard in its blocking, trying to figure out what they're afraid of, the issue of A.I. scraping, how these actions have helped put the Internet Archive on the map, the fad of data centers, the need for hard drives at the Internet Archive, the biggest challenge to the Internet Archive right now, Jason describes some of the process involved in digitizing content, why there are now 2400 live shows from Chicago in the 1990s on the archive, Emmanuel's wish for "Forever Fernwood," Jason describes the history of the Internet Archive, how the archive has served as a vital backup for many, how the archive helps to correct history, what the Wayback Machine is all about, Alex reports that civilrightsusa.gov has been deleted and can only be found on the Internet Archive, nasaforce.gov is a new domain registered by the Executive Office of the President, the federal U.S. domain bot account on Bluesky, how the show has been warning people about the negative uses of technology, why following blindly is always bad, why it's time to support the radio station, the importance of reaching the $125,000 goal by the end of the month, how WBAI has been on the air since 1960 without a single commercial, Rob shares some info from the now deleted civilrightsusa.gov domain, Jason recalls blog entries that followed alleged one-night stands, an update on textfiles.com, Jason describes the usual aftereffects of appearing on the show, why it's OK to have disjointed conversations at HOPE, how to reach Jason, the conversation will continue on "Overtime," how to support the station, another musical piece from a listener on "gay furry hackers."
Overtime: Jason describes thousands of people on a channel with nothing to do, memories of the old Ripco bulletin board system, how ripco.com disappeared, the importance of saving conversations, how there seems to be pushback against email these days, Rob explains how Discord is basically a shiny IRC, how Emmanuel views email, Jason discusses the difference between discipline and elitism, wondering how it was possible for Jason to talk to thousands of people online at once, how the conversation is still going on, the need for someone who understands TikTok to help with HOPE, content holds from YouTube due to talk of "gay furry hackers" and other phrases, wondering why Google is so prudish, Emmanuel remembers when Google seemed to not be obsessed with ads, remembering some of the services that Google has retired, Jason describes the story behind Google Wave, what Google Plus was all about, Emmanuel remembers the Ben and Jerry cemetery in Vermont, Kyle discusses how communication disappears and why it's valuable to be able to go back and look at what people said in a particular conversation, Emmanuel describes how communication can disappear in sites like Facebook, Jason explains how these communication challenges have always existed in organizations, Kyle recalls the HOPE forums and how conversations were weeded out at one point, how HOPE has managed to pull off the impossible by returning to Manhattan, the difficulty of getting the word out, ten percent of ticket sales in April will be donated to the EFF, Kyle describes some of the new challenges that can be a part of HOPE, Alex describes what's in the neighborhood of the New Yorker Hotel, how the location really couldn't be more convenient, Jason describes what it was like to introduce someone to New York City, what Veselka is all about, Jason explains how New York is actually easy to handle, the 24-hour nature of the city, how New York is a very friendly city, how it's possible to get ripped off or to do a lot of things for free, why it's important to stay until Monday after the conference, early submission for talks and workshops will be over at the end of the month, Kyle describes a weird moment involving a rat, clarification on the overturning of Rebel's ban due to someone using A.I. to imitate him, Jason describes one of the weirdos that contacted him from a previous show, Jason's experience with a death threat involving a truck assassin, a question about hotel rates during HOPE, Jason explains what YOTEL is, Gila reports that the hotel block for the conference may be sold out, some facts about the Tick Tock Diner, Jason's trip to Korea for medical tourism, thoughts on health care and how the community is affected, how science is not the enemy, Jason's memories of the Hacker Halfway House, Emmanuel's memories of Notwork, how that space was donated to Indymedia, Jacob describes the Two Hands Project on the Internet Archive which consists of interviews at a lot of hackerspaces in 2009, Kyle thanks Jason for "hyping."
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April 15
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Off The Hook Overtime
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128k mp3
Off The Hook Overtime is also available on the Channel2600 YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4A5UxYx0f4
- 04 / 22 / 2026 -
Alex wins another case involving an ICE detainee, the story behind this detainee, how this case developed, how a parallel case demonstrates that the whole process is a lottery, how the Department of Justice is changing its position on the law depending on the judges they draw, why this case is particularly egregious, the Virgil Griffith case, other ICE developments, FBI chief Kash Patel is the victim of Iranian hackers who shared embarrassing images and data, Patel is suing The Atlantic for $250 million, the chilling effect this action is meant to have on journalists, Gila reports that the show isn't on the air, trying to figure out what the issue was, how the archive will include whatever material didn't air, the over-the-air version will also be available, the annual White House Press Corps dinner is happening this weekend, why this year will be particularly interesting, Alex outlines how Anthropic has pushed back against injustice unlike just about all the other A.I. companies, developments in the age verification debate, why Emmanuel doesn't think the age restrictions will work out, the threat against anonymity this poses, whether it's the right move to ban kids from using social media like in Australia, the conversation will continue on YouTube.
What went out over the air: At around the 26-minute mark, there is an outage and the local studio has to fill the silence until it gets resolved. There is another outage at around 35 minutes in which lasts a few seconds. A final outage at 49 minutes lasts for around two minutes at the end of the show. This version is what was heard over the radio and omits part of the show's content.
Overtime: YouTube problems add uncertainty, analyzing the issue, questioning why Alex's connectivity is always bad when he's in New York, a rare look at the behind the scenes discussion of the show, there were issues with the other show yesterday, describing all the errors, analyzing Alex's connectivity issues, Emmanuel believes the modem should be rebooted, Kyle is working on the problem, Bluesky got DDoSed, Emmanuel tries to test Alex's delay, Gila appears to be frozen but isn't, snippets are appearing many minutes after they aired, a period of silence as the modem is rebooted, audio returns while another machine is rebooted, Gila insults Rebel on the permanent record, Kyle has pickle balls, Rob and Gila have corn pudding, Kyle makes a noise of befuddlement, the hassle of having to login to things again, Kyle explains what the issue was as connectivity is restored, the show finally begins at 23 minutes in, memories of Kazaa, a weird smoking regulation in the U.K. where people born after a certain year will never be able to legally buy cigarettes, why Emmanuel thinks it's dumb, how 78 percent of the public and a majority of smokers support this regulation, Alex describes how this is like creating two versions of humans, Emmanuel's issue with QMenu not accepting credit cards with P.O. boxes as billing addresses, Emmanuel's issue with an insurance company whose software couldn't handle two policies that used the same email address, finally giving out the phone number, Kyle is the only one who hasn't cursed so far, a new problem with the phone line, Alex's wife makes an appearance, Rob challenges people to say what MCI stood for, what ADT stands for, Rebel finally breaks through, listener thoughts on smart glasses, Rob's prediction on how these glasses will be almost impossible to identify in the future, a call from Orlando, Kyle appears to have fixed the phone problem, Kyle discusses the type of person who might wear these glasses, another call from Florida, some insight into how scammers operate, Howard from Queens shows off his local repeater, the "Joybubbles" film will be playing soon, Kyle gives Emmanuel a can of Guinness to open, how smart glasses may be able to help the blind, some hypothetical situations involving smart glasses and blind people, Canada has "described video" on many of its channels, how phone calls are no longer as interesting, what open captioning is, a caller has an issue with taxis that don't allow service animals, the restrictions that exist on noncommercial radio concerning announcing events, trying to bring the show to a close, the hotel will be offering free phone calls to anywhere in the world from guest rooms, wondering if 900 numbers still exist, remembering the various dial-it service exchanges, why it's fun to collect old phone books, Emmanuel admits the conversation isn't ending because they don't know how to disconnect, Kyle and Emmanuel plan to make spicy pasta later, the full version of this show will be available on the 2600 site but not on YouTube, the different versions of the radio show that will also be available, a call for volunteers for HOPE, more speakers are needed, early submissions will be open until the end of the month, all ticket sales for April will have ten percent donated to EFF.
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April 22
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What went out over the air:
128k mp3
Off The Hook Overtime
16k mp3
128k mp3
Off The Hook Overtime is also available on the Channel2600 YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XIpeQE7lAmk
- 04 / 29 / 2026 -
Alex is in Manchester, there are 2600 meetings everywhere, memories of the meetings at Citicorp, Emmanuel misunderstands why Alex went to the United Kingdom, Emmanuel warns Alex not to return to the States, the Justice Department now speaks in Trump's voice, how the justice system has been weaponized, comparing our system to a corrupt operating system installation, James Comey is under indictment for taking a picture of seashells that spelled out 8647, Jimmy Kimmel is investigated for a joke he told on his show, how "SNL UK" is brutal in their political satire, how ABC is being threatened by the administration, next week will be a call-in show, how Comey is being demonized as an enemy of the state, Kyle speculates on how things could get so much worse, Alex prepares for another ICE detainee case, Alex's 12-year-old questions whether there's anything to be proud of in the United States, how kids know only a Trump-dominated world, Rob describes May Day, what Law Day is, there was supposed to be a national strike on Friday, there have been three No Kings protests so far with relatively few young people involved in a number of areas, how the reaction to horrible events in Minnesota was inspirational, ICE bureaucrats are planning to use special glasses with real time facial recognition on the general public, Kyle encourages reverse engineering evil technology and building something better, every evil piece of technology can be used for good if you gain control of it, Rob outlines the 2600 meetings planned for this Friday.
Overtime: The power that so many people in the tech industry have and how it's often corrupted, the danger of not taking a side or getting involved, why Emmanuel doesn't consider himself to be political, Kyle's ideas for getting through this, how Emmanuel feels better having these discussions, the importance of not just sitting around and complaining, why we should remember to laugh, the problem of both-siding every issue, how the current conditions are like nothing ever experienced before, Gila discusses the issue of consolidation, Gila triggers an assistant, thoughts on the incident at the White House Press Corps dinner last weekend, how Trump seemed to be handling it well for a brief period, how that period didn't last very long, many of the talks being submitted to HOPE address these issues and have potential solutions, Emmanuel now can see the Caller ID box, Emmanuel's idea for Rebel to infiltrate scammers, Rebel's ideas on things to bring to HOPE, some historic spots in Manhattan that are nearby, a discussion on zeppelins, where other Manchesters are, thoughts on the upcoming World Cup, FIFA's corruption, a description of Manchester, Alex describes a plaque for Alan Turing, comparing Manchester to East London, how "SNL UK" differs from "SNL," how the humor is much sharper, finding 2600 meetings in Florida, explaining how the meetings work, how the BBC license fee pays for so much, Gila finds more on television license regulations, how Trump is bringing up the Falkland Islands dispute again, Rob gives info on the Joybubbles documentary, there are 2600 meetings this Friday, tomorrow is the last day for early HOPE submissions for talks and workshops, tomorrow is also the last day to donate to EFF by buying a HOPE ticket, there won't be an "Overtime" next week.
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April 29
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Off The Hook Overtime
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128k mp3
Off The Hook Overtime is also available on the Channel2600 YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZKD6lzU5ce4