Decoder Ring

Cracking cultural mysteries.

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About the Show

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.

Host

The Making of This Season

A behind-the-scenes chat with the Decoder Ring team.

Custer’s Revenge

The story of the worst video game of all time.

The Fame That Got Away

Three stories about fame … and one about monkeys.

Truly Tasteless Jokes

The story of how this astonishingly tasteless bestseller became ubiquitous is wrapped up in decades of free speech politics.

The Philosophy of Vampires

Presenting the vampire as metaphor.

You Just Lost the Game

Sorry!

The Alberta Rat War

How did the Canadian province become a rat-free paradise?

The Great Helga Hype

In 1986, painter Andrew Wyeth revealed a secret collection of provocative paintings implied to be the product of an affair. But the story was more complicated than it appeared.

The Making Of

Willa Paskin and Benjamin Frisch share behind-the-scenes stories of this season of Decoder Ring.

Selling Out

How we all became sellouts.

Tattoo Flash

Four stories about tattoos.

That Seattle Muzak Sound

Muzak was good, actually.

Who Killed the Segway?

Was it me?

The Tootsie Shot

Making it in the city, against all odds.

The Sign Painter

Why isn’t this artist famous?

The Soap Opera Machine

Soap dish.

The Invention of Hydration

Water, water everywhere.

The Blue Steak Experiment

Blue chicken, blue trout, blue vomit.

The Cabbage Patch Kids Riots

Of cabbages and copyright.

Jane Fonda’s Workout, Part 2: Hanoi Jane’s VHS Revolution

How Jane Fonda created an industry.