Scene on Radio is a two-time Peabody-nominated podcast that dares to ask big, hard questions about who we are—really—and how we got this way. Our latest is Season 7, Scene on Radio: Capitalism. Previous series include Seeing White (Season 2), looking at the roots and meaning of white supremacy; MEN (Season 3), on patriarchy and its history; The Land That Never Has Been Yet (Season 4), exploring democracy in the U.S. and why we don’t have more of it; The Repair (Season 5), on the cultural roots of the climate crisis; and Season 6, Echoes of a Coup, the story of the only successful coup d'etat in U.S. history, in Wilmington, North Carolina, in 1898. Produced and hosted by John Biewen, with collaborators, Scene on Radio comes from the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University.
The show is distributed by PRX.
Chart trend
Position in the Documentary chart (US), last 90 days.
#1#35#69JunJulAugSep
#11
all-time peak
341
days in the top 50 since Nov 2024
Latest episodes
Showing 20 · updated from the feed
Guest Episode: Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising
We're sharing an episode from a new series: Occupy! An Unfinished Uprising, from Future Hindsight.
In 2011, in the wake of the financial crisis and Great Recession stemm
Sep 2 39 min
Guest Episode: The Battle for Free Speech
We're sharing an episode from another series we think will be of interest to our listeners -- one that's closely related to our Season 8 series, The News: The Battle for
Aug 19 1 h 13 min
First America: It Happened Here
The American Revolution wasn’t just a fight for liberty. It was also a sprawling conflict with Indigenous nations over who would control North America. To stake its claim
Jul 29 41 min
First America: Playing Indian
We’re back with Episode 2 of First America, a new show by Indigenous author Rebecca Nagle about how the United States really came to be and how we got to today’s present
Jul 22 45 min
First America: "Merciless Indian Savages"
We're sharing the first of three episodes from a new series we think our listeners will want to hear.
Americans have been told our Revolution was fought over taxation a
Jul 15 37 min
S8 E8: Making Media Democratic
This season we've explored how the news media are failing the American people and our democracy. In this concluding episode, we look at solutions -- how to help good jour
Jul 8 42 min
S8 E7: Can We Blame the Media For THIS?
Many people in the United States and around the world view the rise of Donald Trump and his MAGA movement as a grave crisis. At the same time, most Americans are angry wi
Jul 1 54 min
S8 E6: What Could Have Been
Ever thought about whether America's overwhelmingly corporate, for-profit news system is working as it should? It didn't have to be this way. In the 20th century, reforme
Jun 24 50 min
S8 E5: Follow the Money
The early history of the news in Europe and the U.S. offers surprising lessons about the best traditions of journalism, and about the news we need in our own time of cris
Jun 17 49 min
S8 E4: What About Us
Scene on Radio requests and receives an independent analysis of its own journalistic biases. We then return the favor, examining the examiner. The exercise leads to fresh
Jun 10 43 min
S8 E3: About that Liberal Media
For generations, many on the political right have claimed that major news media in the U.S. have a pronounced liberal bias. Is it true? And why does it matter? We take a
Jun 3 52 min
S8 E2: When the News Dies
Many people know that the journalism industry is struggling financially, especially at the local level. But the disastrous depths of that crisis, and its impact on commun
May 27 48 min
S8 E1: The Myth of the Echo Chamber
Americans have access to a flood of news, and yet we're in a deep information crisis. What's really wrong with the news media? Is it what we think it is? And what about n
May 27 40 min
Introducing Scene on Radio: The News
Everybody's mad at the media. And Americans seem helpless to solve our problems, in large part because we have no shared narrative and few shared facts. A well informed c
May 20 2 min
Guest Episode: Drilled: Carbon Cowboys
We're happy to share this episode from award-winning climate journalist Amy Westervelt, co-host of Scene on Radio's 5th season: The Repair. Amy returns with a new season
May 13 28 min
Historical Maturity and Cowardice: Keeping ScOR #15
Host John Biewen reads an essay from his newsletter, Keeping ScOR. After a visit to his hometown, Mankato, Minnesota -- the subject of the Scene on Radio episode, "Little
Oct 22 2025 14 min
Voices of Hiroshima
A rebroadcast of a Scene on Radio episode, eighty years after the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city of Hiroshima.
The word “Hiroshima” may brin
Aug 6 2025 33 min
Making Ignorance Sacred Again: Keeping ScOR #7
Host John Biewen reads an essay from his newsletter, Keeping ScOR. Reflections on the Trump Administration's attempt to wrangle control of the national story and how it's
May 14 2025 15 min
The New Old Racism: Keeping ScOR#4
Host John Biewen teases Season 8 and reads an installment from his new newsletter, Keeping ScOR. Eight years after our "Seeing White" series, whiteness is still a helluva
Mar 18 2025 18 min
Bonus: Michael Kliën and the Body Politic
Michael Kliën wants to help bring about profound change in the world, but not through the usual means. An Austrian-born Dance professor at Duke University, Kliën is a lea
Jan 22 2025 34 min
Chart positions
Where Scene on Radio ranks today in each Apple Podcasts chart (US, Sep 6, 2026).
A curated, balanced selection of Apple Podcasts reviews.
This podcast is well researched and produced. It weaves real classroom lectures and discussions from knowledgeable guests in insightful ways. I rewind often to make certain I understand the history and connections. I have finished one season and am sad that it’s over. It’s addictive learning.
Talented10th · Apr 2026
For weeks now this has been my favorite podcast! Each season takes on major concepts, from whiteness to patriarchy to capitalism, unpacks key mythologies, and introduces listeners to important counter-narratives and voices. For this immigrant this was an eye-opening introduction to US history in global perspective. I really wish John Biewen and his co-hosts would take on the history and present of fascism with the same admirable rigor and panache!
Bossyfemme · Mar 2026
This was like an engaging and well-researched academic journal come alive. It was amazing to listen to the diverse cast of academics and professionals engaging with the salient topic of what does it mean to be white? My favorite episode was Part 5: Little War on the Prairie. I teared up several times at how connected I felt to the loss and grief. I couldn't recommend this podcast more.
Fellow Manga reader · Feb 2026
After starting with Season 2 last year, I listened to this show over the summer and went through almost all the seasons so far. I appreciate the candor and transparency in the words spoken by the hosts and guests.
I highly recommend this podcast if you want to explore the darker side of things we have been taught to see as “normal” like racism, patriarchy, and capitalism. The themes tie together quite astonishingly. The content has gotten me angry at times, but I don’t question its authenticity. It has woken me up from the BS I’ve been fed growing up. I appreciate hearing this untold side of things, so I understand what’s really happening and try to do something about it.
Paula Battalia Brand · Dec 2025
The first ~half is great and overall very informative about capitalism, its history, and even its downsides. That should have been enough to accomplish what they set out to do in the start of the series, which was to lay out “how we got here” and then suggest some ways to move forward… but instead, they spent the second half of the series airing what amounts to vignettes of people’s experience with capitalism around the world. Listen to the first 4-5 episodes and then stop.
SnackCake177 · Jun 2025
I love that this show is intriguing and spends a lot of time on history, especially the darker and little talked about parts of it. And I feel the show trying not to just talk about the negatives of capitalism, but their effort is a straw-man. I would love them to speak at length about the positives and the negatives. I love that they aren’t scared of upsetting a free-market audience (of which there are probably very few), but I wish they were also not afraid of upsetting their majority viewership of left-leaning folk. They may be asking hard questions if put toward at a Trump convention, but I would get a more authentic feel if they talked about both sides.
fickes1080 · Jul 2024
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