The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

Latest Episodes:

Andrew Durham on his New Film FAIRYLAND Oct 29, 2025

Show notes

A graduate of the USC School of Cinema and Television, Andrew Durham has worked under such directors as David Lynch, Christopher Guest, Wes Craven, and Oliver Stone. He began his collaborative relationship with Sofia Coppola when he produced her first short film, LICK THE STAR, and Coppola’s television series, HI-OCTANE, for the Comedy Central Network. He went on to work for MTV Networks as Producer for Projects in Development, and later for Fox Television Studios where he served as Vice President of Production. He left television to pursue his passion for photography. He’s shot for such publications as Vanity Fair, The New York Times, French Vogue, and Elle, and advertising campaigns for Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs and Dior.

And he's in THE BACK ROOM to discuss his terrific feature film directorial debut, FAIRYLAND, which is currently in select theaters nationwide and on VOD in November.

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Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Aidan Walker on Bill Maher, Memes and More! Oct 27, 2025

Show notes

Aidan Walker is a writer, creator, and internet culture researcher. He has covered memes and tech for the BBC, The Daily Beast, and other outlets. He posts on TikTok, YouTube, and Instagram as @aidanetcetera and writes the Substack newsletter How To Do Things With Memes.

What are memes, where do they come from, what's their impact today as a communications tool, and what lies ahead for this powerful medium? Aidan answers these questions and more...and also discusses his recent epic appearance on Real Time with Bill Maher!

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Janet Napolitano on Trump 2.0, Homeland Security, Immigration, DOJ Weaponization, No Kings, and More Oct 25, 2025

Show notes

Janet Napolitano is currently the Founder and faculty director of the Institute for Security and Governance at UC Berkeley. In her distinguished career she’s served as former Secretary of Homeland Security, president of the University of California, Governor of Arizona, Attorney General of Arizona, and as U.S. Attorney for the District of Arizona. In 2022, President Biden appointed her to the President’s Intelligence Advisory Board, and also appointed her to the Intelligence Oversight Board. In 2024, Napolitano served on the Independent Review Panel to investigate the attempted assassination of Donald Trump on July 13,2024. She currently serves as a professor of public policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley.

Join us for this insightful conversation about Trump 2.0 and his $230-million 'restitution' demand, East Wing demolition, and DOJ weaponization; the state of our Homeland Security; immigration; the NO KINGS protests; and more.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Richard Reeves on Manhood, Masculinity and Why Boys and Young Men Are Struggling So Much Oct 23, 2025

Show notes

Richard Reeves is the founder and president of the American Institute for Boys and Men. Before founding AIBM in 2023, he was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. While at Brookings, he focused on policies related to economic inequality, racial justice, social mobility, and boys and men. He is the author of several books, including “Of Boys and Men: Why the Modern Male is Struggling, Why it Matters, and What to do About It” and “Dream Hoarders: How the American Upper Class Is Leaving Everyone Else in the Dust, Why That is a Problem, and What to do About It.” Inspired by his own experiences as a father and policy expert, Richard founded AIBM to bring awareness to the challenges facing boys and men today and to develop evidence-based solutions.

Why are boys and young men struggling so much? Why are they attending college less than ever? Why is male suicide precipitously on the rise? How do we address these alarming trends? Richard shares his thoughts on these critical questions and more.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Nancy Schwartzman on her New Docuseries DEATH IN APARTMENT 603: WHAT HAPPENED TO ELLEN GREENBERG? Oct 21, 2025

Show notes

Nancy Schwartzman is an Emmy winning and Peabody nominated documentary filmmaker, showrunner and a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. Her latest project is the limited series Death in Apartment 603: What Happened to Ellen Greenberg? now streaming on Hulu. Her other films and series include Sasha Reid and the Midnight Order, the Emmy winning Victim/Suspect, and her debut feature documentary, the award-winning Roll Red Roll , which was also nominated for a Peabody award, and exposed the notorious Steubenville, Ohio high school sexual assault case. She is also the author of the non-fiction book Roll Red Roll: Rape, Power and Football in the American Heartland. For her human rights filmmaking and technology development to prevent sexual violence, she is the winner of awards from the Obama/Biden White House, the United Nations and the Avon Foundation. She is also a tech founder and created the Circle of 6 safety app.

Nancy and I discuss her terrific new docuseries and this stunningly confounding case.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Juliette Kayyem on Homeland Security, Venezuela, and Trump 2.0's Foreign Policy and Military Strategy or Lack Thereof Oct 19, 2025

Show notes

In academia, private sector, government and media, Professor Juliette Kayyem is an international leader in crisis management and homeland security. She serves as the faculty chair of the Homeland Security and Security and Global Health Projects at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Previously, she served as President Obama's Assistant Secretary at the Department of Homeland Security and as MA Governor Deval Patrick's Homeland Security Advisor. She is an on-air CNN Senior National Security Analyst, Pulitzer Prize finalist, and contributing writer for The Atlantic and Boston's local NPR station, GBH. She also consults for governors, mayors, public and private institutions on crisis management. She is a Senior Advisor to Teneo, the global consulting firm, and founded her own consulting firm to support the preparedness needs of companies, from Fortune 500 to startups. Juliette is the author or editor of six books, including her most recent "The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters”

Join us for this important, insightful conversation about Venezuela, the Argentina bailout, and Trump 2.0's foreign policy and military strategy...or lack thereof

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Andrew Weissmann on his Interview with Jack Smith, and the Comey and James Indictments Oct 15, 2025

Show notes

Andrew Weissmann is the co-host of the popular podcast Main Justice and is a frequent legal analyst for NBC/MSNBC. He serves on the board of Just Security and writes frequently for it, as well as The New York Times, The Atlantic, & The Washington Post. From 2017-2019 Andrew served as a lead prosecutor in Robert S. Mueller’s Special Counsel’s Office. His memoir about the Special Counsel investigation, Where Law Ends: Inside the Mueller Investigation , was a New York Times bestseller. He is also a Professor of Practice at New York University and teaches courses in national security and criminal procedure. He also served as the General Counsel for the Federal Bureau of Investigation and from 2002-2005 he served as the Deputy and then the Director of the Enron Task Force where he supervised the prosecution of more than 30 individuals in connection with the company’s collapse. And he was also a federal prosecutor for 15 years in the Eastern District of New York, where he served as the Chief of the Criminal Division and prosecuted numerous members of the Colombo, Gambino, and Genovese families, including the bosses of the Colombo and Genovese families.

Andrew joins me fresh on the heels of the breaking news about his interview in London with former special counsel Jack Smith. We discuss this compelling conversation as well as the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York State Attorney General Letitia James.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud @ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Jill Schlesinger on the Shutdown, Economy, Stock Market, and Advice for Investors...and...Taylor Swift! Oct 13, 2025

Show notes

Jill Schlesinger is the Emmy and Gracie Award winning Business Analyst for CBS News. She appears on CBS radio and television stations nationwide covering the economy, markets, investing and anything else with a dollar sign. She is a weekly guest on NPR’s “Here and Now” and writes the nationally syndicated column “Jill on Money”. She is the author of two books, The Great Money Reset and The Dumb Things Smart People Do With Their Money. Jill is also the host of the “Jill on Money” and the “MoneyWatch” podcasts and of the nationally syndicated radio show, “Jill on Money”. She is a frequent speaker on a variety of topics, including macroeconomic, market and demographic trends; workplace issues for women and LGBT employees in financial services; and how to create authentic branding. She serves on the board of the New York City Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.

Jill's back to discuss the shutdown, the economy, the stock market, and what investors should be doing in Q4. And, we also found time to address the Carole King vs Taylor Swift debate and whether Boomer music is better than Gen Z's/Millennials'!

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Cait Conley on her NY District 17 Congressional Campaign and the Fight to Defeat Mike Lawler Oct 11, 2025

Show notes

Cait Conley is a fourth-generation Hudson Valley native, daughter of a postal worker and a construction worker, a decorated combat veteran and national security expert. And she’s running for the House in NY’s 17th Congressional district.

Cait discusses the shutdown, affordability, national security, Trump, Hegseth, her campaign and the fight to defeat Mike Lawler

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

Cass Sunstein on his new book, On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom Oct 09, 2025

Show notes

Cass Sunstein is currently the Robert Walmsley University Professor at Harvard. He is the founder and director of the Program on Behavioral Economics and Public Policy at Harvard Law School. In 2018, he received the Holberg Prize from the government of Norway, sometimes described as the equivalent of the Nobel Prize for law and the humanities. In 2020, the World Health Organization appointed him as Chair of its technical advisory group on Behavioural Insights and Sciences for Health. He was advisor to presidents Obama and Biden, has testified before congressional committees on many subjects, and he has advised officials at the United Nations, the European Commission, the World Bank, and many nations on issues of law and public policy. He is author of hundreds of articles and dozens of books, including Impeachment: A Citizen’s Guide, The Cost-Benefit Revolution, On Freedom, Nudge. The World According to Star Wars, Too Much Information and his new book, "On Liberalism: In Defense of Freedom”.

Cass joins me for an insightful discussion about his new book.

Got somethin' to say?!
Email us at BackroomAndy@gmail.com
Leave us a message: 845-307-7446
Twitter: @AndyOstroy

Produced by Andy Ostroy, Matty Rosenberg, and Jennifer Hammoud
@ Radio Free Rhiniecliff
Design by Cricket Lengyel

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