The Back Room with Andy Ostroy

Latest Episodes:

Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam on Their Terrific New Documentary BANG MY BOX: THE ROBIN BYRD STORY Jul 02, 2026

Show notes

Before the internet and the ubiquity of social media influencers, there was Robin Byrd – the spirited, anything-goes New York City public access host, clad only in her signature black crochet bikini. From 1977 to 1998, Robin created, produced, and hosted the late-night call-in show that incorporated performances and interviews with adult entertainers and experimental artists. Each show ended with a bawdy song and dance, turning her unapologetic, eponymous show into a national platform for sex-positivity, safe-sex/AIDS awareness, and free speech.

BANG MY BOX: THE ROBIN BYRD STORY is a new documentary which just premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival and debuted this week on HBO and HBO Max. And I’m thrilled to chat with the filmmakers Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam about Robin's life and career and their terrific doc, which they co-wrote, co-directed and co-produced,

Some background on the filmmakers: Stephanie’s expertise in non-fiction storytelling runs the gamut from meaty, one-off, news-based docs, to emotional cinema verite, to straight up formatted reality TV. Her shows have been nominated for multiple GLAAD, Critic's Choice, and Emmy awards. Jyllian is an Emmy Award–winning filmmaker working across film, television, and audio. Her work explores love, loss, and memory, with a keen interest in stories of young people building their futures and older people making sense of their past. She is known for drawing comedic, heartfelt characters with distinct voices.

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

Robert Stone on his Terrific Documentary About the 1974 Patty Hearst Kidnapping and its Special Screening/Q&A July 1 in Rhinebeck, NY Jun 30, 2026

Show notes

Robert Stone is a critically acclaimed, multi-award winning documentary filmmaker. He is an Oscar nominee for Best Feature Documentary and a three-time Emmy nominee for Outstanding Achievement in Documentary Filmmaking. Four of his films have premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, including Closing Night Film. His recent 6-hour epic history of the effort to land a man on the Moon, Chasing the Moon, won the prestigious DuPont Columbia Award and was seen by 8 million viewers in the United States alone and was broadcast in 13 foreign countries. Over the span of his 40 year career, his work has been broadcast worldwide and screened and honored at countless film festivals. Film critic Owen Gleiberman has called Stone “one of our most important documentarians” having directed “two of the most explosively insightful documentaries of the last decade.”

Robert joins me to discuss his terrific 2004 documentary GUERRILLA: THE TAKING OF PATTY HEARST, which has a special screening and Q&A at Upstate Films in Rhinebeck, NY on Wednesday July 1 at 7pm.

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

Dr. Mary Anne Franks on Trump's Autocratic Overreach and the Complicit Supreme Court and Tech Broligarchy; Free Speech and Online Harassment; the Abuse of Power; and More Jun 27, 2026

Show notes

Dr. Mary Anne Franks is a legal scholar, advocate, and award-winning author specializing in the intersection of civil rights, free speech, and technology. She is the Eugene L. and Barbara A. Bernard Professor in Intellectual Property, Technology, and Civil Rights Law at George Washington Law School, where she teaches and writes about First and Second Amendment law, family law, and criminal law and procedure. She also serves as the President and Legislative & Tech Policy Director of the Cyber Civil Rights Initiative (CCRI), a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting privacy, expression, and autonomy in the digital age. She is the author of Fearless Speech: Breaking Free from the First Amendment and The Cult of the Constitution: Our Deadly Devotion to Guns and Free Speech.

Mary Anne and I discuss Trump's autocratic overreach and the complicit Supreme Court and tech broligarchy; the assault on civil rights, free speech and the Constitution, online harassment; the abuse of power; and what we need to learn from history if our democracy is to survive.

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

TN State Rep. Justin J. Pearson on Redistricting, Racism, Affordability and the Midterms, his Congressional Campaign, and More Jun 25, 2026

Show notes

Justin J. Pearson represents Tennessee House District 86, and is now running for Congress in the state’s Ninth Congressional District. He rose to national prominence as part of the Tennessee Three, standing up for gun reform and being reelected after expulsion. A lifelong organizer, he helped lead the victorious Byhalia Pipeline fight, shut down a cancer-causing sterilization plant, and now challenges Elon Musk’s xAI data center. The second-youngest state legislator, he is a national voice for justice, honored with the Truman Center’s 2024 Moral Courage Award.

Rep. Pearson and I discuss his state's devastating redistricting map, racism in America in the age of Trump, the affordability crisis, the midterms, energizing young voters, his Congressional campaign, 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

Marisa Renee Lee on Life, Love, Loss, Grief, Hope, Healing and her New Book Waiting for Dawn: Living with Uncertainty Jun 23, 2026

Show notes

Marisa Renee Lee is the award-winning and bestselling author of Grief is Love. For her work on grief and healing, she has been featured on Good Morning America and NPR, in Vogue and The Atlantic, among other outlets. Her new book Waiting for Dawn: Living with Uncertainty reflects on her experiences with chronic illness and grief, offering solace to folks living with all kinds of uncertainty. A longtime rabble-rouser of social healing and equity, Lee previously served as a deputy director in the Obama White House and is now CEO of Beacon Advisors, a social-impact consulting firm.

Illness and death is all around us. Grief is universal. How can we best navigate it all? And can we ever truly find 'closure'? Marisa and I discuss life, love, loss, grief, hope, and healing...the subjects of her two terrific books.

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

Jeffrey Toobin on Trump's Assault on Democracy, How SCOTUS has Empowered him, and Whether the Guardrails are Holding Jun 20, 2026

Show notes

Jeffrey Toobin is a legal journalist who last year joined the New York Times as a contributing opinion writer. He also writes for The New York Times Magazine and continues to offer commentary on CNN. In 2024, NBC Universal released “Homegrown: OKC,” a podcast based on his book, “Homegrown: Timothy McVeigh and the Rise of Right-Wing Extremism.” He’s a noted lecturer and an instructor at Harvard Law School. He previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney in Brooklyn.

His work has been the basis for major television events including the acclaimed ten-part limited series, “American Crime Story”, based on his book, The Run of His Life: The People v. O.J. Simpson. His other bestselling books include The Oath: The Obama White House and the Supreme Court, The Nine: Inside the Secret World of the Supreme Court, Too Close to Call: The 36-Day Battle to Decide the 2000 Election, American Heiress: The Wild Saga of the Kidnapping, Crimes and Trial of Patty Hearst,”, True Crimes and Misdemeanors: The Investigation of Donald Trump, and 2025’s The Pardon: The Politics of Presidential Mercy.

How effective is Donald Trump's assault on democracy? How successful have the courts been in serving as a guardrail? What can we expect from the Supreme Court in further expanding Trump's power? Who will he pardon next? Jeffrey addresses these questions and so much 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

Barb McQuade on her New Book The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government Jun 17, 2026

Show notes

Barbara McQuade is a professor at the University of Michigan Law School, where she teaches criminal law and national security law. She is also a legal analyst for NBC News and MSNOW and co-host of the #SistersInLaw podcast From 2010 to 2017 she served as the U.S Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan. She was appointed by President Barack Obama, and was the first woman to serve in her position. Earlier in her career, she worked as a sports writer and copy editor, a judicial law clerk, an associate in private practice, and an assistant US attorney. She is the author of the national best seller Attack From Within, and is here today to discuss her new book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.

Join us for this insightful and compelling conversation about her new book; the 'corruption, cruelty and chaos' of Trump 2.0; and what we the people can do to 'take back power and save America'.

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

Adam Mockler on How to Effectively Beat Back Republican BS...and So Much More! Jun 15, 2026

Show notes

Adam Mockler is a GenZ political commentator who's become a hero to Democrats and a giant thorn to Republicans over his ability to fact-check his conservative counterparts in real-time. At 23, and armed with receipts, he can debate the liars and gaslighters better than many analysts twice his age. Join us for this insightful and humorous chat about how to effectively beat down the right-wing bullshit and control the narrative.

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 McCabe on the Current State of the FBI under Kash Patel and the Impact on the Bureau's Credibility, Hiring and Firing, and Morale Jun 13, 2026

Show notes

Andrew McCabe is the former deputy director, and acting director, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He is also the author of the New York Times bestselling book, The Threat: How the FBI Protects America in the Age of Terror and Trump. He is currently a senior law enforcement analyst for CNN, a distinguished visiting professor at the George Mason University Schar School of Policy and Government, a consultant and advisor to cyber companies, and the co-host of the podcast “Unjustified” about the policies and actions of the Department of Justice.

Andrew began his 21-year FBI career in 1996 as a special agent assigned to the New York City Field Office, where he investigated Russian organized crime cases. In 2006, he shifted his focus to national security when he was promoted to FBI Headquarters in the Counterterrorism Division. He went on to serve in numerous high level leadership positions in the FBI including, assistant director of the Counterterrorism Division, executive assistant director of the National Security Branch, assistant director in charge of the Washington Field Office, and Deputy Director of the FBI. In 2017, he served as the acting FBI director after the firing of James Comey. He retired from the FBI in 2018.

We discuss the current state of the FBI under Kash Patel and the impact on the bureau's credibility, the hiring and firing policies of agents, and overall morale.

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

Batya Ungar-Sargon on her New Book The Jews and the Left Jun 11, 2026

Show notes

Batya Ungar-Sargon is the host of Batya! on NewsNation, where she is a weekend anchor. She is a frequent contributor to the New York Post and a columnist for the Free Press. Her new book is The Jews and the Left.

She joins me for a spirited conversation about the book, antisemitism, and her thoughts on how the progressive wing of the Democratic Party has driven a wedge between Jews over Israel.

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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