The Other 51

Latest Episodes:

Episode 101: Writing Defensively with Dr. Mark Coddington Aug 30, 2019

Show notes

This episode was supposed to be recorded at the AEJMC conference earlier this month in Toronto. But Dr. Mark Coddington was busy doing conference stuff, and Brian forgot his Mac dongle, so consider this a makeup in a way.

Mark is an assistant professor at Washington and Lee University and the author of the new book, “Aggregating the News: Secondhand Knowledge and the Erosion of Journalistic Authority,” and he joins Brian for a deep dive into the writing process. Mark describes he got interested in news aggregation in the first place, how he picked it for his dissertation topic and then how he turned that dissertation into a book.

Mark and Brian talk a lot about the idea of writing defensively, why that may be one of the reasons why academic writing is often so bad and how hard it was for Mark to switch modalities for the book. They also talk about what aggregation is in news, why it matters, and why the myth of Woodward and Bernstein is so persistent among journalists.

Mark on Twitter

Snippets from the book

Aggregating the News

How News Happens

The MVP Machine: How Baseball’s New Nonconformists Are Using Data to Build Better Players

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Episode 100: The Amazing and the Impossible with Joe Posnanski Aug 22, 2019

Show notes

Back when this podcast started, Joe Posnanski joined Brian for Episode 4 to talk about Hamilton, Buffalo sports, and writing.

This week, for our 100th episode, Joe joins Brian again to talk about … Hamilton, Buffalo sports, and writing.

After nerding out about their favorite moments in Hamilton, Brian and Joe get to the main topic — Joe’s upcoming book on Harry Houdini. Joe talks in depth about his writing and research process on this book, particularly how he balanced writing a biography of Houdini and a book about magic and wonder itself. Joe discusses how he reconciled those two ideas and found the center of the book.

Joe and Brian also talk about the importance of finding that thing that your piece of writing is about, and about how being honest with what you don’t know can build your credibility with sources. There is a brief Harry Potter detour, and reporting is compared to roller coasters (one of which, Brian and Joe love). Joe also discusses how he defines wonder and why that is so important to the book and our lives.

Also noteworthy, after this podcast was reported, someone did in fact hit two home runs in a game that day.

Joe Posnanski on Twitter

Joe Blogs

The Life and Afterlife of Harry Houdini

Joe on Amazon

Episode 4: Joe Posnanski

The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead

Episode 99: Knowing the Story's Done with Rion Amilcar Scott Jul 12, 2019

Show notes

Brian is joined once again by his favorite local* author, Rion Amilcar Scott.

Rion has a new collection of short stories due out on Aug,. 20, “The World Doesn’t Require You.” It’s a followup to his previous collection, Insurrections.

Brian and Rion talk about how the new collection came together, and how both the world it’s set in and Rion’s writing have changed since President Trump’s election. Rion talks about the value of sitting with an idea for a long time until you know it’s ready and how he stretched himself as a writer with this book. How does Rion hope to influence how people see the world with this book? It’s a big question.

They also geek out hard core over SpiderMan.

Rion Amilcar Scott

Rion Amilcar Scott on Twitter

Episode 22: James Baldwin’s Head with Rion Amilcar Scott

Insurrections

The World Doesn’t Require You

A Lucky Man by Jamele Brinkley

Heavy by Kiese Laymon

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Episode 98: What'd Brigadoon Ever Do To You? with Anthony King Jul 03, 2019

Show notes

Anthony King, the Tony nominated co-writer of the book of Beetlejuice The Musical, joins Brian this week.

Brian and Anthony do a deep dive into the creative process of a Broadway show, as Anthony describes what a book of a musical is and why it is so important.

Anthony discusses the process he and Scott Brown had in writing the show, how Lydia became the main character, how they changed the conception of the Netheworld, and how the Beetlejuice cartoon influences the show. Anthony talks about how they decided what iconic parts from the movie made the musical, and he shares what he wish he could have brought from screen top stage.

Anthony also talks about the rewriting process that the show underwent after previews in Washington, D.C.

In addition, he answers an incredibly specific question about Gutenberg, the Musical!

Anthony King

Anthony on Twitter

Beetlejuice the Musical

The Complete Works of Dashiell Hamett

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Episode 97: Wired to Talk to Everyone with Baxter Holmes Jun 27, 2019

Show notes

Baxter Holmes had one of the best months for a sports features writer in a very long time earlier this year. He published two fantastic stories at ESPN - one on the fancy dinners that San Antonio Spurs coach Greg Popovich hosts, the other detailing the dysfunction of the Los Angeles Lakers.

On the face of it, they are two very different stories. But in his return visit to The Other 51, Baxter tells Brian how the reporting for those stories had a lot in common.

Baxter describes how he first heard about Popovich’s wine dinners and how the Lakers’ dysfunction first got on his radar. He talks about the value of talking to everybody, how writing scenes is a key part of his process, how Robert Caro’s notions of concentric circles help him report, and what it was like the day the Lakers story broke. There was a lot of coffee that day.

Baxter and Brian also discuss how writers are a lot like chefs.

Baxter Holmes on Twitter

Episode 57: Untold Stories with Baxter Holmes

Michelin restaurants and fabulous wines: Inside the secret team dinners that have built the Spurs’ dynasty

Lakers 2.0: The failed reboot of the NBA’s crown jewel

The Day The Music Burned

Work Clean: The life-changing power of mis-en place to organize your life, work, and mind by Dan Charnas

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Episode 96: A Little Kelly Tripucka with Tyler Dunne Jun 20, 2019

Show notes

One of our very first guests on The Other 51 (Episode 3), Tyler Dunne from Bleacher Report returns to kick off our summer season.

Tyler and Brian spend the first several minutes reminiscing about early 1990s NBA basketball, including Brian’s home-economics class gamesmanship involving Chuck Person and Tyler’s origin story as a Charlotte Hornets fan.

Then they get around to the business at hand. What does this time of year look like for an NFL features writer like Tyler? Tyler talks about how this time of year is important to him, helping him lay the foundation for the stories he’ll work on in the fall. Tyler talks about how to approach players as people, not as sources, and how many players appreciate having to think in an interview and having someone really listen to them.

Brian and Tyler then do a deep dive into that fantastic story about the Packers that Tyler wrote in April. What’s it like when Aaron Rogers calls you out? How do you report and write a story like this?

Tyler Dunne’s stories

Tyler on Twitter

What Happened in Green Bay

Tecmo NBA Basketball

INSIDE GANG TERRITORY IN HONDURAS: ‘Either They Kill Us or We Kill Them’

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Episode 95: Marvel Nitpick Podcast with Travis Clark May 23, 2019

Show notes

Travis Clark was never actually Brian’s student at SUNY Oswego. But he was, in his own words, “student adjace.” Travis, a SUNY Oswego graduate and now a media and entertainment reporter for Business Insider, joins Brian this week. They start with the requisite Oswego talk, and Travis talks about how much working for the student paper helped prepare him for his career.

Travis talks about his journey from kid writing movie reviews in his high-school paper to covering the media and entertainment industries for Business Insider. He and Brian discuss the juggling of being a fan of these properties vs. covering them, how entertainment writing has some analogies to sports writing, and how covering the business side of entertainment influences how you watch movies and TV shows.

About 20 minutes in, they get super nerdy in their breakdown of Avengers: Endgame. If you haven’t seen the movie and don’t want it spoiled, bail then.

Also, Travis breaks some exciting Hawkeye news to Brian.

Travis Clark at Business Insider

Travis Clark on Twitter

The Oswegonian

‘Avengers: Endgame’ directors describe the 100-hour workweeks and tremendous pressure of making their $2 billion blockbuster

Black Leopard, Red Wolf by Marlon James

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Episode 94: Thinking About Your Audience with Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde May 16, 2019

Show notes

In the summer of 2018, Brian heard Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde from UMass speak on a panel at the annual AEJMC conference. The panel’s title: “So You Wanna Write A Book”

This week, Kathy joins Brian to demystify the book-writing process.

Kathy discusses her research into literary journalism and her first book. What is literary journalism, what’s interesting about that field, and how do we read older pieces when we know a lot of what was presented as fact was more fiction?

Kathy and Brian also talk about the book writing process itself. How do you turn a dissertation into a book? How do you find the narrative thread? Why is thinking about your audience so important? Kathy recommends a book that all would-be authors should read, and she also talks about how one of her upcoming projects is the most important book she’ll ever be a part of.

Dr. Kathy Roberts Forde

Kathy on Twitter

Literary Journalism on Trial: Masson v. New Yorker and the First Amendment

Thinking Like Your Editor

Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom by David Blight

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Episode 93: Move Through the World Differently with Quinn Rose May 02, 2019

Show notes

Writer and podcast Quinn Rose joins Brian this week.

First off .. .there is a TON of musical theater nerdery this week. Brian finally saw Hamilton, Quinn has seen it twice, so they talk A LOT about the show, about what it’s like to see it after listening to the cast recording so much. They also talk about the shows they’re going to see soon. Quinn’s got Be More Chill coming up. Brian’s talking his 8-year-old to see Book of Mormon. It’ll be fine.

That segues into talk about Quinn’s podcasting and writing career. She talks about her excellent four-part series, Setting the Stage, about a community theater in rural Maine. Quinn talks about where the idea for the story came from, how the story evolved as she was reporting it, and why transcribing all of the interviews proved to be such a necessary step. That leads into a bigger discussion on storytelling and podcasting, and what the future holds for the medium.

Quinn Rose

Quinn on Twitter

Quinn’s blog on the 2019 Tony nominations

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Episode 92: Paying Close Attention with Steve Politi Apr 11, 2019

Show notes

How did Arnold Palmer order an Arnold Palmer?

Who dry cleans the green jackets for Augusta National members?

What’s it like to play Augusta National when you are … not a very good golfer?

Steve Politi, who was recently named the top sports columnist in the country by the Associated Press Sports Editors, joins Brian this week to talk about column writing. Steve traces his career path from the Nutley Sun to the Star Ledger, with a detour to cover hockey in North Carolina.

Steve and Brian do deep dives into the four columns that won the APSE top honors, from his fun columns from the Masters, to taking Bob Hurley Sr. to a high school basketball game to spending 24 hours with Eric LeGrand. Steve talks about his reporting process, the importance of a good idea, the value of zigging when others zag, and why he thinks more reporters aren’t willing to break away from the pack.

Steve Politi at NJ.com

Steve Politi on Twitter

His Private Struggle

I played Augusta National and had my own Masters meltdown

Masters 2018: The green jacket dry-cleaning secrets of Augusta National

It takes $2 and a pizza to get Bob Hurley Sr. into a HS hoops game these days

I found the saddest spot in N.J. sports at the state’s wrestling championships

This will be my 17th Masters. Here are the stories I enjoyed writing the most

The Day the Dinosaurs Died by Douglas Preston

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