Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
For most people, planning for retirement centers around having enough money to spend. But how to spend your post-work decades is an equally important issue. New York Times personal finance writer Brian O'Connor discusses his recent article is "You’re About to Retire. What Are You Doing for the Next 20 or 30 Years? (nytimes.com/2026/07/18/business/retirement-plan.html) " Plus, listeners share updates from their retirement.
Stock photo via DigitalVision/Getty Creative
For most people, planning for retirement centers around having enough money to spend. But how to spend your post-work decades is an equally important issue. New York Times personal finance writer Brian O'Connor discusses his recent article is "You’re About to Retire. What Are You Doing for the Next 20 or 30 Years? (nytimes.com/2026/07/18/business/retirement-plan.html) " Plus, listeners share updates from their retirement.
Stock photo via DigitalVision/Getty Creative



![New Doc About NY Public Access Host Robin Byrd
[REBROADCAST FROM June 29, 2026] From the 1970s to the 1990s, New York City public-access television host Robin Byrd encouraged sex positivity, pushed boundaries, and advocated for the gay community. The HBO documentary Bang My Box: The Robin Byrd Story (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWl_IE5eN4I) chronicles Byrds career. Directors Jyllian Gunther and Stephanie Schwam discuss the film, and then Robin Byrd herself shares more about her life and work. Bang My Box is available to stream on HBO Max.
Image courtesy of HBO New Doc About NY Public Access Host Robin Byrd](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cOkLSSn0990/mqdefault.jpg)




![The Story Behind Trump’s Terrible Approval Rating
President Trump has some of the worst approval ratings of any president in modern history, second only to Richard Nixon the week before he resigned. On this week’s On the Media, what the polls say about Americans’ perceptions of Trump and his policies. Plus, a look at the polarized propaganda being beamed into Iran.
[01:00] Brooke Gladstone interviews G. Elliott Morris, journalist, statistician, and author of the data-driven news website Strength In Numbers (https://www.gelliottmorris.com/?utm_campaign=profile_chips) , about public perceptions of President Trump and his policies, and what Trump’s historic unpopularity could mean for the upcoming midterm elections.
[19:14] Micah Loewinger speaks with Nancy Scola (https://www.nancyscola.com/) , a reporter covering tech, policy, and politics, about her recent profile of Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr, tracing his trajectory from “spectrum nerd,” to MAGA insider.
[36:23] Micah sits down with Nahid Siamdoust (https://liberalarts.utexas.edu/mes/faculty/ns34682) , an assistant professor of media and Middle Eastern studies at the University of Texas at Austin, to discuss the state of the Iranian media landscape, and how a newer anti-regime channel, Iran International, is contributing to intense polarization among Iranians around the world.
Further reading / watching:
• “Whats behind Donald Trumps record-low approval rating?” (https://www.gelliottmorris.com/p/2026-08-04-trump-squeezed-from-both-ends) By G. Elliott Morris
• “How Brendan Carr Became MAGA’s Media Watchdog,” (https://washingtonian.com/2026/07/30/how-brendan-carr-became-magas-media-watchdog/) by Nancy Scola
• “Spreading Static,” (https://www.nybooks.com/online/2026/07/11/spreading-static-iranian-media/) by Nahid Siamdoust
On the Media is supported by listeners like you. Support OTM by donating today (https://pledge.wnyc.org/support/otm). Follow our show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/onthemedia/?hl=en) , Bluesky (https://bsky.app/profile/onthemedia.bsky.social) , TikTok (https://www.tiktok.com/@onthemedia) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/OnTheMedia) @onthemedia, and share your thoughts with us by emailing onthemedia@wnyc.org.
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com (https://pcm.adswizz.com) for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising. The Story Behind Trump’s Terrible Approval Rating](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/dYfdp4-DW-w/mqdefault.jpg)

