This show runs the gamut geographically from the U.K. to Detroit, and from Los Angeles to Laguna Beach. And it features a wide array from topics, including the supposed demise of radio in general, the new hopes for one station’s programming in particular, the death of a great actress, the acquisition of a legendary Hollywood company, and the latest (and final?) news in the prosecution of Alec Baldwin. There are also a slew of TV and movie reviews, including “Tulsa King”, MaXXXine, Remembering Gene Wilder, I Used to Be Funny and Janet Planet. Join Dean Haglund, Phil Leirness and special guests Alex Lewczuk and Lily Holleman as they bring you the insightful, the irreverent, the inspiring and the deeply felt. And if you are so moved, please visit https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/witham-radio/. Donate if you can and share if you will.

Dean and Phil got together in Los Angeles this week to watch David Robert Mitchell’s It Follows, to see if it’s as good as they remember OR if, as Quentin Tarantino claims, the film does not “play by its own rules”. You will hear the discussion in real time as your friends in podcasting watch the film and analyze it. First though, because a loyal listener like you (yes, YOU!) asked, Dean & Phil will tackle the controversy surrounding the use of AI-generated art in the recent Late Night with the Devil (a film Dean loved and which Phil pointed out definitely discards its own rules 75 minutes in). Finally, actress-singer-writer-improviser Lily Holleman drops in to discuss Juneteenth, her birthday, the latest “refurbishments” at Disneyland, the demise of Siren Radio and the music of comedian Sinbad!

In more than 17 years of bringing you free, weekly entertainment, we don’t believe either Dean or Phil have mentioned the great theologian, humanist, educator, philosopher and satirist Erasmus. Finally, that oversight gets rectified! Sci-fi, radio, journalism, history, education, the “sound of the future” and the scenic delights of Middlesbrough are just some of the topics covered as lifelong broadcaster, educator and friend of the show Alex Lewczuk joins your friends in podcasting.

This week’s show begins with an email from a loyal listener about the Bree Sharp song “David Duchovny” and the unofficial video for it in which Dean participated. Then, Phil talks about what is going on his beloved Siren Radio in the UK. A petition has been launched to try and save the station to which Phil has been contributing for more than 12 years (read and, if so moved, sign the petition at https://www.change.org/p/support-our-siren-saving-siren-radio-lincoln-s-first-community-radio-station). This leads to a discussion of curated experiences and supposedly outmoded media. From there, the conversation switches to the impact of Bicycle Thieves on the big screen and that classic’s influence on Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure. The surprising good news of a just-released global box office smash hit gets cheered. Of course, “awards season” is reaching its climax, and Dean and Phil analyze what we can know will happen at the Oscars based on this weekend’s SAG Awards. The multi-award-winning miniseries “Beef”, its writing and its stars get hailed. Phil also shares a great story about Annette Bening and both her present, and one of her past, Oscar nominations. All that plus Phil regales with tales of the Autry Museum of the American West in the wake of emceeing a major event there. Finally, the lives of three fascinating music figures get remembered in “Celebrity Deaths”.