Off the Hook

For other uses, see off the hook.
Off the Hook is a hacker-oriented weekly talk radio program hosted by Emmanuel Goldstein. It airs every Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. Eastern Time in New York City on the community radio station WBAI 99.5 FM. It is simulcast online via streaming MP3 and over shortwave radio by WBCQ at 5110 kHz. The show is also available as a podcast, although the show has been made available in this format since long before that term was coined.

History

Premiere

Off the Hook was first aired on Thursday, October 7 1988. It was originally set to debut Friday, August 12 1988, but there was a fire on the radio transmitter floor of the Empire State Building, forcing the radio show to be broadcast at a later date.

Notable events

Some notable events in the program's history include: On November 30, 1999, journalist Amy Goodman reported live from the World Trade Organization protests, while being repeatedly approached by police and tear-gassed.
As an April Fool's Day prank in 2008, the crew faked a hack on Barack Obama's campaign website.

Panelists

Emmanuel Goldstein has hosted the show since its inception.

The current regular panel on the show consists of:

Bernie S
Dot.Ret
Gus
Jim Vichench
Mike
notkevin
Redhackt
Rob T Firefly

There are many others who have been regular panelists in the past, and others who are still occasional returning guests but are not on regularly, including:

Arseny
Bicyclemark
Izaac Falken
Juintz
Kevin Mitnick
Lazlow Jones
Leo
LexIcon
Mitch Altman
Phiber Optik
Redbird
Rop
Tiffany Rad
volt4ire

Format of the show

After a quick presentation of the panelist or guests present in studio (or on the phone), the radio show normally starts with a report and discussion of the last week's most interesting hacker or technology related news. Sometimes it also features an interview with external guests. At the end of the hour-long radio program the host might read some of the received listener e-mails, and if there's time for it, open up for listener phone calls who can call in live and either give their comment on the previously discussed topics or report their own news. Since the show is also streamed on the web, it also has an international audience.

It is also not uncommon to hear some of the callers seek help for a computer-related problem, since they are mistaking Off the Hook to be the subsequent radio program on WBAI, called Personal Computer Show.