Airtalk for Monday, November 26th, 2012

Contact: Producers Karen Fritsche & Jasmin Tuffaha

626-583-5100

 

SCHEDULE FOR AIRTALK WITH LARRY MANTLE

Monday, November 26, 2012

 

PATT MORRISON SITS IN FOR LARRY

11:06 –11:30
Topic:  TBD
Guest:  


11:29-ish - 11:35-ish
Topic:  Long-dead WWII airborne agent carries secret message from the past: It’s the stuff of wartime spy thrillers like “Casablanca” and “The 39 Steps” -- the body of a secret agent is found under mysterious circumstances, with a coded message that defies cracking by experts.  This courier was no stool pigeon - but it was a pigeon, one of some 250,000 enlisted during World War II by the U.K.’s National Pigeon Service to carry messages from behind enemy lines in Germany, France and elsewhere.  Around 30 of the brave birds were awarded the Dickin Medal for bravery in battle, the animal equivalent of the Victoria Cross.  The skeleton of this particular pigeon was recently found in the chimney of a home in Surrey, England, on an estate that was used by decryption experts during the war. Strapped to its leg was a tiny red canister containing a handwritten message: 27 five-letter codes listed in columns.  Code breakers at Britain’s super-secret communications intelligence agency, GCHQ, have been poring over the missive, but have admitted they can’t crack the code.  What was this avian agent’s mission?  Was it ever accomplished?

Guest: TBD


11:30 -12:00
Topic: Big Man on Campus: LAUSD’s Superintendent John Deasy As students across LA head back to school from their Thanksgiving break, LAUSD’s John Deasy will head back to his office with a lot of decisions to make after Proposition 30 passed on the November ballot. With the state receiving an additional $6 billion in revenue, LAUSD has voted to restore its classroom calendar to the standard 180 days for the first time in five years of budget cutting, which Deasy publicly supported. The district will also rescind 10 furlough days teachers had agreed to, and will talk to other, much smaller employee unions about rescinding their furlough days. The LAUSD school board also voted ot keep John Deasy in his role as superintendent through 2015. The LAUSD is also applying for high profile “Race to the Top” grants that the federal government will distribute, but the LA teachers’ union is opposed to the grant on the grounds that it could overextend the district financially.

Guest: John Deasy (“daisy”), Superintendent of Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD)

IN STUDIO         

12:06 – 12:25ish
Topic: E-mail privacy reforms cause back-and-forth on Capitol Hill: The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was a statue enacted in 1986 as a means to set privacy parameters on new and growing technologies. As one might imagine, any phone, computer or other device from 1986 would be woefully out-of-date in today’s society. Some politicians and many technological experts feel the same way about the ECPA itself. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Patrick Leahy (D-VT), has taken it upon himself to tackle this issue, and has drafted an amended version of the ECPA. Leahy’s version specifically alters the rules of access law enforcement agencies have over private e-mail accounts, requiring them to obtain a court-approved warrant as opposed to an administrative subpoena. Unsurprisingly, groups such as the National Sheriffs’ Association, the National District Attorneys’ Association and the U.S. Department of Justice voiced their displeasure of Leahy’s changes. After this, tech website CNET made a report that Leahy again altered the bill, allowing for searches without a warrant. With an air of confusion now surrounding Leahy’s proposal and stark opponents on both sides of the issue, it is clearer than ever than some substantial changes must be made to bring this old law kicking and screaming into the 21st century. What are the concerns for those who want the ECPA to stay as is? What about those calling for reform? How will Leahy be able to navigate this thorny topic in a particularly contentious political environment?

Guest: Declan McCullagh, chief political correspondent, CNET News.com

BY PHONE

2^ND Guest: TBD


12:24:40 -12:39
Topic: Does the rise of women mean the fall of men?: Hanna Rosin’s “The End of Men” is part of a recent swath of gender-related discussion. Women have become breadwinners in their families, they are attending college in higher numbers, and this year, they made up a majority of the electorate. Media and literature has adapted to reflect these changes, and to speculate about how they will resonate in the future. Rosin’s book follows an attention-grabbing article of the same title that she published in a 2012 issue of The Atlantic, and serves as a more in-depth analysis of the fall of the dominant sex. Is the rise of women a new thing? Is gender equality the “end of men,” or are men being eclipsed by women? What will these changes mean for future generations?

Guest: Hanna Rosin, author of The End of Men: And the Rise of Women (Riverhead)

ON TAPE


12:40-1:00
Topic: The story of ‘The Story of Greatest Fan Film Ever Made: Raiders!’ Alan Eisenstock’s Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made follows how two kids, 12-year-old Eric Zala and 11-year-old Chris Stromopolos, from Ocean Springs, Mississippi decided to remake the Indiana Jones film ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark.’ Over the next seven years, the two made a complete remake of the movie, with every scene and every stunt. The final product was considered an undisputed fan film masterpiece. The story of how the movie was made serves as a backdrop for Eisenstock, who chronicles the maturation of Zala and Stromopolos during the movie’s making: how the two kids grew up and dealt with their own respective hardships, and how their boyhood friendship eventually dissolved. The film was the center of their youth, but it was also the biggest, and eventually unbearable, burden on their friendship. From their devotion to their film, to their ruined friendship, to the eventual redemption of their relationship and current directing cooperation, Eisenstock writes of youth, maturation, and the boundless energy and hope contained in a young person’s dream.

Guest: Alan Eisenstock, author, Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Thomas Dunne Books)

IN STUDIO                                                              

Guest: Eric Zala, co-author, Raiders! The Story of the Greatest Fan Film Ever Made (Thomas Dunne Books), director of the film remake, ‘Raiders of the Lost Ark: The Adaptation,’ chronicled in the book, and portrays Dr. Rene Belloq in the remake

IN STUDIO