

Full Disclosure with Roben Farzad
Roben Farzad
The business of culture. The culture of business. Policy; media & tech; entrepreneurs and more.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Dec 12, 2017 • 38min
Laughing, Crying and Healing with Ms. Pat
Do call it a comeback: How Patricia Williams went from a violent and hungry childhood, drug-dealing, teen motherhood and prison ("I've been shot twice and hit by a dump truck!") to breakout fame on the national comedy circuit. Her hot-selling memoir is Rabbit: The Autobiography of Ms. Pat -- and you must read it. But first listen to this episode.

Nov 30, 2017 • 50min
Full Disclosure: Live @WNYC
Alfred Spellman and Billy Corben of Rakontur -- the award-winning studio behind "Cocaine Cowboys" and ESPN's "The U" -- on stage at WNYC to make sense of Big Media & Entertainment's decline. Is anyone truly doing digital profitably? Who pays for journalism anymore? And Miami ... just what is it about Miami?

Nov 13, 2017 • 38min
The Meddled East
Eli Lake of Bloomberg View on the increasingly uneasy plate tectonics of international relations in the Middle East, from Saudi Arabia's feud with Iran and its implications on Beirut; to Israel's newfound love for Riyadh; and Syria and Baghdad's debt to Tehran. Oh, and has anyone seen Lebanon's Prime Minister?

Nov 5, 2017 • 36min
From Receptionist to Mad Woman to Educator
Brandcenter chief Helayne Spivak started out in 1973 as a Madison Ave receptionist. She endured rampant sexism to work her way up to copywriter and then decorated industry exec. "#MeToo", she now says, in this season of confession for victims of sexual harassment and abuse...in Hollywood, corporate America, newsrooms...just about everywhere.

Oct 27, 2017 • 44min
Will Video Save the Telecom Star?
Former AT&T Broadband CEO Leo Hindery on the dizzying ways content and distribution are (once again) tag-teaming, from AT&T-Time Warner to Verizon-AOL-YaHooffPo and free Netflix on T-Mobile. Fat pipes. Dumb pipes. Skinny bundles. Cord-shaving. Fed-up subscribers. Elusive margins. We've got it all on this week's show.

Oct 16, 2017 • 39min
The Bull Market in Everything?
The Economist's Simon Cox on the implications of lofty asset prices across the planet -- the magazine's recent cover topic. Stocks, real estate, farmland....seemingly nothing is cheap in 2017. Does it all have to end in heartbreak? We're on Twitter @FullDRadio

Oct 4, 2017 • 41min
Free Willie?
Willie Falcon started dealing cocaine in 1970s Miami. He was on the run from the law in the '80s; captured and prosecuted in the '90s; sentenced in the '00s. Now, the Feds want to deport him to his native Cuba. Smuggling pal Carlos Ruiz and "Cocaine Cowboys" producer Alfred Spellman on the five-decade pursuit of Miami's most famous kingpin.

Sep 25, 2017 • 31min
Puerto Rico, Puerto Pobre
Reeling from a $70-billion financial crisis, the very last thing Puerto Rico needed was wholesale destruction by massive hurricanes. The territory is losing population to the mainland U.S.; the power is out everywhere; everything is rusted or damaged and San Juan is broke. Puerto Rico Clearinghouse's Cate Long on the stark choices facing the island. We're on Twitter @FullDRadio

Sep 14, 2017 • 36min
Miami Water Torture
Miami dodged catastrophe when Hurricane Irma swerved. Even so, much of its downtown ended up submerged. Keeping the sea at bay has rapidly become costlier and more complicated for this Pan-American boomtown, whose skyline holds record foreign wealth. What if...? I talked to condo power broker Alicia Cervera Lamadrid and the Miami Herald's Nick Nehamas. We're on Twitter @FullDRadio

Sep 4, 2017 • 47min
The Fed's Looooooong Unwind
Unemployment's low. Stocks are at highs. The financial crisis is a distant memory. So why are interest rates still so stubbornly low? And how will they get back up to some level of "normalcy"? We ask Al Broaddus, the former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond. He joined the Fed back in 1970.