Episode 1 - The Divided Dial
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If you discovered this\\xa0series through Apple podcasts, or because you heard that we won a Peabody Award for our work; WELCOME!
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\\nEpisode 1: The True Believers
\\nIn 2016, Christian talk radio host Eric Metaxas begrudgingly encouraged his listeners to vote for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump. By 2020, he pledged his life to fighting the \\u201cstolen election\\u201d while talking with Trump on the air. Ahead of the midterm elections, Metaxas and many of his fellow talk radio hosts made sure the falsehood of massive 2020 election fraud was top of mind \\u2014 on the airwaves and beyond. And while election-denying candidates didn\'t do as well as many on the right had hoped, at least 170 such candidates have been elected to state and national offices, some of whom will be in charge of future elections. We meet the company whose hosts never backed down from the lies of the stolen 2020 election: Salem Media Group, the largest Christian, conservative multimedia company in the country \\u2013 and perhaps the most influential media company you\\u2019ve never heard of.
\\nThe Divided Dial is hosted by journalist and Fulbright\\xa0Fellow Katie Thornton. Her written articles and audio stories have appeared in The Atlantic, 99% Invisible, The Washington Post, BBC, NPR, WNYC, Minnesota Public Radio, The Guardian,\\xa0Bloomberg\\u2019s CityLab, National Geographic, and others. She is a lifelong radio nerd who got her start in media as a teenager, volunteering and working behind the scenes at radio stations for many years. You can follow her work on\\xa0Instagram\\xa0or on her\\xa0website.\\n\\n\\nThe Divided Dial was edited by On the Media\'s executive producer, Katya Rogers. With production support from Max Balton and fact-checking by Tom Colligan, Sona Avakian, and Graham Hacia. Music and sound design by Jared Paul. Jennifer Munson is our technical director. Art by\\xa0Michael Brennan.\\n\\nWith support from the\\xa0Fund for Investigative Journalism.'