Episodes

  • Introducing: The Flamethrowers (trailer)
    Aug 31 2021
    How right wing radio took over American democracy. A new series hosted by Justin Ling.
    Show More Show Less
    4 mins
  • Ep. 1: The Father of Hate Radio
    Sep 7 2021
    Our story begins with Canadian priest Charles Coughlin — a populist crusader who winds up espousing conspiracy and hate. Right-wing radio flexes its muscle with a boycott of Polish Ham. And the Kennedy government almost wipes right-wing talk off the map. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997
    Show More Show Less
    43 mins
  • Ep. 2: What A Rush
    Sep 14 2021
    President Ronald Reagan takes the shackles off right-wing radio and inaugurates a golden era of conservative politics. And Rush Limbaugh — almost by accident — becomes a kingmaker in the Republican party and changes radio forever. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997
    Show More Show Less
    44 mins
  • Ep. 3: The Information Wars
    Sep 22 2021
    Welcome to the world of conspiracy and paranoia. A horrifying act of domestic terrorism brings right wing radio some unwanted attention, which pushes one fan of the supernatural away from politics, while a pair of anti-government broadcasters dig their heels in. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997
    Show More Show Less
    48 mins
  • Ep. 4: The Echo Chamber
    Sep 28 2021
    The terror attacks of September 11th have Americans turning the dial to talk radio, where a whole new generation of broadcasters are eager to capitalize on anxiety and fear. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997
    Show More Show Less
    32 mins
  • Ep. 5: The Rage Industry
    Oct 5 2021
    Right-wing radio finds their greatest foe in Barack Obama: As they try to take him down at every turn, they find the perfect formula to manufacture outrage. For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997
    Show More Show Less
    30 mins
  • Ep. 6: The Talk Radio President
    Oct 19 2021

    Donald Trump takes the style, tactics, and issues straight from the right-wing radio playbook. The only question now is: Where does it go from here? For transcripts of this series, please visit: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/podcastnews/the-flamethrowers-transcripts-listen-1.6852997

    Show More Show Less
    50 mins
  • The Flamethrowers Introduces: The Devil You Know with Sarah Marshall
    Oct 28 2025

    In the 1980s and 90s, Satan and his followers were accused of brainwashing children, sacrificing babies, and infiltrating North American society on a massive scale — yet these thousands of alleged Satanists were nowhere to be found. Even so, the narrative became embedded in our cultural memory, warping everything it touched — including the lives of innocent people… And it never quite died out.


    In a new 8-part series, Sarah Marshall (You’re Wrong About) explores the tangled web of the Satanic Panic, in a journey that will take you everywhere from Victoria, B.C. to rural Kentucky to San Antonio, Texas. This is a show about the people who experienced the Satanic Panic in real-time — the believers, the skeptics, the bystanders, and the wrongfully-convicted. What was it like to be a psychologist told to look for Satanists in every case; a mother slowly recovering memories of supposed Satanic abuse; a teenager accused of conspiracy to murder? The stories of these eyewitnesses point us toward the real underlying problems — individual and societal — that the Panic was a response to. The fault, as ever, was not with Satanists, but in ourselves.


    You can find more episodes of The Devil You Know wherever you get your podcasts, and here: https://link.mgln.ai/TDYKxFlamethrowers

    Show More Show Less
    40 mins