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Merrill Brown joins this episode as our featured guest. After almost 5 years at the helm of Montclair State University's brand new School of Communication, he is leaving this position next month. Brown is an educator, consultant, investor, veteran media executive and journalist.  Merrill has worked at The Saint Louis Dispatch, The Winston-Salem Sentinel, The Washington Star and Washington Post … s...

Stuart Rohrer joins to discuss this year Oscars' race. His love of film and movies has drawn him to write a weekly movie roundup on his blog, poorstuart.com, and produce a crowd-sourced Academy Awards prediction contest. Rohrer is also executive producer and founder of SRmedia Digital Publishing, a company that helps editors, publishers and content owners create engaging digital products. Stu bega...

Dr. Rob Quicke, Founder of The College Radio Foundation and College Radio Day joins us to talk about the importance of college radio and tackle a question we hear often, Is college radio dying? This is the basis of an article on Pitchfork magazine last week, where the author asked“Does College Radio Even Matter Anymore”? Engineer: Daniel Giacumbo Producer: Katie Leonard & Mike Stringham Social Str...

David Brancaccio, host and senior editor of the Marketplace Morning Report broadcast on public radio and at marketplace.org joins Merrill Brown to discuss business and media in a Trump presidency. You may also know David as the former anchor of the television news program “Now on PBS.” He does a podcast titled Esquire Classic with Esquire Magazine where he explores the most memorable non-fiction p...

Andrea Syrtash, relationship expert discusses a subject often left out of the conversation in the media—fertility. And in the current political climate, when women's health and Planned Parenthood have become popular topics of discussion; she filled a void in the industry by creating a new website she named Pregnantish. This is the first online magazine dedicated to helping women and men navigate i...

Santa Claus joins Merrill Brown on this holiday edition of Media Download. Producer: Juan Contla Executive Producer & Social: Anabella Poland Music courtesy of Tom Tuminello - Santa & The Toymakers.

Nicole Home and Jenna Inganamort, Austin Reznick and Samuel Flesher, undergraduate students at Montclair State University's School of Communication and Media join Merrill Brown to discuss the state of media 2016. Engineer: Shawn Latham Producer: James Coffey Social Media: Brandon Simanski Executive Producer: Anabella Poland

Tim O'Brien, Executive Editor at Bloomberg View and Bloomberg Gadfly and Trump expert joins Merrill Brown on this episode of Media Download to discuss the incoming administration, Trumps transition into the White House, the prospect of conflicts of interest throughout a Trump presidency, his family and his cabinet. Engineer: Jenna Inganamort Producers: Sam Flesher & Melissa Negron Social Media: Br...

Carroll Bogert, President of The Marshall Project joins Merrill Brown on this episode of Media Download, to discuss her nonprofit news organization, the state of criminal justice and criminal justice reform, prisons, the election of Donald Trump and her work in building a news organization from scratch. Engineer/board op: Jessica Conroy Producers: Brandon Simanski & Nicole Hom Social Strategy: Bra...

Monica Crowley, columnist and online opinion editor at the Washington Times best known as a political commentator on Fox News, joins Merrill Brown to discuss president-elect Donald J. Trump. Engineer: Austin Resnick Producer: Kevin Rabanal Social Media: Brandon Simanski Executive Producer: Anabella Poland

Hari Sreenivasan, anchor and senior correspondent of PBS NewsHour joins Merrill Brown to pay tribute to the late Gwen Ifill, one of the most gifted print and television journalists of our time. Engineer: James Coffey Producer: Brendan Clonan Social Media: Brandon Simanski Executive Producer: Anabella Poland

Tim O'Brien, Executive Editor at Bloomberg Gadfly & Bloomberg View executive editor, one of the world’s top experts on the background and sensibility of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump joins Merrill Brown on this episode of Media Download. Hear his take on the campaign’s final days and on how Trump will react to its outcome. O'Brien is the author of "Trump Nation, the Art of Being t...

Arnon Mishkin, director of the Fox News elections decision team will be calling the race for the network on November 8. He joins Merrill Brown to discuss the wide disparity at the polls for both presidential candidates. Engineer: Nicole Hom | Nick Franciosa Producers: Brandon Simanski Social Strategy: Jenna Inganamort Executive Producer: Anabella Poland

Jonathan Greenblatt, President of the Anti-Defamation League, joins Merrill Brown to discuss a study the ADL is releasing this week detailing the harassment and threats of over 800 journalists who have reported on Republican nominee Donald Trump and as a direct result, have been recipients of hate speech and threats over social media, as this current divisive campaign enters its final three weeks....

Jonathan Alter joins us just a few days away from the third and final debate on Oct. 19. We’re counting down to four weeks from today when Election Day ends the longest and most intensely dramatic presidential campaign, perhaps in American history. Jonathan Alter is a best-selling author, MSNBC analyst, and DailyBeast columnist. He also co-hosts Sirius XM’s " Alter Family Politics" and today he’s...

NYCC is expecting 180,000 fans to pack the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan this week in a yearly pilgrimage to the Javits Center for the biggest Comic Con around the world. This convention that began in 2006 by taking one hall in the basement of the Javits Center has not only taken every square inch of the building but they have been forced to expand to three other venues around the city....

Dan Sforzas, Managing Editor for The Record (North Jersey), soon to be leading The Record's investigative team, joins Merrill Brown to talk about the latest on the #Bridgegate trial. Background: a top political appointee of Governor Chris Christie and his former deputy chief of staff, are both facing felony charges over what prosecutors say was a criminal scheme to inflict gridlock traffic in the...

Margaret Sullivan, media columnist of The Washington Post and former public editor of The New York Times, joins Merrill Brown on this episode of Media Download. They discuss the media's coverage of this presidential campaign and the upcoming presidential debate between Trump and Clinton.

Tom Hall, Executive Director of The Montclair Film Festival joins us to discuss the festival now on its 5th year. During this year's festival they'll be unveiling major motion pictures, releasing student made films, independent films and hosting conversations with famous directors, actors and more. Tom Hall is responsible for development, fundraising, sponsorship, education, marketing, event plann...

We are joined by Evan Matthews, Assistant Professor of Exercise Science and Physical Education at Montclair State to discuss benefits and risks of popular smartwatches and Fitbit bands. These trendy gadgets offer us new ways to monitor and improve self-health. Anyone of any age can have a "personal health assistant" that tracks and uses vital information to promote a healthier lifestyle. But are t...

Mark Green, NYC's first Public Advocate and author/editor of 23 books, latest being next month's Bright, Infinite Future: A Generational Memoir on the Progressive Rise joins us to discuss the upcoming NY primaries on April 19th.

Joe Nocera, sports business columnist at The New York Times, discusses the “Indentured” Athlete - Inside Rebellion Against the NCAA."

Matt Katz, a political reporter for WNYC radio and resident Chris Christie expert. Matt is the creator of the Chris Christie Chronicles blog as well as the host of the Chris Christie Tracker radio podcast. He is the recipient of the 2015 Peabody award for news coverage of the infamous Bridgegate scandal as well as a winner of the Livingston Award for international reporting while in Afghanistan.

Today we were joined by Dr. Joel Penney to discuss live streaming and digital privacy. Dr. Penney is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communication and Media here at Montclair State, specializing in new media, critical/cultural studies, and political communication and theory. Dr. Penney is currently working on a book project that explores how citizens participate in political marketing camp...

On this episode we talk to Chris Poland, founder and president of Eclipse Records, about the state of the music industry from an indie label perspective. The Recording Industry Association of America has announced that streaming will now counts towards song and album sales. As a rights owner, Poland has seen the change in consumer consumption habits from compact discs to downloads and then to stre...