Decoder Ring Creators & Guests

Writer and audio person. Formerly at Transom.org

Benjamin Frisch is an audio and documentary producer and an artist. Currently, he is a Senior Producer at Slate.Frisch's first graphic novel, "The Fun Family," was published in 2016.

Evan Chung is an audio producer. Currently, he is the Senior Producer of Slate’s podcast "One Year," for which he won the Writers Guild Award for Best Radio/Audio Documentary.Previously, Chung made podcasts for CNN and was a staff producer for the PRI show "Studio 360." He also produced the WBEZ Chicago show "Sound Opinions." He began his career as an intern at WBEZ's Arts Desk in 2007.Chung received his B.A. in Comparative Literature from the University.

Max Freedman is a journalist and audio producer with a background in education and theatre. Currently, he produces the Slate podcast "Decoder Ring." He also produces and hosts the podcast "Unsettled."Previously, Freedman was the Education Editor for The Conversation. He also produced series "All the Only Ones" NPR's "Embedded," produced the "Summer School" series for NPR's Planet Money, and reported, produced, and co-hosted two seasons of "School Colors."

Willa Paskin is a professional TV critic.

Jenny Lawton is a freelance audio editor and consultant.Previously, Lawton was the Managing Editor of WNYC Studios.

Producer and co-host for Just the Beginning, a new podcast from Kickstarter. Also a producer for Nancy Podcast

Olivia is an audio journalist, producer, and editor, currently working as a story editor on the Wondery series Scamfluencers and as a contributing reporter/producer for Slate’s Decoder Ring. Her freelance clients include iHeart Radio, Hello Sunshine, Slate Magazine, Arcana Audio, and Lola Media. Previously, she was a producer for Not Past It, a Spotify original podcast produced by ZSP Media and Gimlet Media, and also worked at Marc Smerling’s truth.media, where she reported and produced the hit series Crooked City in partnership with Sony Music Entertainment. She spent the first five years of her audio career at WNYC, where she was a producer for Fishko Files. Her work has appeared on Planet Money, On the Media, Studio 360, The New Yorker: Fiction, Notes from America, Morning Edition, and All Things Considered, and has been recognized multiple times by RTDNA’s Edward R. Murrow Awards, the New York Press Club, the Newswomen's Club of New York, the National Headliner Awards, and the Ambies.

Cheyna Roth is a journalist and audio producer. Currently, she is a podcast producer for Slate and frequent host of its gender and feminism podcast "The Waves." She is also an adjunct professor of journalism and law at Aquinas College.Roth began her career as a prosecuting attorney. She left the practice of law to in 2016, earned her masters degree, and became a documentary filmmaker, podcaster, and freelance writer. She began her journalism career as Capitol reporter for the Michigan Public Radio Networka, and she hosted the podcast "MichMash."Roth's work has appeared in Broadly, Bustle, and on NPR. Her first book, "Cold Cases: A True Crime Collection," was published in 2020.Roth received her J.D. from Michigan State University College of Law and her M.A. in Journalism from Michigan State University.

Sofie Kodner is a journalist and documentarian. Her interest is in reporting on the nexus of history, design, and culture.Kodner's work has appeared in 99% Invisible, WBUR, KQED, The Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, Kaiser Health News, CalMatters, KALW, Protocol, the Jackson Hole News and Guide, and more.Kodner received her B.A. in International Relations from Tulane University and her M.A. in Journalism from the University of California Berkeley.

Katie Shepherd is a writer and audio producer. Currently, she produces for Slate Studios. She is also an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University, where she teaches a course on podcasting.Previously, Shepherd has produced podcasts for Slate Studios, Gimlet Creative, and Part2Pictures.Shepherd's work has appeared in The New York Times' Modern Love, Literary Hub, ELLE, BUST, Ploughshares, and The Rumpus. She has produced podcasts for Gimlet Creative, Stitcher, NYU Production Lab, The Listening Booth, and Infinite Potential Media and Cadence 13.Shepherd received her B.A. in English from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, her M.A. in Education from The University of Manchester, and her M.F.A. from Columbia University.

Amanda Mull is a staff writer at The Atlantic. She also writes Material World, a column on consumerism.

Ian Coss is a musician and radio producer. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Ethnomusicology at Boston University and producing audio for radio, podcasts and museums.

Dan Kois is an editor and writer for Slate's culture section and a contributing writer for the New York Times Magazine.Formerly, Kois was the culture editor at Slate, where he launched the Slate Book Review. He previously co-hosted the podcast "Mom and Dad Are Fighting," and is a frequent guest on Slate's Culture Gabfest.Kois has written several books, including "Israel Kamakawiwo'ole's Facing Future," "The World Only Spins Forward: The Ascent of Angels in America" with co-author Isaac Butler, and "How to Be a Family: The Year I Dragged My Kids Around the World to Find a New Way to Be Together."

Kirk Hamilton is a writer and musician in Portland, OR. He is co-host and producer of the Kotaku Splitscreen video game podcast, and has written about music, games and culture for a variety of publications including The New York Times, Acoustic Guitar Magazine, and Kotaku, where he was an editor for seven years.

Amy Denio is a Seattle Jazz Hall of Fame member. She is also a producer, composer, photographer, polyglot, & appreciator of perfect moments.

Franz Nicolay is a musician, and writer.

Patton Oswalt is an American stand-up comedian, actor, voice actor, and writer. He is known for his role as Spencer Olchin in the sitcom The King of Queens (1998–2007), voicing Remy in the Pixar film Ratatouille (2007), co-starring alongside Charlize Theron in Young Adult (2011), and the Koenigs on Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (2014–2017). Oswalt has appeared in six stand-up specials and won a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Variety Special and a Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album for his Netflix special, Patton Oswalt: Talking for Clapping (2016).Oswalt made his acting debut in the Seinfeld episode, "The Couch." He appeared in the superhero film Blade: Trinity (2004), starred in the comedy-drama film Big Fan (2009), and the series The Heart, She Holler (2011–2014). He currently narrates the sitcom, The Goldbergs (2013–present), as the adult Adam F. Goldberg, voiced male Jesse in the video game, Minecraft: Story Mode, stars in the 2017 revival of Mystery Science Theater 3000, voices the title character in the crime comedy series Happy! (2017–present) and co-stars as Principal Ralph Durbin on A.P. Bio (2018–present).

Isaac Butler is a writer and theater director, most recently of The Trump Card, a meditation on the peculiar rise of Donald Trump with the solo performer Mike Daisey. Butler also wrote and directed Real Enemies, a collaboration with the composer Darcy James Argue and the video artist Peter Nigrini, which was commissioned by the Brooklyn Academy of Music and named one of the top ten live events of 2015 by the New York Times. He holds an MFA in creative nonfiction from the University of Minnesota, and his writing has appeared in the Guardian, Slate, American Theatre, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and other publications.