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This is Defector, a new sports blog and media company. We made this place together, we own it together, we run it together. Without access, without favor, without discretion, and without interference.

Defector

Elon Green is the author of The Man Nobody Killed and Last Call.

Elon Green

Arts And Culture

Michael Connelly Should Stick To Fake Crime

Alex Sujong Laughlin

A black and white photo of a family gathered around a 1950s era television.

Media Meltdowns

Podcasts Are Not Television

(Original Caption) First mass produced receiver for home entertainment, 1921. Photograph.

Journalismism

The Future Of Podcasting Is Here, And It Sucks

Patrick Redford

Michael Porter Jr. Is The Incredibly Dumb Man For An Incredibly Dumb Moment

A group of people gathers around an old timey radio to listen to a boxing match.

Announcements

Defector Is Launching New Podcasts

Tom Ley

Bills Week

An Interview With A Guy Who Hosts A Podcast About ‘The Bill Simmons Podcast’

Diana Moskovitz is Defector&#8217;s investigations editor. You can contact her at diana@defector.com or dfmoskovitz@protonmail.com. She&#8217;s also on Signal @dmoskovitz.99

Diana Moskovitz

Marc Maron performing stand up comedy. He is sitting on a stool and holding a microphone

There Will Never Be Another ‘WTF With Marc Maron’

Jae Towle Vieira [they/them] works as a producer for Normal Gossip. Their fiction has been published in The Normal School, New England Review, Carve Magazine, Passages North, Fairy Tale Review, and elsewhere.

Jae Towle Vieira

Normal Gossip logo with cartoon characters gossiping

Podcasts

Spontaneous Diffusions Of Vocal Energy

The Champagne Socialist And The Espresso Martini Capitalist

Brie Is A Promise

Podcaster Alex Cooper poses before a game between the Toronto Blue Jays and the Boston Red Sox at Fenway Park on June 26, 2024

For Wondery And SiriusXM, Spending Big Isn’t The Same As Thinking Big

Kareem Maddox of the USA throws during the mens pool play match between Austria and the USA on Day 4 of the FIBA 3x3 World cup at Rathausplatz on June 2, 2023 in Vienna, Austria. (Photo by Andrea Kareth /SEPA.Media /Getty Images)

Olympics

How Kareem Maddox Went From Public Radio To The Olympic Stage

The Podcast Industry Has Learned Nothing

Owen Lewis is a former Defector intern and has written for The Guardian, The Second Serve, The Athletic, and other publications.

Owen Lewis

The ‘Longform’ Podcast Told The Story Of An Industry

A photo showing an ear bud resting on the screen of a smartphone showing the Spotify music app.

Capital

If You Love Podcasts, Dump Spotify

AMMAN, JORDAN - 1990: Following Iraq's occupation of Kuwait in August 1990, journalists from CNN waiting for an attack on Iraq by United Nations authorized military coalition force, at the Intercontinental Hotel in Amman, Jordan, on December 15, 1990. Although there were 34 member states of the coalition, the overwhelming majority of the military forces participating were from the United States and the United Kingdom. On January 17, 1991 the coalition launched a massive air campaign which began the general offensive codenamed Operation Desert Storm with more than 1,000 sorties launching per day. The Persian Gulf War ended on February 28, 1991. (Photo by Dario Mitidieri/Getty Images)

You Never Get The Full Story

Dan McQuade was a founding member of Defector. He died in January 2026.

Dan McQuade

The logo for Wondery's THE LEAD: STARTING FIVE

Wondery Sports Podcast Now Has An AI Host Named Striker

What Horrors Await In The Weedsgiving Basement?

In Search Of The Momfluencer’s Apprentice

The Secret Family Recipe That Would Not Die

A Whodunit At Junk Science Summer Camp

Gimlet Media co-founder Alex Blumberg speaks at the Ignition: Future of Media conference in New York City, in 2017.

Gimlet Media’s Story Was Always Going To End Like This

Kelsey McKinney

An illustration of several people, each one passing some juicy gossip on to the next one.

The Great Watchmaker In The Sky

David Roth

The Philadelphia Phillies celebrate after dispatching the Atlanta Braves in the NLDS.