Introducing "Sway," Kara Swisher’s new podcast.
 | By Paula Szuchman Managing Producer, Opinion Audio |
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It was a request but — let’s be honest — more of a demand that Kara Swisher posed to Speaker Nancy Pelosi as they talked for the first episode of “Sway,” Opinion’s new podcast about power. |
Kara was pressing the speaker on what she would do if Donald Trump pulls off a win: |
Kara: Let me paint you a different future. Trump wins. What is your, what is your legislative priority in that scenario? What do you do then? What do you change? |
Nancy: Quite frankly, it would be almost impossible to entertain the thought of Trump and a second term. |
It was half an hour into the interview. I was on mute, along with the production team. And I burst out laughing. Only Kara would demand that the most powerful woman in America — the second in line to the presidency — TRY. Pushing people to explain themselves is the hallmark of a good interview. And pushing people to explain themselves in the simplest, most direct and most unapologetic (but not rude!) way is the hallmark of a Kara Swisher interview. |
I’m Paula Szuchman, the newish managing producer for Opinion Audio. I started this job in quarantine, and I’m still doing this job in quarantine. I was a reporter and editor at The Wall Street Journal before I lucked into making podcasts at WNYC Studios, including the shows “2 Dope Queens,” “Nancy” and “Scattered.” |
I’ve been developing “Sway” over the past few months with a brilliant team — all of whom also started work in quarantine. I hope to actually meet them some day. Together we’ve compiled a list of dream guests (if anyone knows Pope Francis’s scheduler, hit me up). We’ve workshopped theme music and spent hours staring at psychedelic art. Throughout it all we’ve been narrowing in on our mission. That last bit is the trickiest part of making a new podcast. |
 | | The New York Times Opinion |
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It’s the big, looming What. What is this show? How will it be different from the hundreds of thousands of other podcasts out there? What is special about our host? |
If you know Kara, you know the last question was easy. Kara was one of the first reporters on the internet beat, and she has been holding tech titans accountable for decades. As a contributing writer in Opinion, she’s accused Sean Hannity of eating her mother’s brain and explored the id of Elon Musk. She’s relentless. Even before I’d officially started my job, Kara was texting me multiple times a day with ideas for show names, suggestions for guests, photos of her baby, links to her tweets, random GIFs, etc. I hadn’t even given her my number. |
The What in the case of “Sway” comes down to power. Kara has always been fascinated by power — by the people who wield it, exploit it, discover it for the first time. Who has power — and who doesn’t — determines whether and how our kids go to school; when there will be a vaccine; how much a week’s worth of groceries cost. Behind all of these things are people — people who have power in big ways and small. |
So that’s “Sway.” A podcast about power, hosted by Kara Swisher. In today’s episode, you’ll hear Ms. Pelosi talk about her friend, the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a stalled stimulus bill and her dysfunctional relationship with the president. |
On future episodes we’ll have people you know, or think you know. Some will be people you’ve never heard of, though unbeknown to you, they’re shaping your life. The conversations will go deep, and take their time. My hope is that as you’re listening, you’re thinking of questions of your own, and that Kara will somehow sense that and ask them for you. It’s like you’ll be magically connected to each other through sound waves. Maybe she’ll start texting you out of the blue, too. |
Subscribe now. And stay tuned for more episodes every Monday and Thursday. |
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