Season 1

All beginnings are rough.  So was the inaugural season of Debatable News.  But the content broadcast in these first shows is top-rate and enlightening.

The first show was never saved for future posterity.  The following is the second show, recorded on September 24, 2015.  In this show, guests from the communication class of Montgomery County Community College professor Gail Ramsay stop by to debate the relevance of and in journalism.  In the second segment, Chris Markopulos, Steve Carles, my cohosts and good friends, and I figure out whether college athletes should be paid for playing.  In the final segment, "Are You Kidding Me?!", the signature "send-off" of the show, Chris, Steve and I share outlandish stories that could be false but are, in truth, shockingly factual.

All Season 1 shows were recorded live on MontcoRadio.com.  The music and sound effects used for the shows' intro are used under appropriate license from FreeMusicArchive.org and FreeSound.org.  The shows were edited for extended gaps of dead air, nothing else.  Some guests in some of the shows may be hard to hear due to some bad mics that were used at the time.  If needed, please adjust your device's volume.

I decided to cancel the third show, scheduled to air live on October 1, 2015, because of the shooting on an Oregon community college campus.  Show #4, which follows, was recorded the following Thursday.

In this show, MCCC communication professor Gail Ramsay lent another set of guests to take on the thorny topic of fact-checking politicians and political rhetoric.  In the second segment, Chris, Steve and I tackle corruption in FIFA and college student debt, ending the show with the always fun "Are You Kidding Me?!" segment.

Is the music industry dying?  Show #5 casts light on how it might and what new artists can do to avoid fading with it.  After that, Chris, Steve, newcomer Murray Monastero and I expose the UN's cyberviolence report for the fraud it was.  Then we discuss why college campuses are seemingly cauldrons for violence.  We ended the show with a light-hearted "Are You Kidding Me?!"

Show #6 is awesome!  Since I'm a writer in the long and involved process of publishing several works the old-fashioned way with query letters and pitch sessions, I ask David Hale Sylvester for his take.  A personal trainer and self-published author, David traveled across three continents by bike!  His stories are incredible but his thoughts regarding on-demand publishing are even better!

Since David doesn't appear until the show's second half, the first two segments focus on the Syrian refugee crisis and LGBT discrimination with our hilarious "Are You Kidding Me?!" pieces coming in the middle of the show.

Halloween brings out the craziness in people.  My cohosts are not immune as they weave Halloween quips through this show.  After mostly serious discussions of a new type of journalism and a free accredited college for undocumented illegals, I get pelted with their Halloween humor as Chris, Steve, Murray and I cap the show with a long series of "Are You Kidding Me?!" pieces that go from yuck to aww.

Last minute changes can throw anyone for a loop.  My cohosts deal with guests cancelling at the last minute and me fumbling with the intro because of it.  In this easygoing show, we keep our focus on the children by expressing our unease about toddlers with tech and questioning whether China's new two-child policy will actually solve their population issues.

Anniversaries are supposed to be happy occasions.  In this show's case, not so much.  After being uplifted by the inspirational story of that famous young woman and questioning the real motives of the University of Missouri students, I express my frustration over the ceaseless global attacks on fellow Jews.

Steve Jobs was a transfixing figure.  The movie released about him on October 23, 2015 inspired this show and forced me to defend my Apple fanboy-ism.  After that, Chris, Steve, Murray and I talk very seriously and frankly about hiking up the minimum wage and praying for the death of for-profit colleges.

News of the San Bernadino shootings, a bomb scare on MCCC's West Campus happening on virtually the same day and Chris not showing up prompted me to change the show topics at the last minute.  Though we all had a consensus about the shooting and faking a bomb threat, our opinions about certain movies and which movies are the best couldn't be more different.

Chris comes back for the final show of the season and gives us his impressions of Greater Philadelphia Film Office director Joan Bressler and a quick rundown of his favorite movies.  To send everyone off into the holiday season with that warm fuzzy feeling, we share our gift ideas, favorite memories and deep messages.