Full Disclosure with Roben Farzad artwork

Full Disclosure with Roben Farzad

394 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 93 ratings

The business of culture. The culture of business. Policy; media & tech; entrepreneurs and more.

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Episodes

Disaffection 2020

September 24, 2020 12:13 - 46 minutes - 84.4 MB

NBC News White House correspondent Geoff Bennett on the scene six weeks before Election 2020, from the battle to fill the Supreme Court's vacancy to President Trump tripling down on his base to what the parties will look like coming out of the election -- whenever it's decided.

Energy's New Map

September 15, 2020 01:27 - 53 minutes - 98.1 MB

Pulitzer Prize-winning geostrategist Daniel Yergin on his latest book, The New Map: Energy, Climate and the Clash of Nations. We discussed Tesla, China, Saudi Arabia vs Iran, renewables, fracking, global C02 intensity...and much more.

2020 vs Investing 101

September 03, 2020 08:30 - 53 minutes - 97.4 MB

Caleb Silver, editor in chief of Investopedia, on why everything you learned about investing makes no sense in 2020. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

The Era of Amazon

August 14, 2020 19:20 - 55 minutes

Don’t look now, but Amazon is worth $1.5 trillion. Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the planet’s richest human being. This week journalist Brian Dumaine discusses his book Bezonomics: How Amazon is Changing Our Lives, and What the World's Best Companies are Learning From It. 

Trauma and the Journey of Andrew Zimmern

August 07, 2020 16:14 - 55 minutes

Award-winning TV personality, chef, entrepreneur, and activist Andrew Zimmern joins Full Disclosure to discuss his challenges with addiction and homelessness, his road to recovery, and how he's helping small business restaurants in the era of COVID.

BIG Tech: For Better or Worse

July 31, 2020 16:16 - 55 minutes

Mamoon Hamid, Partner at the Silicon Valley colossus Kleiner Perkins, joins the show to discuss the hegemony of Big Tech—and the state of venture capital during the crises of 2020.

School's Out For...?

July 17, 2020 19:00 - 52 minutes

Mere months after COVID-19 blindsided the nation, K-12 schools across the country are grappling with how (and when, and how much) to re-open. Virginia Secretary of Education Anne Holton and 2019 National Teacher of the Year Rodney Robinson join the show to discuss logistics, equity, and creative solutions for educating students during a pandemic.

Hard News

July 17, 2020 13:14 - 53 minutes

NPR media correspondent David Folkenflik on journalism's year of consternation -- from newsroom revolts over social media and in the press; to the digital disruption of public radio; to Wall Street's unprecedented control of (shrinking) newspapers.

How the Atlantic Coast Pipeline Died

July 10, 2020 15:18 - 51 minutes

What is the business backstory behind the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project? We hear from Virginia Mercury environment and energy reporter Sarah Vogelsong and Richard Walker, a member of the historically Black Union Hill community.

The Mina Kimes Journey

July 08, 2020 14:20 - 53 minutes

Mina Kimes on making a name for herself as an investigative writer amid the magazine industry's decline -- and then the candor and risk-taking that landed her big-time at ESPN.

Richard Haass, Around the Globe

July 03, 2020 14:25 - 51 minutes

Veteran diplomat and President of the Council on Foreign Relations Richard Haass joins the show to talk about global challenges, what’s needed to meet those challenges, and his book The World: A Brief Introduction. Plus: a sneak peek at VPM's new podcast Resettled.

Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy on 2020's Epidemics

June 26, 2020 18:37 - 50 minutes

Before Covid-19, the U.S. was already facing a number of public health crises. Former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy joins the show to talk about the pandemic, the U.S. response, and the root cause of other American epidemics: loneliness.

Meanwhile, Election 2020...

June 20, 2020 01:25 - 47 minutes

A year that started with Pres. Trump riding a 50-year low in unemployment has devolved into a summer of pandemic, protests and the worst economy in a generation. The White House and Senate are up for grabs in November. Washington Week's Robert Costa and VOX's Jane Coaston discuss the many the moving parts.

Mythology and the Monuments

June 12, 2020 21:09 - 52 minutes

For as long as Richmond’s Jim Crow-era Confederate monuments existed, there have been calls for their removal. The Atlantic's Adam Serwer and historian Dr. Julian Hayter join the show to talk about how the myths behind the monuments and the movement to bring them down.

Superpower Showdown: The U.S. vs China

June 10, 2020 09:19 - 53 minutes

Bob Davis and Lingling Wei of the Wall Street Journal on their new book, Superpower Showdown: How the Battle Between Trump and Xi Threatens a New Cold War

Disinformation and 2020

June 05, 2020 21:43 - 53 minutes

In this time of pandemic, protests, and a presidential election, how can civil society protect itself from the spread of disinformation on social media? We're joined by Siva Vaidhynathan, Director of the Center for Media and Citizenship at the University of Virginia and author of Antisocial Media: How Facebook Disconnects Us and Undermines Democracy, and Celeste Headlee, public radio journalist and author of We Need to Talk: How to Have Conversations that Matter.

Food Disclosure

May 30, 2020 00:12 - 53 minutes

While the pandemic has exposed the shortcomings of the industrial-agricultural supply chain, could the buy-local food and farms movement offer a promising future for our food supply?

Grit and the COVID Graduate

May 22, 2020 20:14 - 53 minutes

High school seniors are reassessing their college plans, and this spring’s college graduates are entering the most punishing labor market in memory. With so much uncertainty, what can young people do to thrive? Linda Kaplan Thaler, co-author of Grit to Great: How Perseverance, Passion, and Pluck Take You from Ordinary to Extraordinary, offers advice on how this generation’s young leaders can rise to the challenges of a COVID-19 economy.

The Long Con of Whitey Bulger

May 22, 2020 06:54 - 52 minutes - 97 MB

Bestselling author and investigative journalist Casey Sherman on his new book with Dave Wedge -- Hunting Whitey: The Inside Story of the Capture and Killing of America's Most Wanted Crime Boss. Gangster James "Whitey" Bulger's criminal career spanned much of the 20th century, culminating in his 2011 capture and prison assassination in 2018 at the age of 89.

It's Not Easy Being Green

May 15, 2020 22:11 - 53 minutes

How will Covid-19 and its economic and oil crises affect record gains made in clean energy? Eric Roston, Sustainability Editor at Bloomberg, joins the show to help answer that question. Plus, a conversation with Founder and CEO of solar-powered product manufacturer SolarMill.

Swish Upon A Star

May 13, 2020 11:54 - 52 minutes - 97 MB

Kara Swisher, veteran Silicon Valley correspondent, on Big Tech's unprecedented hegemony; her BoomTown journey from the Wall Street Journal to multi-platform entrepreneurship; the reinvention of the NY Times and Bill Gates; the minds of Bezos and Musk. We discussed it all.

The Great Reset

May 09, 2020 16:36 - 52 minutes

After all the retail bankruptcies and farewell letters from restaurants and cafes, what are we looking at after the worst of Covid-19? Business Insider's Hayley Peterson and Richmond BizSense's Michael Schwartz give us a picture of the retail landscape. Plus, a eulogy for a giant of American retail.

Investopedic Knowledge

May 07, 2020 11:03 - 52 minutes - 97 MB

Caleb Silver, editor-in-chief of Investopedia and CNN's former head of U.S. business news, on markets in the time of Covid-19. We discussed investor anxiety, oil's collapse, Jeff Bezos's swagger, the Fed's crisis toolkit and much more.

What's This Market Trying to Tell Us?

May 01, 2020 21:46 - 53 minutes

Host Roben Farzad talks with a veteran investor at one of the country's biggest brokerage firms about the unprecedented divergence of the stock market and the coronavirus economy.

It Takes a Region

April 27, 2020 13:37 - 54 minutes

How leaders in Central Virginia are thinking about and addressing food insecurity during the coronavirus crisis.

Earnestly, Soledad O'Brien

April 23, 2020 13:00 - 52 minutes - 97 MB

The award-winning TV journalist on finding -- and asserting -- her true voice. So much for pre-med at Harvard...

Sree's Company

April 17, 2020 18:00 - 52 minutes - 97 MB

Back by popular demand: Prof. Sree Sreenivasan, the globally connected digital mentor, on what you can be doing right now -- in the teeth of the jobs crisis -- to reinforce and expand your professional network and profile. He joined from his apartment in Manhattan.

Small Businesses, Huge Needs

April 12, 2020 11:22 - 54 minutes

As COVID-19 spreads to more communities across the country, small businesses are asking how they can stay afloat. What are the options? On this week’s show, Roben Farzad talks with two Richmond business owners and a national small business expert.

World v. Pandemic

April 05, 2020 13:32 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Morgan Till, PBS NewsHour's senior foreign affairs producer, on the many international crises emanating from the pandemic. We discussed crude oil's collapse and OPEC; China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Italy, Venezuela; refugees at high risk in sub-Saharan Africa; creeping authoritarianism.

A Truly International Pandemic

April 03, 2020 17:55 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Morgan Till, PBS NewsHour's senior foreign affairs producer, on the many international crises emanating from the pandemic. We discussed crude oil's collapse and OPEC; China, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Italy, Venezuela; refugees at high risk in sub-Saharan Africa; creeping authoritarianism.

Delivery, Drive-Thru or Bust

March 29, 2020 16:01 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

How restaurants -- big, small, fast, casual, fine, ghost, trucks -- are scrambling to reinvent in the Pandemic of 2020. Our guest is Adam Chandler, the former Atlantic writer who authored Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom.

Delivery, Drive-Thru or Bust

March 29, 2020 16:01 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

How restaurants -- big, small, fast, casual, fine, ghost, trucks -- are scrambling to reinvent in the Pandemic of 2020. Our guest is Adam Chandler, the former Atlantic writer who authored Drive-Thru Dreams: A Journey through the Heart of America's Fast-Food Kingdom.

Work Forces

March 20, 2020 19:13 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Brand Federation's Kelly O'Keefe and Matt Williams on the rise of the "Independence Economy" from the embers of the Great Recession -- and how a far more flexible workforce will evolve from the unprecedented pandemic of 2020.

The Panic of 2020

March 13, 2020 14:40 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Dalal Salomon and John Harper of Salomon & Ludwin -- a top-ranked financial advisory founded during the Great Recession -- on their approach to the unprecedented dual health-and-financial crisis of the coronavirus pandemic.

Markets Meet the Coronavirus

March 06, 2020 15:27 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Reuters Money editor Lauren Young on how the coronavirus outbreak is coursing through the global economy and markets.

From Big Tobacco to Big Nicotine

February 28, 2020 19:00 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

UVA history professor Sarah Milov (The Cigarette: A Political History) and pediatrician Dr. Danny Avula, director of Richmond's health department, on the public-health and policy implications of Big Tobacco's pivot to vaping, heat-not-burn and other newfangled nicotine-delivery devices.

A Figure of Hope

February 13, 2020 15:32 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Olympic gold medalist Scott Hamilton has been fighting the odds ever since he was adopted as a newborn. Now in his 60s, he has fought cancer and dedicated his life to helping others struggling with illness and loss. As an author. Businessman. Advocate. Philanthropist.

The Battle of Navy Hill

February 07, 2020 20:40 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

VPM city hall reporter Roberto Roldan and Richmond For All's Chelsea Higgs Wise on how an ambitious public-private plan to replace Richmond's decrepit Coliseum both divided and united the city.

The Journey of Jorge Valdes

January 30, 2020 15:57 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

A poor Cuban immigrant's journey from honors student and star at the Federal Reserve Bank of Miami to obscene wealth with the Medellin cocaine cartel; to torture and federal prison; to a PhD and book publishing.

Making BizSense of It All

January 24, 2020 17:25 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Richmond BizSense editor Michael Schwartz on scaling the digital journalism upstart; the Navy Hill debate; #RVADine; donuts; Scotts Addition; Manchester; Publix and much more.

The Reinvention of Mike Ledesma

January 17, 2020 18:09 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Quits the grind of brokerage life; goes surfing in Hawaii; aces culinary school; washes dishes; busts tail at various restaurants in Honolulu, Baltimore, West Virginia and Richmond -- working up to opening his very own, Perch, in the ruins of an ancient Chinese restaurant. How Chef Mike Ledesma hustled.

Stoney's Points

January 10, 2020 11:05 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Richmond, VA mayor Levar Stoney on his 2020 agenda. We discussed Monument Avenue, Navy Hill, schools, poverty, housing and the state of the Democrats in Virginia -- and nationally, into the presidential election.

In Studio with Silversun Pickups

December 19, 2019 17:08 - 59 minutes - 54.4 MB

The evolution of Silversun Pickups, the LA band that went from gigging for lunch money to registering 10 Top 20 hits on Billboard’s Alternative Songs chart -- on top of selling over a million records in the US. Founding members Brian and Nikki perform an acoustic set at RVA's RainMaker Studios. Footage to come...

The Life of Chika

December 11, 2019 00:38 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Bestselling author Mitch Albom on his latest, Finding Chika: A Little Girl, An Earthquake and the Making of a Family -- which documents his life-changing experience as guardian for a sick orphan from Haiti.

The Vann Back to RVA

December 05, 2019 09:55 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

His great-grandfather in segregated Richmond labored at the Jefferson Hotel's old carriage house. That same building now houses the Brandcenter, where Madison Ave. veteran Vann Graves is executive director. We discuss his career journey, the advertising industry and creativity-on-demand amid the dominance of mobile platforms.

The Amtrak That Could?

November 27, 2019 10:32 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Enjoying record ridership, Amtrak is en route to "breaking even" (**many asterisks**) for the first time in its 48-year history. But brutal service and capital spending decisions await. Devin Leonard unpacks his Bloomberg Businessweek story on Amtrak's future -- followed by our talk with Danny Plaugher of Virginians for High Speed Rail.

Battles of the Binge

November 21, 2019 13:25 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

The Economist's Tamzin Booth on her cover package "The $650 Billion Binge: Fear and Greed in the Entertainment Industry." We were also joined by sector expert Michael Morris of Guggenheim Partners.

Nada Surf on Full Disclosure (Full Set)

November 18, 2019 16:16 - 1 hour - 85.1 MB

The concert Nada Surf performed for a taping of Full Disclosure at RVA's National. You can hear the band's interview on iTunes at link FullDRadio.com and on NPR.org / NPR One

Full Disclosure Live: Nada Surf

November 18, 2019 07:42 - 58 minutes - 54 MB

The band Nada Surf on a quarter-century of grit, luck, euphoric "popularity," heartbreak and hustle to reinvent -- recorded for a live audience at The National in Richmond. This broadcast-length episode includes performances of "Hi-Speed Soul" and "Killian's Red."

The Hustle for Laughs

November 08, 2019 17:20 - 58 minutes - 108 MB

Comedians Maz Jobrani (Comedy Central, "Jimmy Vestvood") and Jimmy O. Yang (HBO's "Silicon Valley"; "Crazy Rich Asians") on their peculiar roads to the industry -- and the creative hustle required to make it in comedy.

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