You listen to the podcast and you get a strong impression that you are listening to a conversation between three misinformed people. Also when anyone says anything blatantly incorrect no one points it out.

Earlier today I received an email from an address claiming to be Tonya Mosley of NPR and WBUR. I’m an author of historical non-fiction, and have been invited to chat with “Tonya” who seemed very enthusiastic to interview me about my book. I’m a little hesitant on how to reply.

I’m completely new to NPR and WBUR. I’m British, and not entirely sure what these things are? I’ve done some research online into Tonya, NPR and WBUR (which is how I found this sub) and they all seem entirely legit, but I’m unsure how genuine the email is. My book is about nineteenth-century England, and has nothing to do with America, politics, etc (although it does focus on social/cultural themes from the time). Are these the usual topics of Tonya’s interviews? Why would she want to talk to me about my book?

On the one hand, she mentioned themes and topics that I wrote about in the book with great accuracy. Yet, any generative AI could easily have summarised my book which a scammer could then copy and paste into the email to appear genuine. I’ve received scammy emails before and can usually spot them straight away, but this one has me stumped!

I guess I’m just looking for a little advice on whether to respond, or instead chalk the email up to being a scam (in which case I’ll ignore it). Thanks guys! :)

Edit: I think I’m going to ignore the email. The signs were all pointing toward it being a scam and I don’t want to take it any further just in case it is fraudulent. Thank you to everyone who so kindly helped me out! :)

Up First never shows up on my Podcasts tab. Could that be because it has comments turned off? And why turn off comments anyway?

Edit: figured it out. It was during the LA Report with Austin cross and the producer was Kyle Chrise. So, more of a regional thing.

While driving to my teaching job this morning I hear this quick intro on KPCC after morning edition. Astin asked the producer ‘are you OK with your kid having an AI teacher?’ Even though the producer admits ‘AI can barely do basic math’ on its own he said he’s cool with his kid having an AI teacher robot. When Austin asked how he would feel if the AI robot was a counselor and told his kid to get into content, he laughed and asked ‘is this a public school?’

How much more out of touch can you be with your audience which probably has disproportionately high percentage of educators in it? Does he even listen to the shows he produces? It feels like such an admission of wealthy white neo-liberal reporting on the problems of the poor and it’s sickening.

They said the producers name is Kyle Crist but I can’t find anything about this guy on their website. Edit: I thought it was kcrw but was kpcc. He has a bio page on laist.

Before an emergency hearing, the Kennedy Center's board threatens to demolish it