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On the long timeline of long-distance communication technology that starts with the telegraph and leads all the way to the iPhone and beyond, there’s a particular, once-ubiquitous device that seems to have left an indelible mark on the culture while also disappearing nearly completely from it.

This hour, the history and present? (and future??) of the fax machine.

GUESTS:
Jonathan Coopersmith: Professor of history at Texas A & M University and the author of Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine
Troy Kreiner: Design director at Use All Five, the firm that organized Artifax
Kay Savetz: A tech historian; they co-host Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast and run a number of websites, including Fax Toy and FaxZero

On the long timeline of long-distance communication technology that starts with the telegraph and leads all the way to the iPhone and beyond, there&rsquo;s a particular, once-ubiquitous device that seems to have left an indelible mark on the culture while also disappearing nearly completely from it.
This hour, the history and present? (and future??) of the fax machine.
GUESTS:
<ul>
<li>Jonathan Coopersmith:&nbsp;Professor of history at Texas A &amp; M University and the author of&nbsp;<a href="https://www.press.jhu.edu/books/title/10953/faxed">Faxed: The Rise and Fall of the Fax Machine</a></li>
<li>Troy Kreiner:&nbsp;Design director at Use All Five, the firm that organized&nbsp;<a href="https://artifax.us/">Artifax</a></li>
<li>Kay Savetz:&nbsp;A tech historian; they co-host&nbsp;<a href="https://ataripodcast.libsyn.com/">Antic: The Atari 8-Bit Podcast</a>&nbsp;and run a number of websites, including&nbsp;<a href="https://www.faxtoy.net/">Fax Toy</a>&nbsp;and&nbsp;<a href="https://faxzero.com/">FaxZero</a></li>
</ul>

The Colin McEnroe Show is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called The Nose for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

<a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/show/the-colin-mcenroe-show/about">The Colin McEnroe Show</a> is public radio’s most eclectic, eccentric weekday program. The best way to understand us is through the subjects we tackle: Neanderthals, tambourines, handshakes, the Iliad, snacks, ringtones, punk rock, Occam’s razor, Rasputin, houseflies, zippers. Are you sensing a pattern? If so, you should probably be in treatment. On Fridays, we try to stop thinking about what kind of ringtones Neanderthals would want to have and convene a panel called <a href="https://www.ctpublic.org/tags/the-nose">The Nose</a> for an informal roundtable about the week in culture.

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