Sixteenth Minute (of Fame)

Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

Sixteenth Minute (of Fame) is a weekly show from Jamie Loftus that takes a closer look at the internet’s main characters – one part reported, one part interviews, and one part Jamie collapsing her permanently internet-damaged brain. Whether it’s an enduring meme or a dreaded Character of the Day distinction, it’s the kind of notoriety that often results in little money, unwarranted attention, and a confusing blurred line of consent. What do you do when you get more attention and judgement than any one person is built to handle? The Sixteenth Minute of Fame is the place where we figure that out, putting people in the context of the moment they've been frozen inside of.

  • 1 hour 10 minutes
    zoë roth the disaster girl: a lifetime of virality

    When Zoë Roth was four years old, her dad snapped a photo of her in front of a neighborhood home being burned with its owners permission to clear the land -- and the rest is internet history. This week, Jamie goes in depth with Zoë twenty years later about becoming a meme just as she started to form memories, how she's chosen to interact (or not interact) with it over the years, and why she chose to forge her own path. Also, a deep dive into meme managers, and why there are so many dead cats with representation.

    Get tickets to the Bechdel Cast show at Dynasty Typewriter here: https://www.dynastytypewriter.com/calendar-squad-up

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    18 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 20 minutes
    the backrooms: a blurry photo that changed the internet

    Our weirdest episode yet? Let's GO. This week, Jamie gets to the bottom of the backrooms, one of the most famous images on the internet -- posted to a horror-themed 4chan board in 2019, one blurry picture of an empty expanse of offices inspired teenage horror fans, online sleuths, and adults sinking into existential dread alike. We're looking at all three corners of the backrooms' history, from its legacy as a monster-filled creepypasta for the teens, a 'liminal space' for doomscrolling millennials, and a place to be tracked down by the detectives entrenched in lost media. Spoiler alert: the REAL backrooms are alive, well, and started a GoFundMe in Wisconsin.

    Give to the Backrooms GoFundMe here: https://www.gofundme.com/f/https-gofund-me-405dafe1
    Follow Sara Bimo's work here: https://yorku.academia.edu/sarabimo
    Follow Peter Heft's work here: https://www.peterheft.com/
    Watch Kendra Gaylord's video on the backrooms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3cTIn2Z_Ck
    Watch Farrell McGuire's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dqsdKi59VrE&t=1082s

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    11 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 9 minutes
    CZM Rewind: left shark, ten years later

    In honor of the ten year anniversary of the left shark moment at the Super Bowl XLIX halftime show in 2015, a very specila rerun!

    Sixteenth Minute exclusive! We’ve got the first in depth interview with Bryan Gaw, aka the Left Shark himself. 

    This week, Jamie revisits the 2015 Super Bowl saga that was Left Shark — the costumed cartilaginous fish that went rogue in 2015 beside Katy Perry during a chorus of ‘Teenage Dream,’ capturing the world’s heart. The person inside is just as lovable, and Jamie takes the bus to West Hollywood to meet dancer-turned-celebrity-stylist Bryan Gaw to revisit one of the internet’s few wholesome moments. 

    Plus… ELLLLLVIS PRESTOOOO

    Follow Bryan Gaw here: https://bryangaw.com/

    And here: https://www.instagram.com/bryangaw

    Original Air Date: 9.3.24

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    8 February 2025, 7:30 pm
  • 20 minutes 38 seconds
    hawk tuah bonus feat. ed zitron

    You earned it, Sixteenth Minute listeners! As a little treat, Jamie talks with fellow Cool Zone Media host Ed Zitron of Better Offline about the nature of the Hawk Tuah crypto scam, and whether he thinks anything will come of the pending lawsuit. 

    Listen to Better Offline: Apple Podcasts | Spotify | iHeart 

    Ed's Links:

    Newsletter: https://www.wheresyoured.at/

    https://twitter.com/edzitron

    https://www.instagram.com/edzitron

    https://bsky.app/profile/edzitron.com

    https://www.threads.net/@edzitron

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    6 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 3 minutes
    the hawk tuah coin crypto scam spectacular

    Between June and December 2024, Haliey Welch completed one of the most astounding main character runs of all time. Beginning as someone with no social media, catapulted to fame all but against her will after talking to on-the-street YouTubers targeting drunk women, the end of the year saw Haliey "Hawk Tuah" Welch acting as the face of exploitative memecoin scandal. In our final part of the Hawk Tuah series, we look into the history of crypto, a play by play of the Hawk Coin scandal, and what it means when you scam before you can get scammed.

    Follow Molly White's work here: https://www.mollywhite.net/linktree/

    Watch Dan Olson's "Line Goes Up" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQ_xWvX1n9g

    Watch Coffeezilla's "exposing the hawk tuah scam" here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zUHq8AWR1Rg 

    List of Displaced Black Families in Altadena: https://lasentinel.net/displaced-black-families-gofund-me-directory.html

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    4 February 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 1 minute
    2 hawk, 2 furious: the talk tuah era

    In part two of our deep dive into Haliey Welch, aka Hawk Tuah Girl, Jamie looks at the media blitz Haliey was sent on after her viral moment and securing management. Without the Ellen Industrial Complex to reel her in, we dig into the world of vaguely conservative video podcasts, and how all roads lead to sports gambling scams.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    28 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 30 minutes 14 seconds
    girls gone wild 2024 (a hawk tuah bonus)

    In this Hawk Tuah bonus episode, Jamie connects the man on the street TikTok content that made Haliey Welch famous to its media ancestor — the Girls Gone Wild craze of the 2000s. We talk with former GGW street team member and incredible podcaster Courtney Kocak to learn more about how exploiting drunk women for men’s profit became a million dollar industry. 

    Follow Courtney’s work @courtneykocak and listen to Private Parts Unknown here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/private-parts-unknown-sex-love-around-the-world/id1154304419 

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    23 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 48 minutes 31 seconds
    haliey welch: how hawk tuah became a household name

    Let's do some discourse on that thang. To start our series on 2024's Main Character Haliey Welch, AKA Hawk Tuah Girl, we're taking a closer look at how a Tennessee twenty-something with no social media and a factory job became a household name in a matter of weeks in 2024. Jamie looks at the culture of TikTok and YouTube man-on-the-street surveillance channels, and tracks where the channel that catapulted Haliey Welch to fame failed to get proper consent, what their business model is, and why Haliey decided to go into business for herself. Next time: the debt TikTok owes to Girls Gone Wild, and why Talk Tuah got more downloads than this podcast.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    21 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 26 minutes
    the LA Fires: who's being forgotten?

    Wildfires have devastated Southern California in the past week, while mainstream media has remained fairly fixated on the wealthier communities and celebrities affected. Meanwhile, the majority of lives lost were in the middle class neighborhood of Altadena, and mutual aid efforts have blossomed across the city to address those affected. This week, Jamie reaches out to writers and organizers in Los Angeles to take a closer look at who will be at the forefront of this ongoing crisis.

    Theo Henderson of We the Unhoused speaks to how the unhoused and newly displaced have to navigate city hostility; independent reporter Alissa Walker explores how the fires will continually affect families and the risk of holding the Olympics in LA; Sara Reyes, Maebe A. Girl, and Rachel Sanoff of SELAH talk mutual aid in a time of crisis; and Mychal Threets tells Jamie about the importance of libraries and community spaces in the wake of tragedy.

    Displaced Black Families Mutual Aid: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1pK5omSsD4KGhjEHCVgcVw-rd4FZP9haoijEx1mSAm5c/htmlview 

    Follow Theo Henderson and We the Unhoused here: https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-we-the-unhoused-66071889/ 
    https://x.com/TheoHen95302259 

    Follow Alissa Walker and Torched here:
    https://www.torched.la/ 
    https://bsky.app/profile/awalkerinla.bsky.social 

    Follow SELAH here:
    https://www.selahnhc.org/volunteer 
    https://www.instagram.com/selahnhc/?hl=en 

    Follow Mychal here: https://www.instagram.com/mychal3ts/?hl=en

    Tickets to The Bechdel Cast in San Francisco: https://sfsketchfest2025.sched.com/event/1rbOs

    Buy A Paradise Built in Hell: https://bookshop.org/p/books/a-paradise-built-in-hell-the-extraordinary-communities-that-arise-in-disaster-rebecca-solnit/11725474?gad_source=1

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    14 January 2025, 8:32 pm
  • 1 hour 21 minutes
    CZM Rewind: 30-50 feral hogs

    To celebrate Willie McNabb's big 30-50 feral hogs win, we're re-running his debut on the show! Next week, we're starting the year right with an in-depth look at Haliey "Hawk Tuah" Welch's moment in the spotlight that even surprised Jamie with how much research was required.

    LA, SF, and Portland tour dates here: https://linktr.ee/smalliceresurfacer

    ---

    Legit question for rural Americans - How do I kill the 30-50 feral hogs that run into my yard within 3-5 mins while my small kids play? This week, Jamie finds out from the 30-50 hogs asker himself -- Willie McNabb. Plus, we catch up with Professor John Tomacek about the VERY REAL issue of feral hogs, and Karl Kasarda of inRangeTV about how 30-50 feral hogs tied into a larger conversation about American gun laws.

    Original Air Date: 6.25.24

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    7 January 2025, 5:00 am
  • 25 minutes 31 seconds
    THE BEST INTERNET MOMENTS OF 2024: the minnie awards!

    This week, Jamie hosts the iconic award show THE MINNIES, where listeners voted on their favorite moments on Sixteenth Minute this year and Jamie talks about the year in fifteenth-minute internet history. See you in the new year, babes!

    Bechdel Cast tour tickets here: https://linktr.ee/smalliceresurfacer

    Learn more about Kulture City here: https://www.kulturecity.org/

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    31 December 2024, 5:00 am
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