Chef and Cove owner Flynn McGarry joins Mixed Signals to talk about what it's like to navigate food media. He was first profiled as a teenaged chef prodigy and has since become a restaurant owner trying to figure out what actually drives people through the door in 2026. Max and Ben ask Flynn how early media attention shaped his sense of himself, how he missed years of TV development deals (including one with White Lotus creator Mike White), and how he learned what kinds of social media content drives traffic at his restaurants.

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The brothers behind Angel Studios, the faith-and-values-based studio behind increasingly popular blockbusters, join Mixed Signals to explain how their two-million-member Guild subverts the traditional greenlighting process. Max and Ben ask the Harmon brothers whether Angel Studios is a niche media company or something with genuine mainstream scale.

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YouTube creator and Newpress co-founder Johnny Harris joins Mixed Signals to break down how he went from selling his own plasma to running a YouTube channel with over 7 million subscribers. Max and Ben ask Johnny about how he built a sustainable business explaining difficult topics without chasing the outrage that drives so much attention online, and why millions of people are obsessed with longform video explainers.

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Sports media mogul Maverick Carter joins Mixed Signals to discuss the next phase of athlete-led media, from scaling SpringHill Company into a global content powerhouse to rethinking how fans engage with sports. He also breaks down the NBA’s attention economy, his foray into live and digital entertainment, and why a more global basketball game could be the industry’s biggest opportunity. Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

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Max Tani and Ben Smith sit down with bestselling author and journalist Patrick Radden Keefe to discuss his gripping new book, London Falling. Keefe reveals how he finds his projects, and navigates his new, unexpected status as a celebrity journalist. They also discuss the art of true crime storytelling, adaptations of his work for film and TV, and how compelling human drama lies at the heart of every interesting topic.

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On this week’s episode of Mixed Signals, Max and Ben chat with Bluesky COO Rose Wang about how the social media platform is rethinking social media through a more decentralized model. They discuss its rapid growth, reputation as a politically charged space, and the challenge of turning a utopian vision into a real business. Sign up for Semafor Media’s Sunday newsletter: https://www.semafor.com/newsletters/media 

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Tech journalist Joanna Stern joins Mixed Signals to discuss leaving The Wall Street Journal after more than a decade to launch her own venture, “New Things,” and what it really takes to bet on yourself in today’s media landscape. Max and Ben ask how she’s using AI as a “co-founder,” and what she learned from immersing herself in artificial intelligence for her new book, I Am Not a Robot.

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Former Sony Entertainment CEO and current Snap Inc. Chairman Michael Lynton joins Mixed Signals to revisit the decision that led to one of the most consequential hacks in history: approving The Interview, the Seth Rogen–James Franco comedy that provoked a cyberattack from North Korea. Max and Ben ask why he broke his own greenlight process, and how he managed the fallout as private emails were leaked and careers were upended. They also dive into Lynton’s new book with Josh Steiner, and why he was frustrated by the US federal government’s inaction on its own TikTok ban.

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Douglas Scott Wreden and Aiden McCaig of the Lemonade Stand podcast join Ben and Max to explain how they turned gaming audiences into a loyal following for business, tech, and politics—and what it says about the future of media.

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Introducing The CEO Signal, a new show from SEMAFOR hosted by Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.

In each episode, they sit down with global CEOs to discuss the moments of judgment that define leadership — how they interpret the forces shaping their industries, weigh difficult choices, and make decisions when the stakes are high.

The CEO Signal builds on the SEMAFOR's CEO Signal newsletter, the briefing read by many of the world’s leading chief executives, bringing those insights into direct conversations about leadership, strategy, and the forces shaping the global economy.

Watch the full conversations on The CEO Signal with Penny Pritzker and Andrew Edgecliffe-Johnson.

Atlantic editor-in-chief Jeffrey Goldberg joins Mixed Signals on the one-year anniversary of the scoop known as "Signalgate" — when he was accidentally added to a top-secret Trump administration group chat. Max and Ben ask if anything actually changed after the scandal, how Donald Trump reacted to the story, and why the president invited Goldberg to the Oval Office afterwards. Goldberg also talks about falling out with Benjamin Netanyahu, The Washington Post’s struggles under Jeff Bezos, and why he believes The Atlantic’s mix of magazine storytelling and newspaper reporting is the key to its success.

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