Max is a radio producer and audio engineer from Brooklyn, New York. He comes to The New Yorker Radio Hour after working on WNYC programs including On the Media, The Brian Lehrer Show, and The Takeaway. He’s a graduate of the Craig Newmark School of Journalism at City University of New York, and the Sonic Arts Center at CUNY’s City College.
Max Balton appears in the following:
Conan O’Brien on What Can Go Wrong at the Oscars
Friday, February 20, 2026
The hit podcaster and host of next month’s Academy Awards ceremony on the collapse of late-night television, and the deaths of his friends Rob and Michele Reiner.
Richard Brody Presents the 2026 Brody Awards
Friday, February 13, 2026
The New Yorker critics Richard Brody and Alexandra Schwartz discuss the year’s best offerings, and how films seem to be getting better these days.
Ben Shapiro Is Waging Battle Inside the MAGA Movement
Friday, February 06, 2026
The conservative podcaster sees self-dealing and conspiracy theories in the Trump Administration. Yet the left, he says, chronically underestimates its own transgressions.
Jenin Younes on Threats to Free Speech from the Left and the Right
Friday, February 06, 2026
A First Amendment lawyer once attacked Democrats for suppressing unpopular opinions; she now sees a vastly greater threat from the Trump Administration.
How Bari Weiss Is Changing CBS News
Friday, January 23, 2026
The staff writer Clare Malone discusses her reporting on the new head of CBS News, who made her name as a crusader against “woke” thinking.
With the Podcast “I’ve Had It,” Jennifer Welch Goes “Dark Woke” on Politics
Friday, January 16, 2026
A left-wing, atheist reality-TV host from Oklahoma is one of the most popular liberal podcasters, channelling outrage with MAGA and with Democrats she views as complacent.
How Betting Took Over Sports
Friday, January 16, 2026
The reporter Danny Funt discusses his new book, “Everybody Loses: The Tumultuous Rise of American Sports Gambling.”
Senator Chris Van Hollen on the Epstein Files, and the Leadership Crisis in Washington
Friday, November 21, 2025
The Maryland Democrat talks with David Remnick about Chuck Schumer’s leadership of a fractured party, and whether Van Hollen himself harbors presidential ambitions.
Andrew Ross Sorkin on What 1929 Teaches Us About 2025
Friday, November 14, 2025
The financial journalist discusses his new book about the Wall Street crash of 1929, and the mounting concerns about an A.I. bubble.
Rewriting Art History at the Studio Museum in Harlem
Friday, November 14, 2025
The curator Thelma Golden takes David Remnick on a tour of the unique institution, which is reopening to the public after a seven-year building project.
Jon Stewart on the Perilous State of Late Night and Why America Fell for Donald Trump
Friday, October 31, 2025
The “Daily Show” host talks with David Remnick about his contract with Paramount Skydance, the government’s attack on political satire, and how our institutions got so weak.
Richard Linklater on His Two New Films, “Blue Moon” and “Nouvelle Vague”
Friday, October 17, 2025
The director talks with Justin Chang about his latest work on artistic genius. One dramatizes the decline of Lorenz Hart; the other details the triumphant début of Jean-Luc Godard.
Zohran Mamdani Says He's Ready for Donald Trump
Friday, October 10, 2025
The Democratic candidate for mayor would be one of the youngest and the first Muslim in the job. He discusses threats from Donald Trump, and what socialism means in practice.
A Conservative Professor on How to Fix Campus Culture
Friday, October 03, 2025
Robert P. George opposed Roe v. Wade, same-sex marriage—and the rise of MAGA. “I say to my [liberal] colleagues,” he claims, “it was you guys who gave us Donald Trump!”
Ezra Klein’s Big-Tent Vision of the Democratic Party
Friday, September 26, 2025
The writer and podcaster on why he thinks Democrats need to broaden their scope—to both the right and the left—and what people misunderstand about his role in politics and media.
How the “Dangerous Gimmick” of the Two-State Solution Ended in Disaster
Friday, September 12, 2025
The veteran negotiators Hussein Agha and Robert Malley spent decades trying to broker peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and they know why it failed.
Jeff Tweedy on His New Triple Album, “Twilight Override”
Friday, September 05, 2025
Wilco’s front man on his forthcoming solo record—a triple album, but “whittled down from five,” as he tells Amanda Petrusich. “I’ve made single records that feel longer.”
Donald Trump’s War on Culture Is Not a Sideshow
Friday, August 29, 2025
Adam Gopnik discusses the Administration’s moves to dictate what is acceptable and unacceptable in American culture, and why pluralism remains essential to democracy.
Donald Trump’s War on Culture Is Not a Sideshow
Friday, August 29, 2025
Adam Gopnik discusses the Administration’s moves to dictate what is acceptable and unacceptable in American culture, and why pluralism remains essential to democracy.
Spike Lee and Denzel Washington on a Reunion Making “Highest 2 Lowest”
Friday, August 15, 2025
The director and the actor discuss their latest collaboration, nineteen years after their previous film together. “Time flies!,” Lee says. “I didn’t know it had been that long.”
