The Intern Who Deleted the Internet (Almost)
In 2014, a mistyped command took 4% of global DNS traffic offline for 31 minutes. We found the person who typed it — and the manager who took the blame.
47 min
On air · New episodes Thursdays
The stories tech never tells about itself.
Every week, Marisol Reyes sits down with the engineers, whistle-blowers and accidental pioneers behind the technology in your pocket — and asks what really happened.
142episodes
1.2Mmonthly listens
4.9★avg. rating
Featured episode
Ep. 142 — The Server Room That Saved a City
00:0054:12
When a heatwave crippled Valencia's grid, one municipal data centre kept the hospitals online. Its story was never officially told — until now.
Latest episodes
Fresh from the archive
Long-form conversations, tightly edited. Every episode is a story you'll retell at dinner.
Dead Batteries, Living Cities
Millions of retired EV batteries are quietly powering street markets in Lagos and Hanoi. The grey-market engineers behind the world's biggest unofficial grid.
52 min
The Last Switchboard Operator
Ninety-one-year-old Edith Halloran connected calls by hand until 1983. Her memory of who spoke to whom became evidence in a case nobody expected.
39 min
Font Wars: The Kerning Feud That Split a Company
Two designers, one typeface, and a disagreement so bitter it ended in a lawsuit, a resignation letter set in Comic Sans, and a font you use every day.
44 min
About the host
Marisol Reyes asks the second question.
Anyone can ask a founder how they built something. Marisol asks what they were afraid of while they built it. A former hardware engineer turned investigative journalist, she spent eight years reporting on the technology supply chain before turning her notebooks into a microphone.
Backchannel started in a spare bedroom in 2021 with a borrowed mic and one rule: no press releases, no talking points, no rehearsed anecdotes. Just the version of the story people tell after the recorder is supposed to be off.
Three seasons and two awards later, the rule hasn't changed.
“Every device has a ghost story. I collect them.”
Listener mail
Heard in the backchannel
Real notes from the people who stay up too late with us.
I missed my bus stop twice listening to the switchboard episode. Twice. On the same journey.
Jonah T.Listener since Season 1 · Manchester
The only podcast where I've cried about DNS. I don't even work in tech. I'm a florist.
Priya K.Apple Podcasts review · Toronto
Marisol got my old boss to admit things on tape that we couldn't get out of him in ten years of retros.
Anonymous engineerVoicemail line · Berlin
It's 1am, I have work tomorrow, and I just pressed play on episode 97. Send help. Or don't.
Sam O.Listener mailbag · Austin
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