Josh Clark

Clark argues that requiring broadcasters to show opposing viewpoints alongside their own is nearly impossible to argue against.

“hey, you can say this viewpoint. You also have to show the other viewpoint. To me, that's almost impossible to argue with”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 57:15

Clark says he understands conservatives and libertarians viewing the doctrine as censorship and government overreach.

“Like, ideologically, this is censorship and the prohibition of the exercise of free speech”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 56:36

Clark notes the doctrine was formally removed in 2011 by the Obama administration's FCC, which he considers symbolically significant.

“It was officially repealed in 2011. And if you'll think back, that was under the Obama administration”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 55:12

Clark notes that Congress passed a bipartisan bill to codify the doctrine but Ronald Reagan vetoed it, effectively ending it.

“There was a bipartisan-supported bill that got passed in Congress to codify the Fairness Doctrine, but it was vetoed by Reagan”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 50:39

Clark reports that a 1967 ruling treated cigarette advertising as one side of a controversial issue, allowing anti-smoking groups to demand response time.

“There was a ruling in 1967 that found that cigarette advertising qualified as a presentation of one viewpoint of a controversial subject”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 34:35

Clark contends that the personal attack and political editorial rules were not radical but simply the foundation of good journalism.

“the personal attack rule and the political editorial rule that were part of the Fairness Doctrine, that's just like the foundation of good journalism basically”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How the Fairness Doctrine Worked (Jun 13, 2026) · Listen from 17:43

Clark argues Cornelius, despite his achievements, was a complex person with faults, citing his domestic violence charge.

“He was a complex human being who had faults as well, too”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 41:40

Clark says that, per Rosie Perez's account, Cornelius grabbed her after she wanted a lawyer to review a contract, and she threw fried chicken at him.

“she threw a piece of the fried chicken she was eating at the time right at his head and hit him in the face”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 40:24

Clark credits Clinton Ghent with assembling dancers who gelled like a family rather than competing.

“It did kind of have this really family vibe every episode. And apparently that was the work of the Clinton-Gent guy who just really knew how to put people together”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 37:40

Clark stresses that Don Cornelius owned 100% of Soul Train, placing him with Desi Arnaz and Mike Douglas.

“This was 100% Don Cornelius' jam”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 10:57

Clark says the moonwalk, originally called the backslide, and the robot were created on Soul Train.

“That was originally called the backslide. That was created on Soul Train. The robot, the rerun dance”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 7:51

Clark argues Soul Train did not pioneer the dance-show format but was groundbreaking in how it presented Black teenagers and culture without apology.

“it's very, very difficult to overstate how revolutionary and groundbreaking Soul Train was, especially for how simple the show format was, basically”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 5:00

Clark concludes the debate has shown both camps on shaky ground, making it largely a matter of belief.

“in doing so, it's kind of revealed that both of them are kind of on shaky ground. It's almost just a matter of belief”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? (May 30, 2026) · Listen from 52:07

Clark argues that dismissing doubters as elitist ignores their genuinely good points.

“They're not just cranks and crackpots. Like they have some pretty good evidence”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? (May 30, 2026) · Listen from 23:47

Clark considers the varied spellings of Shakespeare's name an insignificant argument.

“the different spellings of the names is about as big a boondoggle as you're going to find in the Shakespeare authorship argument”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? (May 30, 2026) · Listen from 21:45

Clark argues that neither side has really good evidence and the debate quickly becomes conspiracy theory.

“neither side actually has really good evidence to support their claim. It's all just they have to get so granular”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? (May 30, 2026) · Listen from 2:58

Clark says he is truly agnostic about the authorship question and can see both sides.

“this is one of the few things I've ever come across like this that I am truly agnostic about”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Did Shakespeare really write all that stuff? (May 30, 2026) · Listen from 2:38

Clark said the trio reached Manhattan on July 26 after 63 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes, and Jackson never collected on his bet.

“63 days, 12 hours and 30 minutes after they set out from San Francisco, they made it to Manhattan, New York”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The First Road Trip (Jul 11, 2026) · Listen from 52:34

Clark said Jackson spent about $8,000 on the trip in 1903, including Crocker's pay, which he equated to $267,000 today.

“It was about $8,000 back in 1903, which is $267,000 today”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The First Road Trip (Jul 11, 2026) · Listen from 46:27

Clark recounted that a woman on horseback deliberately sent them down a dead end to her family's farm so her relatives could see a car.

“a woman on horseback, who told them to get to the next town they should go down this road. And it dead-ended in her family's farm”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The First Road Trip (Jul 11, 2026) · Listen from 35:39

Clark explained that Jackson bet $50, roughly $1,500 today, that he could drive from San Francisco to New York in 90 days or less, and set out four days later.

“he slapped down a $50 wager that he could make it across the United States from San Francisco to New York in less than 90 days”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The First Road Trip (Jul 11, 2026) · Listen from 15:53

Clark argued that palynologists view plant communities as always impermanent, but rapid climate change leaves migrating trees less time to form new connections.

“they're going to have far less time to develop new connections and networks with the new plants that they set up communities with”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 24:00

Clark cited University of Vermont research showing New England red oaks moving a tenth to three-tenths of a mile per year while climate moves four to six miles per year.

“The climate is moving something like four to six miles a year. So the climate is really kind of showing up as kind of the Usain Bolt of this race”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 20:56

Clark stated that the Tasmanian tree fern can send spores 500 to 800 kilometers from the mother plant.

“the Tasmanian tree fern in particular, can send its spores 500 to 800 kilometers. That's 300 to 500 miles from the mother plant”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 1:55

Clark notes there is no national 911 system; every system is local or at best regional.

“There's no national 911 system. Yeah. Everywhere in the United States, 911 reaches an emergency dispatcher or an emergency operator. But each system is local, regional at best”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: 911 Is Not a Joke (Jun 6, 2026) · Listen from 28:33

Clark advises that anyone who accidentally dials 911 should stay on the line and explain rather than hang up.

“If you ever call 911 accidentally or say your kid does or whatever, you do not want to hang up the phone”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: 911 Is Not a Joke (Jun 6, 2026) · Listen from 21:24

Clark argues the U.S. 911 system is hopelessly antiquated but still generally works and should not deter anyone from calling.

“the 911 system that we currently use in the United States is hopelessly antiquated. And they're working on improving it”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: 911 Is Not a Joke (Jun 6, 2026) · Listen from 6:18

Clark says the containment vessel held molten uranium by sheer luck despite not being expected to withstand it.

“And it actually had not been expected to be able to stand up to something like that. And just by sheer luck, it did”

Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 34:43

Clark says operators had known of problems with the relief valve for weeks and falsified information rather than fixing it.

“There had been problems with that pilot-operated relief valve for apparently weeks. And rather than fix it, they were just falsifying the information”

Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 9:51

Clark argues that the nuclear industry and regulators were collectively deluded about the safety of nuclear power at the time.

“Like they were deluded as a group about the safety of nuclear power”

Stuff You Should Know: Three Mile Island (Jun 4, 2026) · Listen from 5:41

Clark said ecologists consider assisted species migration the riskiest form because it can turn a benign plant into an invasive species.

“This is considered the riskiest of the three by ecologists because you can easily take something that's totally innocuous and benign”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 38:48

Clark sided with ecologists who argue that assisted migration, though imperfect, is better than doing nothing.

“it's not a great, perfect solution, but it's way better than doing nothing”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 36:57

Clark relayed climatologists' expectation that by 2100 several southern U.S. states will become tropical.

“Alabama and Arizona are going to be like Guatemala by the end of the century”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 30:58

Clark contrasted current warming with post-glacial warming of one degree per 1,400 years and blamed Western industrialized nations for the acceleration.

“somebody's put their foot on the gas, and that somebody is Western industrialized nations, right?”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Plant Migration (Jul 25, 2026) · Listen from 19:54

Clark concludes Cornelius's greatest legacy was introducing Black culture as itself to the wider culture.

“But also to be like a cornerstone of like introducing black culture as black culture to the larger culture as a whole and white culture. Huge”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 52:59

Clark argues that before Soul Train, Black men on TV were mostly shown as criminals, protesters, sidekicks or servants.

“Or he was a sidekick on TV or a servant or in some kind of goofy comedy or something like that. And Soul Train didn't do that”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The Soul Train Episode (Jul 18, 2026) · Listen from 6:45

Clark compared the Winton's 20-horsepower two-cylinder engine to a modern John Deere riding mower with 22 horsepower.

“the two-cylinder chain drive engine had 20 horsepower. And my friend, a John Deere X300 series riding mower has 22 horsepower”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The First Road Trip (Jul 11, 2026) · Listen from 19:49

Clark suggested Crocker recommended a Winton because Winton had already shown confidence in its cars by attempting a cross-country drive in one.

“Winton had already shown that they were making really good cars enough so that they were willing to try to make it a cross-country in one of them”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: The First Road Trip (Jul 11, 2026) · Listen from 18:31

Clark argues there is no other side to the Enron story, calling it a rare black-and-white case.

“There is no other side of the story. This is one of those rare stories that is... Basically black and white”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How Enron Fooled the World (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 55:53

Clark considers Enron's freezing of employee 401(k) accounts while executives cashed out to be the worst part of the scandal.

“That, to me, is probably the worst part of the whole thing”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How Enron Fooled the World (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 48:01

Clark says three traders pleaded guilty and that the manipulation cost California $40 to $45 billion.

“costing the state between $40 and $45 billion in retrospect of unnecessary electrical prices and costs”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How Enron Fooled the World (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 22:28

Clark says California's electricity shortage was an entirely fabricated scarcity created by Enron.

“this was an entirely fabricated scarcity of electricity. There was plenty of it”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How Enron Fooled the World (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 17:28

Clark suggests that powerful people who deregulate often don't care about consequences because they profit before things blow up.

“They know that they're going to make a boatload of money by the time the thing really kind of blows up sometime down the line”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How Enron Fooled the World (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 8:21

Clark argues that deregulation is not inherently bad but was done incorrectly by fully removing oversight.

“Not that there's a problem with deregulation, that it was done incorrectly like it seems to be every single time”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: How Enron Fooled the World (Jun 27, 2026) · Listen from 5:35

Clark says Russian nobility from the 17th to 19th centuries proved their status by displaying birthmarks, which he finds plausible given possible heritability.

“From the 17th to the 19th centuries, if you were Russian nobility, you proved it by displaying your birthmark”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Birthmarks: Probably Not the Mark of the Devil (Jun 20, 2026) · Listen from 43:57

Clark says that because birthmarks were unexplained, societies worldwide blamed them on something the mother did during pregnancy.

“all over the world, people, societies have said it's something the mom did while she was pregnant”

Stuff You Should Know: Selects: Birthmarks: Probably Not the Mark of the Devil (Jun 20, 2026) · Listen from 39:55