The Story from American Public Media

Escaping the Magazine Crew

Wednesday, August 20 2008 by | Send to a friend

Escaping the Magazine Crew

Olivia Helmig

Magazine sales crews are still going strong, despite investigations into their exploitative practices. These crews are largely composed of younger people, often with troubled lives, recruited to sell magazines across the country.

Olivia Helmig was in a magazine crew for 10 months. During that time, she had no medical care, witnessed abuse and heard stories of rape from fellow female crew members. She talks with Dick Gordon about the dangerous and largely unknown world of underground magazine sales.

THE ICE CREAM LINE

Bill Myers

Dick interviewed Bill Myers about his life of teaching and playing music, but Bill also has a political story to tell.

Back in the 1950s, he endured racism on a daily basis - he once stood in line for ice cream on a hot day, only to be turned away at the counter. He tells Dick about a similar indignity he faced at the polls.