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Kenny Malone Kenny Malone is a cohost for NPR's Planet Money podcast.
Kenny Malone, photographed for NPR, 2 August 2022, in New York, NY. Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya for NPR.
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Kenny Malone

Kenny Malone, photographed for NPR, 2 August 2022, in New York, NY. Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya for NPR.
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Mamadi Doumbouya/NPR
Kenny Malone, photographed for NPR, 2 August 2022, in New York, NY. Photo by Mamadi Doumbouya for NPR.
Mamadi Doumbouya/NPR

Kenny Malone

Cohost, Planet Money

Kenny Malone is a cohost for NPR's Planet Money podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for WNYC's Only Human podcast. Before that, he was a reporter for Miami's WLRN. And before that, he was a reporter for his friend T.C.'s homemade newspaper, Neighborhood News.

Malone's stories have investigated everything from abuse in Florida's assisted living facilities to health hackers building their own pancreas to the origins of seemingly made-up holidays like National Raisin Day. Or National Golf Day. Or National Splurge Day.

His work has won the National Edward R. Murrow Award for Use of Sound, the National Headliner Award, the Scripps Howard Award, and the Bronze Third Coast Festival Award. He studied mathematics at Xavier University in Cincinnati and proudly hails from Meadville, PA, where the zipper was invented.

Story Archive

Friday

How flying got so bad (or did it?)
Fox Photos/Getty Images

Planet Money

How flying got so bad (or did it?)

We often hear that air travel is worse than it's ever been. Gone are the days when airplanes touted piano bars and meat carving stations — or even free meals. Instead we're crammed into tiny seats and fighting for overhead space.

How flying got so bad (or did it?)

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Wednesday

Why is everyone talking about Musk's money?
Chris Delmas/Getty Images

Planet Money

Why is everyone talking about Musk's money?

We've lived amongst Elon Musk headlines for so long now that it's easy to forget just how much he sounds like a sci-fi character. He runs a space company and wants to colonize mars. He also runs a company that just implanted a computer chip into a human brain. And he believes there's a pretty high probability everything is a simulation and we are living inside of it.

Why is everyone talking about Musk's money?

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Friday

Oil gluts, Russian bucks, and Starbucks
MANDEL NGAN/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Oil gluts, Russian bucks, and Starbucks

Indicators of the Week is back! This week, we've got indicators about oil gluts, big bucks for Ukraine and fewer bucks at Starbucks. (Apologies for the slurping.)

Oil gluts, Russian bucks, and Starbucks

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Friday

Groundhog Day 2024: Trademark, bankruptcy, and the dollar that failed
Jeff Swensen/Getty Images

Planet Money

Groundhog Day 2024: Trademark, bankruptcy, and the dollar that failed

It's Groundhog Day, and the eyes of the nation have turned to a small town in western Pennsylvania. And, just like last year, all anyone can talk about is Punxsutawney Phil! It is impossible to find a news story that is not about one furry prognosticator.

Groundhog Day 2024: Trademark, bankruptcy, and the dollar that failed

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Friday

Higher wages, fewer temp workers and indicators of the year results
Spencer Platt/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Higher wages, fewer temp workers and indicators of the year results

The U.S. economy added a solid number of jobs, the unemployment rate held steady, and a lot of people got raises. But, today we ask whether fewer temporary workers could mean recession, and whether higher wages might cause interest rates to stay high.

Higher wages, fewer temp workers and indicators of the year results

Listen · 9:27
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The case of the serial sinking Spanish ships
Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Planet Money

The case of the serial sinking Spanish ships

Picture the Pacific Ocean of the 16th century. Spanish Galleons sail the wide open seas, carrying precious cargo like silver, porcelain, and textiles. The waters are dangerous; ship logs show concerns over pirates. But pirates are not to blame for a mysterious event that keeps happening.

The case of the serial sinking Spanish ships

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Wednesday

The Indicators of this year and next
Kenny Malone, Jeff Guo, Wailin Wong/NPR

Planet Money

The Indicators of this year and next

Today on the show, hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator debate the economic indicators of this year and next year.

The Indicators of this year and next

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Friday

Predicting next year's economic storylines

Whose indicator will be the leading economic story of 2024? Kenny Malone with interest rates? Jeff Guo on 'Bidenomics'? Or Wailin Wong taking out junk fees? Kenny Malone, Jeff Guo, Wailin Wong/NPR hide caption

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Kenny Malone, Jeff Guo, Wailin Wong/NPR

The Indicator from Planet Money

Predicting next year's economic storylines

It's time for another intra-Family Feud! The friendly game-show competition where our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator duke it out over which indicator will be the leading economic story in 2024. Will interest rates decline? Will 'Bidenomics' catch on? Will junk fees get taken out with the garbage?

Predicting next year's economic storylines

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Friday

The Indicator of the Year

Whose indicator best sums up 2023? Is it Kenny Malone with consumer sentiment? Jeff Guo with the soft landing? Or Wailin Wong on the housing market? Kenny Malone, Jeff Guo, Wailin Wong/NPR hide caption

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Kenny Malone, Jeff Guo, Wailin Wong/NPR

The Indicator from Planet Money

The Indicator of the Year

By many measures, 2023 was a decent year for the U.S. economy, but that's not how people necessarily felt. So what economic story best defined the year? Soft landings? Hard feelings about the economy? An inhospitable housing market? Our hosts from Planet Money and The Indicator battle it out over which economic story best illustrates the year.

The Indicator of the Year

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Wednesday

Friday

Planet Money

While the economy hums along, consumer sentiment is surprisingly low

NPR's Planet Money team looks into the historic misalignment between how people feel about the economy, and our traditional measures for how the economy is doing.

While the economy hums along, consumer sentiment is surprisingly low

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Friday

Why are we so bummed about the economy?

A customer shops in a Kroger grocery store on July 15, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Brandon Bell/Getty Images hide caption

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Brandon Bell/Getty Images

Planet Money

Why are we so bummed about the economy?

Would you say that you and your family are better off or worse off, financially, than you were a year ago? Do you think in 12 months we'll have good times, financially, or bad? Generally speaking, do you think now is a good time or a bad time to buy a house?

Why are we so bummed about the economy?

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Friday

The alleged theft at the heart of ChatGPT
Franceso Carta Fotographo/Getty

Planet Money

The alleged theft at the heart of ChatGPT

When best-selling thriller writer Douglas Preston began playing around with OpenAI's new chatbot, ChatGPT, he was, at first, impressed. But then he realized how much in-depth knowledge GPT had of the books he had written. When prompted, it supplied detailed plot summaries and descriptions of even minor characters. He was convinced it could only pull that off if it had read his books.

The alleged theft at the heart of ChatGPT

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Wednesday

Antitrust in America, from Standard Oil to Bork (classic)

LEFT: Ida Tarbell, photographed between 1905 and 1945. RIGHT: Robert Bork in 1987. Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division/Associated Press hide caption

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Harris & Ewing/Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division/Associated Press

Planet Money

Antitrust in America, from Standard Oil to Bork (classic)

Earlier this fall, the Federal Trade Commission filed a high-stakes lawsuit against Amazon.

Antitrust in America, from Standard Oil to Bork (classic)

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Friday

More fraud, higher bond yields, and faster airline boarding

A woman uses a laptop on April 3, 2019, in Abidjan. According to the figures of the platform of the fight against cybercrime (PLCC) of the national police, nearly one hundred crooks of the internet, were arrested in 2018 in Ivory Coast, a country known for its scammers on the web (Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO / AFP) (Photo by ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images) ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images hide caption

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ISSOUF SANOGO/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

More fraud, higher bond yields, and faster airline boarding

On this edition of Indicators of the Week: older Americans recorded higher losses to certain scams, the yield on the 10-year Treasury bond is up to the highest it's been in more than a decade and United Airlines has a plan to improve how it boards planes.

More fraud, higher bond yields, and faster airline boarding

Listen · 9:31
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Friday

Wednesday

The flight attendants of CHAOS

Several United Airlines flight attendants wearing "CHAOS" T-shirts at a meeting to decide plans for a potential strike in 2001. CHAOS—an acronym for "Create Havoc Around Our System"—is a strike strategy first used in 1993 during a labor dispute between Alaska Airlines and their flight attendants' union. The strategy can keep a company guessing about when, where or even how a strike might happen. Tim Boyle/Newsmakers/Getty Images hide caption

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Tim Boyle/Newsmakers/Getty Images

Planet Money

The flight attendants of CHAOS

When contract negotiations between Alaska Airlines and their flight attendants' union broke down in 1993, the union had a choice to make.

The flight attendants of CHAOS

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Friday

A million-dollar fossil, and other indicators
STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN/AFP via Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

A million-dollar fossil, and other indicators

Today on the show, we cover this week's top indicators in new work permits for Venezuelan migrants, behind-the-scenes climate meetings and a million-dollar dinosaur skeleton sale.

A million-dollar fossil, and other indicators

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Friday

The secret entrance that sidesteps Hollywood picket lines

LEFT: Bill Wolkoff is a strike captain for the Writers Guild of America, coordinating the picket at the Television City lot. Prior to the strike, Wolkoff wrote for Star Trek: Strange New Worlds. RIGHT: Sara Bibel is a writer picketing at Television City. She spent 13 years working at The Young and the Restless. Dave Blanchard/NPR hide caption

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Dave Blanchard/NPR

Planet Money

The secret entrance that sidesteps Hollywood picket lines

Across Hollywood right now, writers and actors are picketing in front of studio lots. They're walking back and forth, holding up signs demanding concessions on things like pay, how many writers work on projects, and the use of AI in TV and movies.

The secret entrance that sidesteps Hollywood picket lines

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Friday

Tale as old as time: Indicators of the Week
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images

The Indicator from Planet Money

Tale as old as time: Indicators of the Week

In a week jam-packed with major economic news, we've selected a few of our favorite stories for Indicators of the Week. Today we cover an Italian bank story, the drop in Chinese imports and the $1.6 billion acquisition of Simon & Schuster.

Tale as old as time: Indicators of the Week

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The new Biden plan that could still erase your student loans
Paul Morigi/Getty Images for We The 45 Milli

Planet Money

The new Biden plan that could still erase your student loans

This summer, the Supreme Court struck down Biden's plan to forgive student loan debt for millions of borrowers. Except, on the same day Biden first announced that plan, he also unveiled another, the SAVE plan. And though SAVE sounded less significant than Biden's big forgiveness pledge, it's still alive and could erase even more student debt.

The new Biden plan that could still erase your student loans

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Friday

Planet Money Paper Club
Thomas Lohnes/Getty Images

Planet Money

Planet Money Paper Club

We here at Planet Money love economics papers. And that is also the case for so many of the economists we speak with. For them, new research can explain something they have always wondered about, or make them see something they have never noticed before. And it inspires their own work.

Planet Money Paper Club

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Thursday

Technology

Voicing concerns: The future of AI voice replacement

AI can now be trained to realistically imitate the voices of celebrities. The Planet Money podcast explore this new world of synthetic voices.

Voicing concerns: The future of AI voice replacement

Listen · 8:00
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Wednesday

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