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GBH News

“This is a town where there are three pastimes: politics, sports and revenge.” 

Seemingly dry topics become gripping political dramas in this Peabody Award winning show from creator Ian Coss and GBH News. Each season of “The Big Dig” uncovers a different facet of society – infrastructure, gambling, food, healthcare – together the pieces connect to tell the story of modern America. 

 

Season One: "The Big Dig" 

The highway project known as “The Big Dig” is infamous – a shorthand for government failure – but it all started as one engineer’s dream to correct the wrongs of the past, and its legacy is far from simple.

 

Season Two: "Scratch & Win" 

America’s most successful state lottery – and its greatest innovation, the scratch ticket – all starts with mafia bookmakers and state bureaucrats going toe to toe in a battle to own the future of gambling. 

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CREDITS

Producer: Isabel Hibbard

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Host & Creator: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins 

Contact us as thebigdig@wgbh.org

The Big Dig

NEW name. NEW art. NEW season. NEW events. NEW mailing list. Listen for all the updates and a preview of what's to come. 

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A few links to share:

Sign up for our mailing list at: wgbh.org/thebigdig

Email us at: thebigdig@wgbh.org

*LIVE EVENT* in Seattle, WA: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/the-big-dig-and-booming-podcasts-where-our-roads-go-next-tickets-1665207834459

*LIVE EVENT* in Portland, OR: https://literary-arts.org/event/opb-the-big-dig/

The Big Dig Returns

Last week, we heard about a movement to challenge the authority of government agencies and push power down to the people. This week, the story of a central figure in that movement: Ralph Nader. 

This episode comes from NPR’s Throughline, co-hosted by Rund Abdelfatah and Ramtin Arablouei.

BONUS: How to sue the government, and win

This podcast has featured two stories about government endeavors: the much-criticized infrastructure project known as ‘The Big Dig,’ and of course the wildly successful state lottery. So why do these two stories play out so differently?

In the final interview episode for this season, host Ian Coss speaks with Marc Dunkelman, a research fellow at Brown University, about why some parts of government draw intense scrutiny while others run quietly in the background. 

Dunkelman’s new book is "Why Nothing Works: Who Killed Progress -- and How to Bring It Back."

BONUS: Why do some parts of government work better than others?

There’s a lot of talk lately about patronage politics returning to Washington – a system based on loyalty, relationships, favors and transactions – but this kind of system is not new. Patronage was once the beating heart of the Democratic Party, and of course, the Massachusetts state lottery. So what changed? How did the party of patronage become the party of technocrats?

In this second interview episode, host Ian Coss speaks with historian Lily Geismer, co-editor of a new book about the evolution of the Democratic Party: “Mastery and Drift: Professional Class Liberals Since 1960.”

BONUS: Should we be nostalgic for machine politics?

Lotteries are part of a long trend toward more and more legal gambling: bingo helped open the door for lotteries, just as lotteries helped open the door for casinos. And by that logic, sports betting is just the latest addition to the trend. So why does it feel so different?

In the first of three interview episodes expanding on themes from the series, host Ian Coss speaks with gambling historian Jonathan Cohen about why this expansion of legal gambling is unlike anything that came before it.

Cohen’s new book "Losing Big: America’s Reckless Bet on Sports Gambling” is out April 1st, 2025.

BONUS: Why does sports betting feel different?

Part 8: Most lottery games follow a predictable life cycle: a burst of interest followed by a long decline. But something else happened with the scratch ticket, and it changed how every lottery in the country operates. 

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Credits:

Host an Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Scratch & Win | 8. The Other Massachusetts Miracle

Part 7: By 1986 Treasurer Bob Crane has turned the lottery into the most successful operation of its kind, but now he’s in the fight of his political life with a challenger who says he’s the real crook. To cement his legacy he will have to win one last election, and it’s a dirty one.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Scratch & Win | 7. The Dirtiest Race in the Commonwealth

Part 6: The Mass Lottery stumbles when it attempts to launch the nation’s first ‘lotto’ game. But that failure soon becomes an opportunity – and a national craze – when Treasurer Bob Crane brings in a new agency to take over the state’s marketing efforts.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Scratch & Win | 6. The Game Dreams Are Made Of

Part 5: The lottery was never just about stopping crime; it was about bringing in money. In 1980, an anti-tax ballot measure throws Massachusetts state finances into chaos, putting new pressure on the lottery to close the gap.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Scratch & Win | 5. The Cherry Sheets

Part 4: The state lottery can’t run the mob out of the numbers business on their own. Luckily they’ve got help from the FBI, who are just launching a daring operation of their own – to bug the headquarters of the Boston mafia.

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Scratch & Win | 4. The Last Mafia Boss of Boston

Part 3: Before the Massachusetts Lottery can claim to be number one, they have to take out the competition. So in 1976 the state lottery challenges organized crime head on by copying their most popular game: 'the numbers.'

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Credits:

Host and Scriptwriter: Ian Coss

Executive Producer: Devin Maverick Robins

Producers: Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss

Story Editor: Lacy Roberts

Editorial Advisor: Jenifer McKim

Fact-checkers: Ryan Alderman and Isabel Hibbard

Scoring and Music Supervision: Ian Coss

Project Manager: Meiqian He

Graphic Design: Bill Miller

Scratch & Win | 3. Have You Played Your Number?

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