Ramtin Arablouei
Ramtin Arablouei is co-host and co-producer of NPR's podcast Throughline, a show that explores history through creative, immersive storytelling designed to reintroduce history to new audiences.
Arablouei got his start at NPR in 2015 with a three-week contract to produce a pilot for How I Built This with Guy Raz, and now produces, reports, mixes, and writes music for such top-rated podcasts as TED Radio Hour, Hidden Brain, Embedded, Invisibilia, The Indicator, Code Switch, Radio Ambulante, and the Center for Investigative Reporting's Reveal.
A trained audio engineer, Arablouei spent most of his early twenties in recording studios. He contributed sound design and music for films and commercials, including the IMAX trailer for 300: Rise of an Empire. He's written music for many award-winning podcasts including "Los Cassettes del Exilio" (Radio Ambulante) and the "All Work. No Pay" episode of Reveal, which won the Society of Professional Journalists' Sigma Delta Chi award for investigative reporting.
Born in Iran, Arablouei emigrated to the U.S. with his family as a child. He graduated from St. Mary's College of Maryland with a Bachelor of Arts in psychology and history.
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Has online hate ever been this cruel? Brendan Abernathy is a singer-songwriter who went viral earlier this year for an earnest performance of his song "married in a year." The backlash was immediate, and one word popped up over and over again in the comments: "cringe." Brittany and Ramtin Arablouei, co-host of NPR's Throughline, get into the rise of cringe culture: where it comes from, how it's hurting us, and how leaning into cringe is good for art. And Ramtin talks with Brendan about how to cope with the criticism, and Brendan debuts a new song about his experience. Brendan's new album is out September 26th. For handpicked podcast recommendations every week, subscribe to NPR’s Pod Club newsletter at npr.org/podclub. -
The 25th amendment. A few years before JFK was shot, an idealistic young lawyer set out on a mission to convince people something essential was missing from the Constitution: clear instructions for what should happen if a U.S. president was no longer able to serve. On this episode of our ongoing series We the People, the story behind one of the last amendments to the Constitution, and the man who got it done. This story originally published in March 2025. Guest: John Feerick, Norris Professor of Law at Fordham Law School and author of The Twenty-Fifth Amendment - Its Complete History and Applications. To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline. -
The Eighth Amendment. What is cruel and unusual punishment? Who gets to define and decide its boundaries? And how did the Constitution's authors imagine it might change? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Eighth Amendment, the death penalty, and what cruel and unusual really means. This episode was originally published in January 2025. To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline. -
The Fifth Amendment. You have the right to remain silent when you're being questioned in police custody, thanks to the Fifth's protection against self-incrimination. But most people end up talking to police anyway. Why? Today on Throughline's We the People: the Fifth Amendment, the right to remain silent, and how hard it can be to use it. This episode originally ran in March 2025. -
The Third Amendment. Maybe you've heard it as part of a punchline. It's the one about quartering troops — two words you probably haven't heard side by side since about the late 1700s. At first glance, it might not seem super relevant to modern life. But in fact, the U.S. government has gotten away with violating the Third Amendment several times since its ratification — and every time it's gone largely unnoticed. In a time of escalating political violence, police forces armed with military equipment, and more frequent and devastating natural disasters, why the Third Amendment deserves a closer look. This episode originally ran in 2024.
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Edward Said brought the question of Palestine into the American mainstream. He taught at Columbia University for nearly 40 years, and today, more than two decades after his death, pro-Palestine student protesters on that campus and others have invoked his name. Meanwhile, his interviews circulate on social media and his books are taught at universities around the world. On this episode: the story of the man who pushed for recognition of the Palestinian perspective, the pushback he faced, and the dangers he foresaw. To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline. -
What's the role of government in society? What do we mean when we talk about individual responsibility? What makes us free? 'Neoliberalism' might feel like a squishy term that's hard to define and understand. But this ideology, founded by a group of men in the Swiss Alps, is a political project that has dominated our economic system for decades. In the name of free market fundamentals, the forces behind neoliberalism act like an invisible hand, shaping almost every aspect of our lives. This episode originally ran as "Capitalism: What Makes Us Free?" Please add the following after each blurb on podcast and webpages: To access bonus episodes and listen to Throughline sponsor-free, subscribe to Throughline+ via Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/throughline. -
Captain America: an all-American superhero. Clad in red, white, and blue, he carries only a shield. And he fights only when he must. When it's right. But what happens when what's right isn't so clear? And how does a comic book hero designed to represent America's values survive in a changing world? -
The Supreme Court is issuing its final decisions of the term this month. But it's been extraordinarily active since January, in part because the Trump administration has submitted over a dozen emergency applications asking the court to rule quickly on controversial issues. Those cases are part of what's known as the court's "shadow docket." And increasingly, it's affecting all of our lives. This episode originally published in 2023 and has been updated. -
Abortion wasn't always controversial. In fact, in colonial America it would have been considered a fairly common practice: a private decision made by women, and aided mostly by midwives. But in the mid-1800s, a small group of physicians set out to change that. Obstetrics was a new field, and they wanted it to be their domain—meaning, the domain of men and medicine. Led by a zealous young doctor named Horatio Storer, they launched a campaign to make abortion illegal in every state, spreading a potent cloud of moral righteousness and racial panic that one historian later called "the physicians' crusade." And so began the century of criminalization. This episode originally ran as Before Roe: The Physicians' Crusade.
