Chapter 1: Bug’s Plan. It’s 2014. Adelanto is a bankrupt city in the California desert known for its massive detention centers and not much else. Then, a stranger comes to town with a wild idea to make Adelanto great again: Become the first cit

Bonus

Bonus #3 - Scorpions Live from New York | Fundraiser For Ukraine

Oct 11th, 2022 18m 14s

When Patrick Radden Keefe heard that the Scorpions were coming to town last month, he knew he had to go to the show. So he called his friend Michael, his source for the original CIA conspiracy theory, and they headed to UBS Arena on Long Island

Bonus

Special Preview: "Rogues" by Patrick Radden Keefe

Jul 21st, 2022 10m 28s

Patrick has a new book that's just out, Rogues: True Stories of Grifters, Killers, Rebels and Crooks. It's twelve strange but true stories of skulduggery and intrigue. Listen to an exclusive excerpt from the audiobook, narrated by Patrick, abou

An Avocado Revolution | Introducing 544 Days

Oct 14th, 2021 29m 18s

Everything was going great for Jason Rezaian. He was The Washington Post’s correspondent in Tehran. He had just gotten married. Then, in July of 2014, Jason and his wife were arrested and thrown in Iran’s notorious Evin prison.This is the fir

Bonus

Empire of Pain - An Exclusive Sample of Patrick's New Book

Apr 19th, 2021 20m 11s

While he was working on Wind of Change, Patrick Radden Keefe was also researching and writing a new book, a sweeping investigative chronicle about the billionaire Sackler family, famed for their philanthropy, whose fortune was built by Valium a

Preview: Welcome to Your Fantasy

Feb 10th, 2021 7m 49s

It’s 1987, and the Chippendales dancers are packing nightclubs across America with their sold-out male exotic dance shows. As crowds of women scream for the mullets, the spandex, and the tans … a shocking event about to change the course of the

Trailer

Out Now: Bonus Episodes

Jul 6th, 2020 1m 30s

Thanks for listening to Wind of Change. We’ve made two additional episodes of the show — a pair of stories that we couldn’t fit into the main season of the podcast, but are so wild we had to share them with you. Both episodes are only available

Hello, Klaus

Jun 29th, 2020 51m 24s

HANOVER, GERMANY, 2020: There is one last person Patrick needs to ask about “Wind of Change.” At a small hotel in sleepy Hanover, Germany, it is time to confront Klaus Meine about his biggest hit.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcast

Rorschach

Jun 22nd, 2020 46m 48s

MOSCOW, RUSSIA, 2019: On a boat ride down the Moskva River, Patrick starts to fear that this entire podcast could itself be CIA propaganda. Or worse, Ksenia, his Russian fixer points out: propaganda by the successors to the KGB.Learn more abou

The Doctor Is In

Jun 15th, 2020 58m 35s

CAYMAN ISLANDS, 1982: The Scorpions’ manager Doc McGhee has a secret past: he played a role in one of the largest drug busts in U.S. history, working with a smuggling ring that included CIA asset (and Panamanian dictator) Manuel Noriega. Nearly

I Follow The Moskva

Jun 8th, 2020 42m 52s

MOSCOW, USSR, 1989: Klaus Meine, the lead singer of the Scorpions, has said for 30 years that the Moscow Music Peace Festival in 1989 inspired him to write “Wind of Change.” Bon Jovi, booze, Ozzy Osbourne, cocaine, fireworks, fist fights, the K

The KGB Rock Club

Jun 1st, 2020 47m 9s

LENINGRAD, USSR, 1988: Patrick finds another person who has told an eerily similar story about the Scorpions and the CIA. But he won’t answer emails, so Patrick travels to a GI Joe convention in Dayton, Ohio to try to make contact. Plus, a form

America’s Secret Weapon

May 25th, 2020 45m 12s

LAGOS, NIGERIA, 1961: One of America’s most beloved singers died without ever knowing that during the Cold War she had been used by the CIA. And a 40-year-old mystery resurfaces: when the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band was picked to tour behind the Iro

You Call It An Operation, We Call It A Performance

1 1 May 18th, 2020 47m 8s

KYIV, UKRAINE, 2019: Patrick flies to Ukraine and witnesses how fully the political message of “Wind of Change” still resonates with fans at a Scorpions show in Kyiv. Plus: what does the CIA say when you come right out and ask about the agency’

My Friend Michael

1 4 May 11th, 2020 45m 17s

LANGLEY, VIRGINIA, 2011:The Scorpions’ song “Wind of Change” became the soundtrack to the end of the Cold War. But decades later, New Yorker investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe heard a rumor from a trusted source: the Scorpions didn’

Trailer

Wind of Change, coming May 11

Apr 25th, 2020 3m 39s

A power ballad helped bring down the Soviet Union. Was it written by the CIA? Journalist Patrick Radden Keefe investigates the secret history of Cold War espionage and heavy metal.Wind Of Change is an Original Series from Pineapple Street Stud