Timeless stories,
always within reach.
BACK POCKET STUDIOS brings history to life through documentary podcasts that uncover the stories, voices, and moments that shaped our world. We produce and distribute cinematic audio that informs and inspires, and while history is at our core, we embrace storytelling in all its forms. Each project balances creativity with sustainability—shows built to resonate editorially, succeed financially, and reach their fullest audience.
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The 6th season of HISTORY This Week is currently in premiere and available on all platforms.
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What We Do
Development
Every great story begins with a foundation. We take your podcast idea seriously, working with you to shape its editorial voice through talent casting, pitch materials, and episode formats that feel true to its narrative arc. Together, we’ll chart the course—drafting budgets, assembling the right team, and ensuring your show reflects both your creative vision and long-term goals.
Production
Bring your story to life with us. From studio and remote recording to research, booking, writing, and story editing, we approach production with the care of archivists and the creativity of storytellers. Our sound design captures atmosphere and emotion, while our access to state-of-the-art recording spaces ensures your project is preserved with clarity—whether in audio or video podcast form.
Strategy
Ensure your podcast leaves a legacy. We identify and foster creative partnerships that help your show find its audience and meet its advertising goals, while also positioning your IP for adaptation across multiple platforms. Using data as our guide, we uncover the best ways to expand your story’s reach—through video, bonus episodes, subscription models, or translated editions that carry your voice across borders.
What We've Done
(The History Channel)
...and plenty more!
Who We Are
Ben Dickstein
Owner/Executive Producer
Ben Dickstein is an executive producer and creator specializing in narrative non-fiction audio. For nearly a decade, he’s brought historical stories to life through vivid sound and cinematic storytelling.
As head of the History Channel’s podcast team, Ben oversaw History This Week and Sports History This Week, two series that together reached more than a million monthly downloads and earned multiple Webby, Ambie, and Signal Award nominations. In 2023, he founded Back Pocket Studios, an independent production company that now partners with A+E Networks and Audacy to produce History This Week in a new chapter of the show’s life.
Ben’s work spans a wide range of projects—from NPR and Major League Baseball’s Road to Rickwood, hosted by Roy Wood Jr., to documentary-style explorations of turning points in history, culture, and science.
When he’s not staring at a waveform or a script, you can find Ben wandering Central Park, in the upper deck at Yankee Stadium, or practicing the saxophone at hours that are respectful to his neighbors.
Contributors
Sally Helm
Host / Story Editor
Sally Helm is the founding host of HISTORY This Week. She has been a frequent contributor to NPR's Planet Money, and her work has also aired on Throughline and The Sporkful. Sally also writes fiction -- she received her MFA from Brooklyn College, where she won the Himan Brown Award and the Lainoff Prize. She is a graduate of Yale University and of the Transom Story Workshop. Her first gig in radio was as a DJ for KCAW Raven Radio in Sitka, Alaska.
Alana Casanova-Burgess
Host / Story Editor
Alana Casanova-Burgess is the host of the podcast La Brega, a longform narrative series produced in both English and Spanish. She was formerly a reporter and producer for the Brian Lehrer Show and On the Media from WNYC, as well as the duPont award-winning series Tulsa Burning. Her work has been featured on Planet Money, 99 Percent Invisible, Radio Ambulante, The New Yorker Radio Hour, Snap Judgement, The New York Times, The Guardian, and elsewhere.
Jon Earle
Writer / Producer
Jon Earle is an audio/video producer and oral historian. His podcast credits include NYU Langone Insights on Psychiatry (showrunner), and Road to Resilience (showrunner/host), which was named a “Must-Listen” by Apple Podcasts. A former print reporter, Jon has covered a wide range of topics, from Russian corruption to soul music. He’s currently developing a video podcast about leadership.
Kathryn Isaac
Writer / Producer
Kathryn Isaac is a nonfiction producer working across television, film, and audio. Previously, she spent a decade working as a development executive, most recently as Head of Development at The Documentary Group. Kathryn is one of the creators and producers of Svetlana! Svetlana! (iHeart), named a Best Podcast of 2023 by Vulture, and is currently producing a genre-bending narrative nonfiction podcast about a Beverly Hill heiress and a search for the long-lost Romanov crown jewels.