Introducing The Center Edge

In this short intro episode, host Evan Swarztrauber lays out what this podcast is and what it isn't. The show is about the technology and telecommunications policy fights that will define the next decade — from AI and antitrust to wireless spectrum, broadband, drones, satellites, and the national security questions that increasingly cut across all of it.

The center is where tech policy actually gets made, when bipartisan coalitions  can agree on something specific enough to move. The edge is where the rhetoric often lives: the hyperbolic arguments and edge cases that dominate the  conversation in Washington. Repealing net neutrality was going to kill the Internet. Touching Section 230 will end free speech. If Washington does, or does not, do exactly what I want, then China wins and America loses. The Center Edge takes the edge cases seriously without letting them eat the whole conversation.

Guests will include the regulators who hold real levers of power at the FCC, FTC, Commerce, and elsewhere; members of Congress and the staffers who actually write the bills; founders, investors, and operators inside the technology industry; and the scholars and advocates shaping the public debate. Some episodes will go deep on a specific issue. Others will pull back and ask bigger questions about where this all is going. The goal is for listeners to come away with a better understanding of the debate, a better sense of why it matters, and a better calibrated read on the next round of headlines coming out of Washington.

About the host. Evan Swarztrauber is Principal at CorePoint Strategies, a tech and telecom policy consulting firm he founded in 2025, and a Senior Fellow at the Digital Progress Institute. He previously hosted The Dynamist for the Foundation for American Innovation, and served as a policy advisor at the FCC under Chairman Ajit Pai and then-Commissioner Brendan Carr.

Coming up first. Episode 1 is a sit-down with FCC Chairman Brendan Carr — covering the agency's national security push on Chinese-made drones and Wi-Fi routers, the recent EchoStar / AT&T / SpaceX spectrum transactions, the emerging direct-to-device satellite market, and the evolving role of the FCC under his tenure.

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Leaving a quick review helps new listeners find the show — it takes thirty seconds and it actually matters.

Get in touch. Reach out to Evan with feedback, ideas, or suggestions for future guests.

The Center Edge is sponsored by the Digital Progress Institute, a bipartisan tech policy think tank in Washington. The show is produced by Vulgate Media. Special thanks to Joel Thayer and Nick Degani at DPI for making this show possible.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

I'm Evan Swartstrauber, and welcome to The Center Edge. If you're listening to this, there's a decent chance you found your way here from The Dynamist, the podcast I hosted for the Foundation for American Innovation over the past few years. I'm enormously grateful for the run we had and to everyone who listened, downloaded, emailed, and debated me along the way. I learned a tremendous amount doing that show, interviewing regulators and members of Congress, founders and investors, scholars, and activists. It only reinforced my belief that this format works. You are proof that there's an audience for serious long-form conversations about technology policy that makes things accessible without talking down to listeners, or pretending that these debates are simpler than they really are. This show is built on that conviction. So why the center edge? Well, the center is where policy actually gets made. Tech policy fights in Washington rarely make headway without bipartisan agreement. They only get resolved when enough people in the middle of the room can agree on something specific enough to actually move. That's true for AI policy, wireless spectrum auctions, antitrust in big tech, kids online safety, and more. If you want to do something in this field and not just talk about it, you often have to find the center. But the edge is often what dominates tech policy debates in Washington. These issues are heavily influenced by edge cases and edge scenarios, arguments that tend toward the hyperbolic. Remember, repealing net neutrality was going to lead to the death of the Internet. If you touch Section 230, free speech is over. Age verification is the first step to authoritarian digital ID. And of course, my favorite, if Washington does or does not do exactly what I want, then China wins and America loses. These arguments are not always wrong. Sometimes the edge case is the whole point, but they are almost always exaggerated, and that exaggeration is political. Part of the job of this show is to take the edge cases seriously without letting them eat the entire conversation. So that's the formula for the center edge. We'll bring you a wide range of arguments from across a politically diverse set of perspectives. You'll hear from the regulators who hold real lovers of power over technology and telecommunications at the FCC, the FTC, Department of Commerce, and elsewhere in the executive branch. You'll hear from members of Congress and the staffers who write the bills. You'll hear from people who work at technology companies, who invest in startups, who litigate cases involving technology, and who shape the public conversation on these issues. Some episodes will be deep on one topic, others will be broader. All of them will try to give you a real sense of what people involved in these fights believe and why these issues matter. My hope is that you come away from each episode with a better understanding of the debate, a better sense of why it matters, and a better calibrated read the next time you see headlines and hyperbole coming out of Washington. A little bit about me briefly. I'm principal at CorePoint Strategies, a tech and telecom policy firm I founded in 2025 in January. I'm also a senior fellow at the Digital Progress Institute, which is the sponsor of this show. It's a bipartisan technology policy think tank based here in Washington, D.C. I have spent more than a decade working on a wide range of tech policy debates, from AI and antitrust to broadband, free speech, privacy, US-China competition, trade, and more. This show will cover all those topics and more. A special thanks to my colleagues at Digital Progress Institute, Joel Thayer and Nick D'Agani, for making this show possible with their support. You can subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts, and I'd really appreciate it if you'd take 30 seconds to leave a review, hopefully positive. It's how new listeners find the show. You can email me at Evanet CorePointstrategies.com with feedback, ideas, or suggestions for guests. Our first episode is available now, where I interview my old boss, FCC Chairman Brendan Carr. Hope you enjoy it. Thanks for listening.