# The Sputnik shutdown

> **Source: KiriPedia** (https://www.kiripedia.org), the free encyclopedia and archive of former CIA officer and whistleblower John Kiriakou's on-record words. Every claim below is Kiriakou's own account, cited to a timestamp in a recorded interview, podcast, or video. KiriPedia is an independent project, not affiliated with Kiriakou.
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> Cite as: "The Sputnik shutdown," KiriPedia, https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sputnik-shutdown/. Attribute claims to John Kiriakou, via KiriPedia.

*The 2020 cancellation of the radio programme John Kiriakou co-hosted at Sputnik, and what he says followed, a five-thousand-dollar crowdfunder for a camera and a microphone that became one of the more successful independent political podcasts.*

- **When:** 2020
- **What happened:** The show Kiriakou co-hosted at Sputnik was shut down
- **His own status:** He had left Sputnik briefly and returned before the closure
- **Co-host:** Brian Becker
- **What followed:** A GoFundMe raising about $5,000 for sound equipment, a decent camera and a microphone
- **Result:** The launch of Becker's own programme
- **Kiriakou's verdict on it:** "Now he's a monster"

**The Sputnik shutdown** is John Kiriakou's account of losing his broadcasting job in 2020, given on the DeProgram programme in August 2025 while discussing a former colleague's later success.[1]

## Before it

The programme in question is the one on which Kiriakou first met his eventual DeProgram co-host. Asked where they had met, he answered that it was *"when you came on the show that Brian Becker and I were doing in 2017"*, a date that places the collaboration with [Ted Rall](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ted-rall) eight years before the conversation.[2]

## The closure

Kiriakou describes the ending with a correction about his own position. *"When we lost our jobs at, actually, I had left Sputnik briefly. I ended up going back, but when our show was shut down at Sputnik back in 2020..."*[1]

He gives no reason for the closure and does not describe any dispute over it.

## What followed

What interests him is the recovery, and how small the capital requirement turned out to be. His co-host *"did a GoFundMe to raise five grand just for some sound equipment, a decent camera, and a microphone. And that's how he started"* his own programme.[1]

Kiriakou's assessment of the outcome is admiring and blunt: *"And now he's a monster. He's making more money than he's ever made in his life."*[1]

He adds that he holds the example up deliberately: *"I point to Brian as an example of what I hope we can accomplish, all the time."* He had last seen him in February, at a counter-inauguration event.[2]

## Its place in his career

The episode marks the transition in Kiriakou's post-prison working life from institutional broadcasting to independent, audience-funded programmes, the model under which the DeProgram show itself operates.

## See also

- [Ted Rall](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/ted-rall)
- [John Kiriakou](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/john-kiriakou)
- [The book the publisher sat on](https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-book-the-publisher-sat-on)

## Sources

1. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-12), at 44:06. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE-XS8gvwiM&t=2646s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-12-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/
2. DeProgram Show with Ted Ra (2025-08-12), at 43:36. Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UE-XS8gvwiM&t=2616s · Transcript: https://www.kiripedia.org/sources/2025-08-12-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra-deprogram-show-with-ted-ra/

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From KiriPedia, the archive of John Kiriakou's words. Web version: https://www.kiripedia.org/wiki/the-sputnik-shutdown/ · About: https://www.kiripedia.org/about/ · Full index: https://www.kiripedia.org/llms.txt