MAY 17: WHEN THE MICROPHONE BELONGS TO THE AUDIENCE
On May 17, the usual hierarchy flips.
Not the institutions. Not the insiders. Not the systems that insist they know what’s best.
For two hours, the conversation shifts to the people who live with the consequences — the national decisions made far above them and the personal decisions made deep within them. Shake It Off with Mert & Lucas, Live! is dedicating this episode to the forces that shape your world and the forces that shape your mind.
THE BROADCAST
SHAKE IT OFF WITH MERT & LUCAS — LIVE
MAY 17 | 7–9 PM EDT
AM970 + AM970 Mobile App + Streaming Everywhere
Two hours. Two authors. Two radically different vantage points on pressure, identity, and the unseen machinery that governs modern life.
HOUR 1 — INSIDE THE NATIONAL SECURITY MACHINE
Lt. Commander Jack Ratliff (Ret.) — Riding the White Bull
The night opens withLt. Commander Jack Ratliff, a career intelligence officer who spent decades operating in the gray zones of national security. His book,Riding the White Bull, strips away the cinematic gloss and exposes the moral strain, psychological fallout, and human cost of intelligence work.
This isn’t the Hollywood version.
This is the version told by someone who lived it — the pressure, the ambiguity, the impossible choices, and the toll carried home long after the mission ends.
Ratliff’s hour asks a blunt question:
What happens to the people we task with protecting the country when the job itself erodes the person doing it?
HOUR 2 — THE FORCES WITHIN
Prof. Eric Oliver — How to Know Your Self
Then the lens turns inward.
Prof. Eric Oliver, author of How to Know Your Self, explores identity, intuition, and the unconscious habits that shape how we think, react, and define who we are. His work argues that in a world built on noise, distraction, and constant external pressure, self-awareness isn’t a luxury — it’s a survival skill.
Oliver’s hour asks its own question:
How much of your life is shaped by forces you’ve never examined?
THE COLLISION OF TWO WORLDS
One guest spent a career navigating geopolitical shadows.
The other studies the shadows inside the human mind.
Together, they frame a single, unavoidable question for the audience:
What shapes you more — the forces outside you or the forces inside you?
ABOUT MERT & LUCAS
Mert Roberts and Lucas A. Ferrara bring two distinct but complementary lenses to Shake It Off. Mert is the man of the people — the grounded voice who cuts through jargon, challenges spin, and keeps every conversation anchored in the lived reality of the audience. Lucas is a New York attorney, law professor, and award‑winning film producer whose precision, narrative instinct, and sharp editorial eye frame each topic with clarity and purpose. Together, they create a space where real questions get real answers, and where the microphone always finds its way back to the listeners who deserve to be heard.
TUNE IN
Sunday, MAY 17 | 7–9 PM EDT
AM970 Radio + AM970 Mobile App
Streaming on all major platforms
More information: https://shakeitofflive.com/
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You can also find the show playing here:
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To view a list of some of Lucas's other projects, click here: https://linktr.ee/lucasaferrara
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