Chasing Howard is a documentary series about one woman's journey to understand her inheritance, find her people, and make sense of the life she was born into.
At the center is Marvin Burak, a Philadelphia radio personality whose progressive, outspoken broadcasts in the 1950s and 60s made him a local legend and a target. He fought civil rights battles on air, hosted Radio Free Philadelphia, debated politicians and clergy across lines of religion, race, and politics, and had his mainstream radio career ended by an obscenity conviction in 1969. The ACLU of Pennsylvania holds files related to his case.
The consequences followed his family home. Growing up in Northeast Philadelphia, his daughter Lois survived harassment, firebombings, and a childhood shaped by a family that refused to be quiet. She grew up feeling unseen, not quite fitting in anywhere, searching for where she belonged.
That search led her to Howard Stern's world, where the battles over free speech, expression, and the right to say what you believe felt achingly familiar. She built her own internet radio show from scratch, trying to find her people, trying to find her voice, trying to find the place where finally, things made sense.
Chasing Howard is that journey. It moves between past and present through archival letters, recordings, and personal testimony. It does not resolve its questions. It lives in them.
This is a love letter to anyone who has ever felt unseen and spent a lifetime looking for their people.