Privacy Policy

Last updated Oct. 6, 2026. Version 5 — replaces the policy of Oct. 10, 2018 in full; version 5 adds the weekly report to Google Ads of which ad visits led to a listen or an email signup (from Oct. 13, 2026); version 4 (Oct. 6, 2026) recorded the day this Site replaced the previous catsroundtable.com, the day the old site’s Meta pixels and Google Analytics ended; version 3 (Oct. 4, 2026) stated that usage analytics (PostHog) is switched on, with its identifier in local storage and no cookie.

This Privacy Policy explains how Red Apple Media, Inc. (“Red Apple Media”, “we”, “us”, “our”), 800 Third Avenue, 2nd Floor, New York, NY 10022 — the company that owns 77 WABC — handles personal information on catsroundtable.com and its subdomains (the “Site”), in the weekend emails, and in the contact form. The Site is the online home of The Cats Roundtable, the Sunday-morning radio program and podcast hosted by John Catsimatidis and produced and broadcast by 77 WABC. This policy covers the Site only: the live stream on wabcradio.com, the station’s apps and the podcast feed are governed by Red Apple Media’s Internet Privacy Policy on wabcradio.com and, in a podcast app, by that app’s policy — not by this one.

This policy is also our notice at collection under the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and its regulations. It is written to apply to everyone who uses the Site, wherever you live.

The short version

You can read and listen to everything on the Site without giving us any information.
We ask for an email address only if you want the weekend emails, and for a name, an email address and a message only if you write to us.
We do not sell personal information. From Oct. 13, 2026 we tell Google Ads once a week which visits from our Google ads led to a listen or an email signup — a report California law may count as “sharing”; it never includes visits from a browser that sends the Global Privacy Control signal. There is no advertising technology on the Site today — no ad network, no social-media pixel, no Google Analytics.
We use a small number of service providers to run the Site. Each is named below with what it receives and why.
You can ask what we hold about you, ask us to correct or delete it, or opt out of anything, through the contact form. We never treat you differently for exercising a right.

Personal information we collect

The table below uses the categories California law asks for. “Automatically” means your browser sends it in the ordinary course of loading a page.

Identifiers

Email address — from you, when you sign up for the weekend emails or write to us. Purpose: to send what you asked for and to reply.
Name — from you, only on the contact form. Purpose: to address the reply.
IP address — automatically, to our hosting provider’s server logs, to the spam check on the contact form when it is active, and to the audio host when you press play. Purpose: to deliver pages and audio, to keep the Site secure and to limit abuse.

Internet and other network activity

Pages viewed, the clicks on the Site’s own controls (play, share, follow, sign up, the live stream), the page you came from and any campaign codes in the address, browser and device type, the player’s start / halfway / finish events — automatically, to our analytics provider (PostHog), under a random identifier kept in your browser’s local storage that is not linked to your name or email, and never for a browser that sends the Global Privacy Control signal. Purpose: to understand what is read and heard, which campaigns bring listeners, and to improve the Site.
Technical details of an error (the page, the browser, the program trace) — automatically, to our error-monitoring provider when something breaks. Purpose: to fix it.
Campaign codes in the address you arrived on (Google’s click identifier, “utm” parameters), the landing page and the time — automatically, stored in a first-party cookie for 90 days. Purpose: to know which campaigns bring listeners and sign-ups, and, from Oct. 13, 2026, to tell Google Ads which of its ad clicks led to a listen or a sign-up (see Sale and sharing). The cookie holds no name or email address.

Approximate location

The city or region implied by your IP address, as our hosting and analytics providers derive it. We do not collect precise geolocation.

What we do not collect

No account, password, payment or purchase information — the Site has none of these.
No sensitive personal information as California defines it (government identifiers, financial accounts, precise location, health, race, religion, sexual orientation, the contents of private communications other than the message you send us).
No inferences or profiles about you. We do not build audience segments or targeted-advertising profiles.
No information from data brokers or other third parties about you.

Why we use it

To provide the Site and its audio, and to send the weekend emails to people who asked for it.
To respond to messages sent through the contact form, including guest bookings, press requests, accessibility reports and corrections.
To keep the Site secure, prevent spam and abuse, and debug errors.
To measure, in aggregate, which pages and interviews are read and heard and which campaigns bring listeners.
To tell Google Ads, once a week from Oct. 13, 2026, which visits from our Google ads led to a listen or an email signup, so we can see which ads work and Google can show them to people likely to listen (see Sale and sharing).
To comply with law, enforce our Terms of Use and protect the rights and safety of the show, its guests and the public.

We do not use personal information for any purpose that is incompatible with the one it was collected for without telling you first. We do not use automated decision-making that produces legal or similarly significant effects about you.

Cookies and similar technologies

The Site sets one cookie of its own (cats_attr, the campaign-code cookie above) and keeps the player’s position, your player-mode choice and the analytics identifier in your browser’s local storage. Analytics (PostHog) sets no cookie: its random visitor identifier lives in local storage only, under a name that begins with “ph_”, until you clear your browser data. Third-party players (Spreaker, and SoundCloud or Megaphone on some archive interviews) may set their own cookies and load their own analytics inside their frames when the player loads — the Megaphone player, for example, loads Google Tag Manager as soon as it scrolls into view. There is no cookie banner because nothing here requires consent under U.S. law: the Site runs no advertising or cross-site tracking code. The full list, with names, providers, purposes and durations, is the Cookie Policy.

Who receives personal information

Service providers

These companies process personal information only to provide the named service to us, under contracts that restrict their use of it. They are “service providers” under the CCPA, not third parties we sell or share to — with one exception, Google Ads, named last and explained under Sale and sharing.

Vercel Inc. — hosts the Site and runs the small server functions behind the sign-up and contact forms; receives the request logs every web host receives (IP address, browser, page, time), kept about one day on our plan. Vercel privacy policy
Plus Five Five, Inc. (Resend) — sends the confirmation, contact and list emails from the Site and stores the mailing list (email address, when it was added, delivery status). Resend privacy policy
Cloudflare, Inc. — Turnstile, the check that tells people from automated submissions on the contact form when it is active; receives technical signals from your browser, including your IP address, and nothing you type. Cloudflare privacy policy
PostHog, Inc. (United States) — usage analytics. Receives pages viewed, the clicks on the Site’s own controls, referrers and campaign codes, and the player’s events under a random identifier kept in your browser’s local storage (no cookie); it does not record what you type into forms, never receives an email address (addresses are removed before anything is sent), runs only on the Site’s own hosts — never on preview or test copies — and not at all for a browser that sends the Global Privacy Control signal. PostHog privacy policy
Functional Software, Inc. (Sentry) — error monitoring: the page, the browser and the program trace of an error, kept for 90 days by default; set not to send personal information, and if it records a short replay of the page after an error, every piece of text and every form field is masked and media is blocked. Sentry privacy policy
Spreaker Inc., an iHeartMedia company — the audio player and 77 WABC’s podcast feed; when the player loads and when you press play your browser talks to Spreaker, which receives your IP address and the usual player requests and may set its own cookies and load its own analytics in its frame. The feed belongs to 77 WABC. Spreaker privacy policy
SoundCloud and Megaphone (Spotify) — the players on some archive interviews, named above each one; they load when scrolled into view and may set their own cookies and load their own analytics (Megaphone’s loads Google Tag Manager). SoundCloud privacy policy
Google LLC (Google Ads) — from Oct. 13, 2026. When you arrive from one of our Google ads and then listen or sign up for the weekend emails, we let Google know, once a week, using only the reference Google itself attached to the ad click (its “gclid”, “gbraid” or “wbraid” code), the kind of action, the time it happened and our own reference number for it — never your name, email address, IP address or any other identifier — so we can see which ads work and Google can show them to people likely to listen. Google is not a service provider to us in this respect (see Sale and sharing). If your browser sends the Global Privacy Control signal, the Site’s analytics code does not run, so visits made with the signal are never in the report. How Google uses information from sites that use its services

Nobody else, except

Legal requirements — a court order, subpoena, lawful request by a public authority, or where disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property or safety of the show, its guests, its listeners or the public.
A change of ownership — if the Site or the show changes hands, personal information may transfer to the new owner under this policy; we would tell you first.
With your direction — for example, when you ask us to pass a message to a guest.

Sale and sharing

This Site does not sell personal information. From Oct. 13, 2026 we report to Google Ads, once a week, which visits from our Google ads led to a listen or an email signup — keyed only on the click reference Google attached to the ad, with the kind of action, its time and our own reference number for it, never a name, email address, IP address or other identifier. California law may count a report like this to an advertising platform as “sharing” for cross-context behavioural advertising, so we treat it as one and give you the opt-out the law requires: the Site’s analytics code does not run for a browser that sends the Global Privacy Control signal, so its visits are never in the report (see Your rights, and the Do Not Sell or Share section below). Beyond that report we do not share personal information for cross-context behavioural advertising. In the preceding 12 months the previous version of catsroundtable.com carried Meta (Facebook) pixels and Google Analytics, which disclosed internet-activity information (pages visited, device identifiers) to Meta and Google for measurement and advertising — “sharing” under the CCPA — until Oct. 6, 2026, the day this Site replaced it; no such tag is on this Site. We have no actual knowledge of selling or sharing the personal information of consumers under 16.

How long we keep it

Email address on the list: until you unsubscribe or ask us to delete it. A site sign-up that is never confirmed is not added to the list; the confirmation link expires after 48 hours. Resend keeps delivery logs for its own retention period.
Contact-form messages: in the producers’ inbox for as long as needed to handle your request and keep a record of the correspondence, then deleted.
Server logs: about one day on our Vercel plan.
Error reports: 90 days on Sentry by default. Analytics: for PostHog’s retention period; the records carry random identifiers, not your name. The identifier in your browser’s local storage stays until you clear your browser data.
The cats_attr cookie: 90 days. The player’s local storage: until you clear your browser data.

We keep each category only as long as reasonably necessary for the purpose it was collected for, or as the law requires.

Your rights and how to use them

Residents of California have the following rights under the CCPA. Residents of other states with comprehensive privacy laws have similar rights. We extend all of them to everyone who uses the Site, wherever you live.

To know and access — what categories and specific pieces of personal information we have collected about you, from where, why, and with whom we have shared it.
To delete — the personal information we hold about you, subject to the exceptions the law allows (for example, completing a request you made, security, or a legal obligation).
To correct — inaccurate personal information.
To opt out of sale or sharing — see the next section. We do not sell personal information; the one report that may count as sharing (to Google Ads, above) never includes visits from a browser that sends the Global Privacy Control signal, and that signal is the opt-out we honour.
To limit the use of sensitive personal information — we collect none.
Not to be discriminated against for exercising any of these rights — we never deny service, charge differently or offer a different quality of service because you did.

To exercise a right, use the contact form and tell us what you are asking for. We will confirm receipt within 10 business days and respond within 45 days; if we need more time (up to another 45 days) we will say so and why. To verify a request we may ask you to confirm the email address the request concerns — for the mailing list, that is usually the only information we hold. You may use an authorised agent; we will ask the agent for your signed permission and may confirm the request with you directly. If we decline a request we will explain the reason, and you may appeal by replying through the same form.

Residents of the European Economic Area, the United Kingdom and Switzerland: the Site is directed at a United States audience and is operated from the United States; your information is processed here. We nevertheless honour requests of access, rectification, erasure, restriction and objection on the same terms as above. Where a legal basis is needed, we rely on your consent for the weekend emails (which you can withdraw at any time by unsubscribing) and on our legitimate interests in running, securing and measuring the Site for everything else.

We do not sell personal information. The one disclosure that may count as “sharing” under the CCPA is the weekly report to Google Ads described under Sale and sharing — Google’s own click reference, the kind of action, its time and our own reference number for it, never a name, email address, IP address or other identifier. No advertising tag runs on the Site, and we do not disclose personal information to any third party for money or other valuable consideration.

Global Privacy Control. We treat a browser or extension that sends the Global Privacy Control (GPC) signal as a valid request to opt out of the sale and sharing of personal information for that browser, as California’s regulations require, and the Site acts on it: when the signal is present, the Site’s analytics code does not run, PostHog is never loaded and no usage event is recorded — and because the weekly report to Google Ads is built from those events, nothing about your visit is ever in it. The “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link in the footer leads here: sending the Global Privacy Control signal is the opt-out, and it works on every page. If we ever add another service that would sell or share personal information, this section will change first and the Site will act on the GPC signal before that service loads too.

We process the signal in a frictionless manner: no pop-up, nothing to fill in and no charge, and the Site works the same as without it — the one visible sign is “Opt-Out Request Honored”, shown beside the footer link and just below while your browser sends the signal. To send it: the Brave and DuckDuckGo browsers send it on their own; in Firefox, tick “Tell websites not to sell or share my data” in the privacy settings; in Chrome or Edge, add an extension that sends it, such as the EFF’s Privacy Badger. Other browsers and extensions that support it are listed at globalprivacycontrol.org.

Security

We maintain reasonable administrative, technical and physical safeguards appropriate to the size of the Site and the sensitivity of the information, as New York’s SHIELD Act (General Business Law § 899-bb) requires: every page and form is served over HTTPS; the only personal information we store is the mailing list and the messages you send; access to the mailing list and the inbox is limited to the people who run the show; our providers are bound by contract; secrets are never stored in the Site’s code; and the Site is monitored for errors. No method of transmission or storage is completely secure. If a breach of security affects your private information, we will notify you and the authorities as New York General Business Law § 899-aa and other applicable laws require.

Children

The Cats Roundtable is a news and public-affairs program made for adults. The Site is not directed at children, and we do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 13, as the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) defines it. If you believe a child under 13 has given us an email address or a message, tell us through the contact form and we will delete it. We also do not knowingly sell or share the personal information of anyone under 16.

The weekend emails

The show’s email list receives two emails a week: Saturday’s lineup and Sunday’s interviews. New sign-ups on this Site are double opt-in — we send one confirmation message and add the address only after you click the link in it. Subscribers who joined through the show’s earlier list were carried over with the consent they gave there and can unsubscribe the same way. Every issue identifies the sender, carries a working one-click unsubscribe and a physical postal address, and says why you are receiving it, as the CAN-SPAM Act requires. Unsubscribing takes effect at once — well within the 10 business days the law allows — and we never charge for it or ask for anything beyond the address. We do not sell, rent or lend the list. The emails the Site itself sends (the confirmation, the already-subscribed note, unsubscribe confirmations) contain no images, no tracking pixel and no click tracking; the weekly emails carry the show’s and the station’s logos and the guests’ photographs, loaded from our own and the show’s hosts, and no tracking pixel or click tracking of ours. Until the move to the new list is complete, the weekly emails to the earlier list are sent through VerticalResponse, which applies its own delivery tracking under its own policy. From any email, the only thing we learn is whether it was delivered or bounced.

Links and embedded players

The Site links to other websites — 77 WABC and the live stream, the podcast directories, booksellers, guests’ own pages — and embeds third-party audio players. Those sites and players have their own privacy practices; we do not control them and this policy does not cover them. Review their policies before you give them information.

Analytics and advertising tags

The previous version of catsroundtable.com used Google Analytics and Meta (Facebook) pixels until Oct. 6, 2026, the day this Site replaced it. This Site does not, and none of them — no Google Analytics, no Google Ads conversion tag, no Meta pixel — was added when this Site replaced the previous one. What this Site does instead, from Oct. 13, 2026: no tag runs in your browser; once a week we send Google Ads, through its Data Manager API, the click reference Google attached to each ad visit that led to a listen or an email signup, with the kind of action, its time and our own reference number for it, and no name, email address, IP address or other identifier (Sale and sharing, above). If a tag is ever added later, this policy and the Cookie Policy will be updated before it is live, the Do Not Sell or Share section will describe the opt-out, and the Site will honour the Global Privacy Control signal against it.

The broadcast and the station

This policy covers the Site, not the broadcast. The Cats Roundtable is produced and transmitted by 77 WABC (WABC-AM, New York), our radio station, under its licence from the Federal Communications Commission; the broadcast, the live stream, on-air advertising and the podcast feed are the station’s operations, governed by the station’s own policies on wabcradio.com. Nothing on the Site is a public inspection file or a filing of any kind.

Changes to this policy

We review this policy at least once every 12 months, as California requires, and whenever the Site changes what it collects. When we change it we post the new version here with a new “Last updated” date and version number; if a change affects how we use the addresses on the mailing list, we say so in the next email before it takes effect.

Contact

Questions about this policy or about your personal information: the contact form reaches the people who run the Site. We do not publish a mailbox on the Site, so the form is the channel; it works without an account and we confirm receipt. By post, the show’s correspondence address is The Cats Roundtable, 77 WABC, P.O. Box 1777, New York, NY 10163 — the same line every one of our emails carries. (The address in the first paragraph is the company’s; the P.O. Box is where letters to the show go.)