This is a brand-new episode from HISTORY This Week, available wherever you listen to podcasts! September 16, 1968. Richard Nixon isn't exactly seen as a comedian. But tonight, he's trying to change that by appearing on Laugh-In, a TV show similar to Saturday Night Live. Nixon needs every vote he can get in the 1968 election, facing off against Hubert Humphrey, the vice president who became the Democratic nominee after Lyndon Johnson withdrew from the ticket. Nixon's Laugh-In appearance is a surp...
Sep 16, 2024•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast HISTORY This week is about to return! We'll be back with new episodes this Monday, September 16th. In the meantime, listen to our trailer for Season 5, and follow HISTORY This Week wherever you get your podcasts. To stay updated: historythisweekpodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Sep 12, 2024•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the mid-50s, a San Bernardino man named Glen Bell is fixated on McDonald’s. His own burger stand is in shambles, and he’s trying to bounce back. When he looks around, though, he realizes Mexican food is gaining popularity, but that most Americans are afraid of anything that strays from their bland palettes. That’s when he realizes: A taco is really a burger in a shell. With a few fits and starts, Taco Bell is born. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jul 13, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast Popcorn may very well be the oldest snack food on the planet, but for much of its modern history it was something to be consumed in movie theaters or at fairgrounds - not at home. No truly national brand existed and it was far from the convenient snack it is today. But in the 1950s, Orville Redenbacher believed science could launch popcorn forward, making him a household name. His thousands of hybridizing experiments innovated popcorn down to its genetic code, resulting in a more flavorful pop t...
Jul 06, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nowadays, grocery stores and gas stations are filled with Little Debbie products. In the 1950s, though, snack cakes were just gaining popularity, when a Chattanooga couple took a risk, scrapping big pies in favor of debut snack cakes instead. their company, Little Debbie, now dominates 54% of the snack cake industry with over $890 million in sales. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 29, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the mid 1970s, a woman who wants to be more than just a housewife, is tired of living in her husband’s shadow. Armed with her phenomenal cookies, Debbi Fields seeks out an unlikely spot for her unlikely business - a cookie shop named Mrs. Fields in a shopping mall...run by a woman with no experience. With her husband’s credit on the line, she starts her journey to build a $450 million dollar cookie juggernaut. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 22, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the mid-60s, a single perfume salesman finds himself struggling to meet women to date. So, he goes to the bar to complain to the bartender about his predicament. That’s when the salesman has an idea: What if you made your own co-ed bar? What ensues is a quest to make bars coed and fun, and TGI Fridays is born, revolutionizing the idea of sit-down dining and bar culture. Now, the business has 303 locations in the United States. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 15, 2022•36 min•Transcript available on Metacast In Illinois, a father and son working in the wholesale ice cream mixing business have an idea. Convinced that ice cream tastes better fresh before it’s fully-frozen, what if they could create a machine that could dispense it while it’s still only semi-solid? Their names are John and Alex McCullough. By 1940 the McCullough’s open their first store, naming it Dairy Queen. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jun 08, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Post-World War Two, a food entrepreneur sees promise in a new business. In 1948, William Rosenberg notices two of his offerings selling better than anything else: donuts and coffee. So, he takes a risk, opening a shop with his brother-in-law that will sell just two items. The store, Open Kettle, offers a whopping 52 kinds of hand cut donuts. After a few bumps along the road, Dunkin Donuts is born, and Rosenberg finds a way to dominate the donut business. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy fo...
Jun 01, 2022•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast 150 years ago, German immigrants in the Midwest write the history of beer in America. A recently shipwrecked steamboat captain - Captain Frederick Pabst - buys a local brewery, becoming the largest producer in the city. The crisp American lager we know today is born. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 25, 2022•30 min•Transcript available on Metacast Sixty years ago, sandwiches were finger food, not a whole meal, and certainly not sold as fast food. But when three high school friends encounter a sub sandwich, they realize it’s the perfect fast-food alternative. As they navigate advertising, business, and menus, they create Blimpie, and reshape the way Americans think about lunch. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 18, 2022•24 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1950s, one of the biggest companies in the world - Procter and Gamble - decides to enter the chip business. A chemist for P&G designs a strong, saddle-shaped chip and a revolutionary container to ship them in, and Pringles are born. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
May 11, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Nabisco, the most popular cookie company, is born when an ill-fated partnership leads Adolphus Green to revolutionize packaging and create one of the most iconic cookie and cracker companies ever. But when his former partners strike back with their own invention, Green retaliates with the help of milk chocolate titan Milton Hershey. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
May 04, 2022•22 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1970's, Ray Kroc of McDonald’s is far ahead of the competition. But when a burger chain called Burger King poaches his third-highest ranking executive, Don Smith, it's war. Smith re-engineers the emerging rival, and in an unprecedented move, Kroc brings on a world renowned chef to develop the chicken nugget. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 27, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast William Wrigley, whose name will later adorn sports stadiums and buildings, first stumbles upon a new product that will kickstart a revolution across industries. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 20, 2022•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast At the turn of the 20th century, James Kraft challenges thousands of years of cheese-making tradition and forever alters the dairy industry with his new cheese innovation: processed cheese. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 13, 2022•23 min•Transcript available on Metacast In the 1950s, two Florida visionaries start Insta-Burger King, a burger stand that will become Ray Kroc and McDonald’s biggest rival, re-inventing their kitchen's equipment into the pioneering flame broiler. Over the next two decades these two iconic restaurants will duke it out, launching the flame-broiled burger that will shape the world. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Apr 06, 2022•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Food That Built America is back, and believe it when we say it's the greatest thing since sliced bread. Season two will take you behind the scenes of sandwich squabbles, histories of beer, and origin stories of our favorite snacks. We'll explore the rivalries, runaway successes, and tremendous failures of the biggest names in food and drink and the legacies they left behind. New episodes of The Food That Built America premiere on April 6th wherever you listen to podcas...
Feb 25, 2022•1 min•Transcript available on Metacast Welcome back to a new season of the C13Originals critically acclaimed Hope, Through History documentary limited series. Narrated and written by Pulitzer Prize Winning and Best Selling Historian, Jon Meacham, Season Two explores some of the most historic and trying times in American History, and how this nation dealt with the impact of these moments, and how we came through these moments a more unified nation. Season Two, presented by C13Originals, in association with The HISTORY Channel, will gu...
Jun 30, 2021•2 min•Transcript available on Metacast During the Great Depression, a Kentucky businessman named Harlan Sanders started selling fried chicken out of the tiny kitchen inside his gas station. He launched a product that would become an American staple and make him a brand icon: Kentucky Fried Chicken. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 08, 2021•29 min•Ep 10•Transcript available on Metacast With his iconic milk chocolate bar, Milton Hershey transformed an exotic luxury into an affordable indulgence for millions of Americans. Then he went to war with an upstart rival - Frank Mars, creator of legendary bars like the Milky Way, Snickers and Three Musketeers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Apr 01, 2021•32 min•Ep 9•Transcript available on Metacast In different corners of the country in the 1930s, ambitious entrepreneurs Charles Elmer Doolin and Herman Lay launched two products — Fritos corn chips and Lay’s potato chips — that would revolutionize the way Americans snack. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 25, 2021•34 min•Ep 8•Transcript available on Metacast In 1905, an 11-year-old boy named Frank Epperson left a stirring stick in a cup of soda out in the cold overnight. The next morning, he discovered the Popsicle, an icy treat enjoyed by millions today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 18, 2021•36 min•Ep 7•Transcript available on Metacast After suffering through bankruptcy and imprisonment in his early 20s, a young entrepreneur named Henry Heinz made his own version of a popular sauce known as ketchup. His tasty brand would change Americans’ food preferences for generations. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 11, 2021•30 min•Ep 6•Transcript available on Metacast In two different Midwestern cities, two pairs of Irish-American brothers turn a little-known Italian dish into the single most popular food in the world. The franchises they start will change their lives, along with the American diet - Pizza Hut and Domino's. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Mar 04, 2021•31 min•Ep 5•Transcript available on Metacast Dick and Mac McDonald created a ground-breaking innovative restaurant in San Bernardino, California. But it took an ambitious salesman named Ray Kroc to turn McDonald’s into a fast food empire. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 25, 2021•25 min•Ep 4•Transcript available on Metacast As Corn Flakes take over the world, brothers Will and John Harvey Kellogg do battle with a former patient-turned-rival, C.W. Post. Eventually, they go to war with each other. Part two of a two-part series. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 18, 2021•32 min•Ep 3•Transcript available on Metacast The first part of a two-part exploration of the two great American breakfast cereal dynasties, Kellogg’s and Post, and the eccentric sanitarium where they began. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 11, 2021•28 min•Ep 2•Transcript available on Metacast The story of Coca-Cola is the tale of a chemical genius and morphine addict, John Pemberton, and a brilliant pharmacist-turned-promoter, Asa Candler, who transformed an obscure soda tonic into one of the most recognizable brands on the planet. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Feb 04, 2021•29 min•Ep 1•Transcript available on Metacast It takes bold visionaries risking everything to create some of the most recognizable brands on the planet. The Food That Built America, based on the hit documentary series from The HISTORY® Channel, tells the extraordinary true stories of industry titans like Henry Heinz, Milton Hershey, the Kellogg brothers and Ray Kroc, who revolutionized the food industry and transformed American life and culture in the process. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information....
Jan 31, 2021•5 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
