Retropod
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Retropod
Retropod is a show for history-lovers, featuring stories about the past, rediscovered. Host Mike Rosenwald introduces you to history’s most colorful characters - forgotten heroes, overlooked villains, dreamers, explorers, world changers.
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487 episodi
The presidential inauguration that made everyone sick
The Post's new Retropolis columnist, Petula Dvorak, introduces herself and reintroduces you to what can be uncovered with a good look at history.
Earthrise
On Christmas Eve in 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts captured an image that symbolizes hope and inspired environmentalism.
Hair peace. Bed peace.
On March 25, 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were a few days into their marriage when they invited the press to join them at their honeymoon suite at t...
The jazz queen who chose home over fame
Jazz singer Ethel Ennis’s voice wowed audiences and won praise from critics. But when she was faced with the opportunity to become a superstar, Ennis...
Clara Barton, America's most famous nurse, broke boundaries to treat Civil War victims
The nurse who founded the American Red Cross had no formal training in medicine. She tended to countless wounded soldiers.
The military's famous Santa Tracker began with a wrong number
In the 1950s, a child trying to call Santa Claus accidentally called NORAD and changed Christmas Eve forever.
The 'Toy King' who never aspired to the throne.
Toys R Us founder Charles Lazarus had no idea how big the toy industry would become.
Last Seen Ads
After the Civil War, formerly enslaved people placed notices in black-owned newspapers across the country to find their loved ones.
How 'Broadway Joe' redefined the NFL
A few days before his team took the field as huge underdogs in Super Bowl III, New York Jets quarterback Joe Namath made what was seen as an insane pr...
The game show contestant who cheated his way to fame
In the 1950s, Charles Van Doren, a quiet professor in New York City, became wrapped up in one of the biggest television quiz show scandals in history.
How food found its way into the freezer
While on a research trip to the Arctic in the early 20th century, scientist Clarence Birdseye — a name you might recognize from the frozen food aisle...
The day before the Chernobyl disaster
Disasters don’t just happen. Like anything in life, there’s usually a buildup. In the case of the Chernobyl disaster, the series of failures stretched...
The most difficult job Robert Mueller ever had
Serving as special counsel is probably only the third hardest job Robert Mueller has held. His life in public service started when he just 23 years ol...
Queen Arawelo
Growing up in Somalia, a country where stories are handed down through generations, one of the first tales that children are told is about an ancient...
The nurse who picked up a rifle
During World War I, British nurse Flora Sandes put down her nurses bag to fight with the Serbian Army.
George Taliaferro, the first black player drafted to the NFL
He thought being drafted into the National Football League was so unlikely that he signed with an African American league team. Then, the NFL called.
The summer men rebelled against their shirts
It doesn't seem like a big deal today, but 1930s America lived in fear of the male nipple.
America’s forgotten Iranian hostage
Nine months before the Iran hostage crisis, Kenneth Kraus was held hostage in Iran for eight days.
A bridge of ice at Niagara Falls
Once upon a time, people walked between the U.S. and Canada over a frozen Niagara Falls. But one day, that all changed forever.
The Soviet officer who stopped World War III
In 1983, Stanislav Petrov, a lieutenant colonel in the Soviet Union’s Air Defense Forces, trusted his gut and averted a global nuclear catastrophe.
Why isn’t lynching illegal?
It is one of the worst expressions of racism in American history. And there’s no federal law to prevent it.
A letter from home
A German woman discovered that her childhood home was stolen from a Jewish family who fled Nazi Germany. Last year, she tracked down the address of on...
The test that changed childbirth
In the 1950s, Dr. Virginia Apgar created a quick test that nurses have since performed on millions of babies just after birth. She is considered one o...
A debate that went into extra innings: Can baseballs curve?
Beginning in the earliest days of baseball, fans, journalists and even physicists disputed whether or not pitchers could make a ball curve.
Benjamin Franklin's complicated relationship with turkeys
Benjamin Franklin, the most colorful of America's Founding Fathers, had a misunderstood, electrical and ultimately homicidal relationship with turkeys...
The cranberry crisis that changed how we see our food
Weeks before Thanksgiving, 1959, cranberries were declared unsafe to eat. The race was on to save America’s favorite holiday side dish.
How Anita Hill’s testimony led to the "Year of the Woman"
No women served on the Senate Judiciary Committee in 1991. The ugly Anita Hill hearings changed that.
The man who filmed JFK's assassination
For many, memories of that devastating day quickly revert to that silent, flickering sequence captured by Abraham Zapruder. It is as chilling as it is...
The 'Night Witches'
During World War II, around 80 Russian women took to the skies and risked their lives to fight against the Germans.
Robert Morris, the creator of the subpoena
The history of subpoenas, and the fiery congressional hearings that have captivated Americans for centuries began with a Founding Father raising his h...
Lee Harvey Oswald's final hours before killing Kennedy
The assassination of President John F. Kennedy devastated the nation. But the day before the shooting was just a normal day. It was particularly calm...
Ketamine in the mainstream
Once a party drug, ketamine has found its way into modern medicine.
The first 'Queen of the Air'
Four years before Amelia Earhart ever got into a plane, Ruth Law was already making a name for herself in the skies.
Judy Garland and the long history of 'Me Too' in Hollywood
Sexual harassment has been existed in showbiz as long as there have been bright lights.
Jim Crow and the rise of blackface
Back in the 1830s, Jim Crow wasn't yet a symbol of inequality. He was a fictional character in minstrel shows who, to entertain his audiences, perform...
The policeman who arrested a president
After receiving complaints about carriages driving too fast, Washington D.C. policeman William H. West arrested a presidential speed demon.
A history of the U.S.-Mexico border
For decades, the boundary between Mexico and the United States was little more than an imaginary line in the sand.
The godmother of the open office
If you work in an office without offices, with just about everyone working in a large spare space full of stylish desks, straight lines and papers sto...
The Wicked Bible
A full year after the King James Bible was printed in 1631, people discovered an error.
The Confederate spy who evaded capture
After the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln, John Surratt traveled across three continents, wore disguises and used fake names for nearly two...