Deep in the Utah desert is a tiny, tiny, tiny nation: The Republic of Zaqistan. Guarded by robots, Zaqistan nonetheless welcomed new citizens for more than 15 years - until it fell into ruins. Now the eponymous founder wants to rebuild. Join hosts Ryan Murdock, Gabbie Watts and Zaron Burnett on a journey to uncharted territory … to the nation of Zaqistan…and the upside-down world of micronations. 

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In late 1998, a furry, nonsense-babbling creature arrived on the toy scene. The Furby could squeal, snore, sneeze, and … learn to speak English? Immediately upon release, thousands were backordered. Fights broke out in stores. The early internet lit up with conspiracy theories. And Furby was actually banned from the National Security Agency for its alleged potential for espionage. For today’s episode, we partnered with Celia Aniskovich’s Dial Tone Films to tell the ultimate toy story. 

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Muhammad Ali and George Foreman’s heavyweight title fight is considered one of the greatest sporting events of all time. What’s less well known is that five weeks earlier in the very same stadium, James Brown headlined an epic, three-day long, pre-fight music festival. Rumble braids together both boxing and music history for a compelling account of Muhammad Ali’s growth into both The People’s Champ and the GOAT. For his first title fight, he takes on the “bad man” Sonny Liston.

REFERENCE BOOKS:

Ali: The Greatest, My Own Story by Muhammad Ali

Ali: A Life by Jonathan Eig

Rumble In the Jungle by Lewis Erenberg

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Hi Big Brother Fans! Take a listen to the trailer of season two of SNAFU: MEDBURG with Ed Helms. 

About the show: Hosted by Ed Helms, SNAFU is a podcast about history’s greatest screw-ups. In Season 1, Ed digs into a story he can't stop thinking about: Able Archer 83, a 1983 NATO military exercise meant to prepare us for nuclear war that almost mistakenly started one. This story has a colorful cast of characters: from Ronald Reagan, to two treasonous spies, to a dauntless sleuth determined to get to the bottom of what really happened and why nobody knows about it. Ultimately, SNAFU is about nuclear paranoia and political mind games – and how fear and misunderstanding can propel us into disastrous circumstances.

Listen here and subscribe to SNAFU with Ed Helms on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts!

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The Medal of Honor is the United States’ highest military award. It is awarded for bravery in combat that goes far above and beyond the call of duty– those acts of heroism and courage that save lives despite impossible risk.

Since its inception in 1861, at the outset of the Civil War, more than 3,500 people have received the Medal of Honor. This podcast is about those heroes. What they did. What it meant. And what their stories tell us about the nature of sacrifice– and about ourselves.

Listen here or on the iHeartRadio App.

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The 1904 St. Louis Olympics featured the strangest sporting event in history. During the marathon, runners paused for naps, got chased by dogs, went apple picking, and doped with rat poison — all while being unwitting participants in a cruel scientific experiment.

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Thanks for listening! Our next episode comes out Wednesday, June 26th.

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Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Lucas Reilly
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design: Emily Marinoff
Mixing and Mastering: Baheed Frazier
Story Editor: Marisa Brown
Research and Fact-Checking: Austin Thompson and Lucas Reilly
Medal-Worthy Voice-Acting: Karl Keadle and Josh Fisher
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer: Jason English

Want to email the show? Go for it. You can reach us at [email protected]. 

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From the fall of the Taliban until its return, people all over Afghanistan planned their lives around Afghan Star. People would pack into apartments. Villages would hook up generators to a single tv so crowds could watch. New Year’s celebrations would come to a halt, all to watch this one show. Over its 15 seasons, Afghan Star spotlighted an Afghanistan that could be: women singing without hijabs, Afghanistan’s first rapper, people of warring ethnic groups hugging and cheering for each other on stage. And it launched a cultural revolution. This is the story behind it all– from how a ragtag team scrambled to make the show every week, to the dangers they faced for trying to push the country forward. In Afghanistan, a cultural revolution was televised through a musical talent show, and this is its story. Hosted by John Legend.

Listen here or on the iHeartRadio app. 

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Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the main event. The greatest botany rivalry in history! It's Vavilov vs. Lysenko for the fate of the Soviet Union. 

In the 1920s and '30s, Nikolai Vavilov was a big deal. He was studying seed genetics and learning how to prevent famines. Everyone wanted to work with him. Including a young kid named Trofim Lysenko.  

Lysenko studied with Vavilov. They were friends. But years later, Lysenko turned on his mentor, and turned against science. This became a problem, because Lysenko was good buddies with Stalin. The feud would bring the Soviet Union to its knees. And it would force Vavilov to make a fateful choice: one between the truth … or his life.  

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Very Special Episodes is a new podcast with a simple premise: we tell one incredible story each week. Follow us down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Hosted by Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, Jason English
Written by Lucas Reilly
Produced by Josh Fisher
Editing and Sound Design by Chris Childs
Additional Editing by Jonathan Washington
Mixing and Mastering by Baheed Frazier
Story Editor is Josh Fisher
Research and Fact-Checking by Austin Thompson and Lucas Reilly
Voice Actors: Tom Antonellis, Zaron Burnett, Josh Fisher, and Chris Childs
Original Music by Elise McCoy
Show Logo by Lucy Quintanilla
Executive Producer is Jason English

Hear Also...
Noble Blood: Catherine the Great and Her Husband the Mediocre
Noble Blood: The Ice Queen
Ridiculous Crime: Dope Floats: The Uncrashable Gary Betzner

And here's Peter Pringle's excellent book on Vavilov mentioned in the episode. Thanks for listening! If you're enjoying Very Special Episodes, leave us a rating and review on your favorite podcast platforms. 

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On Very Special Episodes, we tell one incredible story each week. Stranger-than-fiction tales about normal people in extraordinary situations. Stories that make you say, “this should be a movie.” Follow Dana Schwartz, Zaron Burnett, and Jason English down a different rabbit hole every Wednesday.

Listen here or on the iHeartRadio app. 

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Who Killed JFK? For 60 years, we are still asking that question. In commemoration of the 60th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's tragic assassination, legendary filmmaker Rob Reiner teams up with award-winning journalist Soledad O’Brien to tell the history of America’s greatest murder mystery. They interview CIA officials, medical experts, Pulitzer-prize winning journalists, eyewitnesses and a former Secret Service agent who, in 2023, came forward with groundbreaking new evidence. They dig deep into the layers of the 60-year-old question ‘Who Killed JFK?’, how that question has shaped America, and why it matters that we’re still asking it today. Listen to Who Killed JFK? on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-who-killed-jfk-127000428/

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