Soccer, known as football in most parts of the world, has made its mark on the lives of many generations. Today more than 250 million people play the sport and it has been a unifying game in many instances for people across cultures. Throughout time, soccer has evolved as countless players have changed the game by how they choose to play it. One such athlete was a Dutchman. Join us today as we discuss the beginnings of soccer and take a breath of dead air with Johan Cruyff.

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Mary, Mary, quite contrary

How does your garden grow?

With silver bells and cockleshells

And pretty maids all in a row.

Mary, Mary, not so wary

Of hearts and darkness bleak

With spirits fraught, creatures new

She was never meek

Mary, Mary, like a fairy

Drawn to mists and deep

She calls a message to us all - 

Know what to give and keep. 

Join us as we take a breath of dead air with the mother of science fiction - Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley.

Sources

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley 

https://www.biography.com/authors-writers/mary-shelley 

https://www.centralsquaretheater.org/2018-19-season/articles/mary-shelley-and-frankenstein-a-personal-history/ 

https://osborneeighteenthcenturychildrensliterature.wordpress.com/2017/01/14/mounseer-nongtongpaw-by-mary-godwin-shelley/ 

https://www.historythroughfiction.com/blog/love-and-tragedy 

https://www.nps.gov/articles/000/1816-the-year-without-summer.htm 

https://historicipswich.net/2020/06/25/1816-the-year-without-summer/ 

https://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2005/aug/hand-other-woman-shelleys-life 

https://www.historyhit.com/culture/facts-about-mary-shelley-the-woman-behind-frankenstein/ 
https://annamazzola.com/did-mary-shelley-keep-percys-heart/

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Enjoy hearing of how radio and podcasts came to be, as well as celebrate a full year of Dead Air Time Podcast with us in this off the rails episode!

Sources

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/features/rescue-development-radio/ 

https://www.fcc.gov/sites/default/files/a-short-history-of-radio.pdf 

https://study.com/academy/lesson/video/radio-wave-definition-spectrum-uses.html#:~:text=Examples%20and%20Applications%20of%20Radio,in%20body%20scanners%20in%20airports.

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What do you get when you add a growing family shoe business, a difference of opinions, and a war together? Well you’d get the Dassler brothers, of course! Join us today as we discuss the development of the sneaker and the story of two men who made the shoe market so competitive. Listen in as we take a breath of dead air with Rudolf and Adolf Dassler.

Sources

Shaw, Noah. Adidas vs Puma: Brothers at War in the Sneaker Game. ADMIT HUB REF SERVICE PR, 2025. 

Smit, Barbara. Sneaker Wars: The Enemy Brothers Who Founded Adidas and Puma and the Family Feud That Forever Changed the Business of Sports. Harper Perennial, 2009.

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In our human experiences, we search for truth. We sometimes ask ourselves - Who am I? What do I know? While the introduction of technology changed how we approach these questions and perhaps search for answers, these questions are ancient. A young man in Ancient Greece also asked these questions. He dared to question what drove human existence, greatly valued education, and searched for truths in life that would apply to all, not just those of a certain class. He strove to break the molds of his time. We know so much of him and his teachings, yet he never wrote down a word himself. His questions changed the world, and he would be killed for it. Join us as we take a breath of dead air with Ancient Greek philosopher, Socrates. 

Sources

“Genius of the Ancient World: Socrates - Documentary” History Explore Channel, made by BBC

https://www.metmuseum.org/essays/greek-gods-and-religious-practices 

https://iep.utm.edu/socrates/#:~:text=As%20a%20young%20man%20Socrates,influential%20men%20in%20the%20city. 

https://www.history.com/articles/socrates 

http://cas.loyno.edu/sites/chn.loyno.edu/files/Plague%20in%20the%20Ancient%20World_A%20Study%20from%20Thucydides%20to%20Justinian.pdf 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6402746/

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Much of our modern culture has dramatized the time when pirates roamed the ocean. It is seen as a time of great adventure and lots of treasure. But where did this treasure come from? What did the pirates actually do? And what was it like for the average citizen to live during this “golden age of piracy”? Today, we’ll explore these topics, as we take a breath of dead air with Sarah Kidd.

Sources:

Geanacopoulos, Daphne Palmer. The Pirate’s Wife: The Remarkable True Story of Sarah Kidd. Hanover Square Press, 2022.

“Research Guides: Golden Age of Piracy: A Resource Guide: Introduction.” Introduction - Golden Age of Piracy: A Resource Guide - Research Guides at Library of Congress, guides.loc.gov/golden-age-of-piracy.

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There is a fine line between an opportunist and a manipulator. Both see a chance for growth, power, wealth. One intentionally deceives to control the actions of others, while the other simply observes what is happening and takes advantage of the opportunities before them. It all comes down to the intent. The difficulty lies in identifying the differences between the two, especially when the outcomes can become so similar. While this can be tricky for people we know now or who we know are alive today who are oh-so-visible on our screens, others are even more complicated. As decades pass, perhaps even a century or two, furthering the divide between the past and the present, things can get lost, muddled, changed, confused. When it came to the Gilded Age of the United States, the same could be said of the robber barons. While their name implies they were ones to steal from others to gain more power and money, it may not always be that simple… or is it? After all, a robber baron by definition is one who monopolizes a market, usually by unethical or questionable methods, amassing great wealth as a result. So what is the truth? Join us as we take a breath of dead air with the robber baron of the Gilded Age, John D. Rockefeller Sr.

Sources

Podcast - History That Doesn’t Suck! Ep. 97: The Gilded Age’s Robber Barons: John D Rockefeller and Andrew Carnegie

https://news.clemson.edu/a-clemson-professors-detailed-study-of-snake-oil-cures-from-long-ago-reveals-connections-to-current-pharma-industry-woes/ 

https://www.britannica.com/money/John-D-Rockefeller 

https://www.nato.int/cps/fr/natohq/declassified_215371.htm?msg_pos=1#:~:text=The%20list%20of%20everyday%20items%20that%20were,sanitary%20pads%2C%20*%20wristwatches%20and.%20*%20computers. 

https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit7_3.pdf 

https://historicalsnaps.com/2018/07/26/ida-tarbell-quote-about-the-standard-oil-company/#:~:text=%E2%80%9CVery%20often%20people%20who%20admit,break%20up%20of%20the%20company. 

https://www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/teachers/lesson_plans/pdfs/unit7_5.pdf 

https://www.britannica.com/topic/Great-Railroad-Strike-of-1877 

https://rockarch.org/resources/about-the-rockefellers/john-d-rockefeller-sr/#:~:text=Family%20Life,continued%20his%20father's%20philanthropic%20work. 

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The year is 1778. General Washington is trying to rally and strategize the best he can with an army full of inexperienced, yet passionate soldiers. If they are to succeed in gaining independence from England, the American forces will need to be aware of the movements and plans of the British. Washington has assigned Major Benjamin Tallmadge to set up some informants within New York, the area that the British have conquered and claimed for their headquarters. But what risks would these everyday spies have to take? Would they be able to take the pressure? Join in as we take a breath of dead air with the Culper Ring.

Sources:

Kilmeade, Brian, and Don Yaeger. George Washington’s Secret Six: The Spies Who Saved America. Puffin Books, 2020.

“The Culper Spy Ring.” History.Com, A&E Television Networks, 28 May 2025, www.history.com/articles/culper-spy-ring.

Williams, Victoria. “Culper Spy Ring.” George Washington’s Mount Vernon, www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/culper-spy-ring. Accessed June 2025. 

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Olive held her breath as the group could finally see Fort Lamy. French soldiers were hustling about them, as the French hold of parts of Africa was breaking further and further each day. Ushered into a large, European-inspired house surrounded by all of the luxuries one could find, the river flowing nearby, it was such a picturesque scene. Surrounded by all of the beauty, soldiers told the travelers of the deadly battles between the French and the Africans - desperation, injury, and loss - her heart still clung to the hope that amidst all of this, Boyd would be alive, waiting for her. Was he alive? Was he injured? Was he truly murdered? How, why, when? Then her answer walked into the room.

Sources -

“Olive the Lionheart” by Brad Ricca

https://www.grida.no/resources/5593 

https://www.unicef.org/press-releases/attack-el-fasher-would-endanger-hundreds-thousands-children-warns-unicef 

https://www.labrujulaverde.com/en/2024/06/the-woman-who-crossed-africa-in-1910-to-visit-her-fiances-grave-and-is-buried-in-granada/

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A young woman from a wealthy and noble background has left for Africa. She knows little of where she is heading, the culture she is going to be surrounded by, the language which the people there will speak, and, most of all, where and how her finacee, Mr. Boyd Alexander, had been murdered. In search of answers, she has begun to acquire the skills needed to survive and investigate with the help of a young couple named Mr. and Mrs. Talbot. While staying in a house in the deep of Africa belonging to Governor Temple, who has alluded that they must not venture out to where Mr. Alexander was killed, she learns she has a knack for shooting and begins to hone her skill.  She is ready for her first real excursion. However, we learned that she had broken off her engagement with the very man she is there in Africa for before leaving her home in Scotland.  Torn between two possible suitors, one a long-time friend who she had only recently learned loved her, whose friends and family insist she must say yes to or his career, and life, are over, she felt she must say no to this exciting and warming new possibility she had found in Mr. Alexander.  And yet… she did care for Mr. Boyd Alexander.  She thought of him often.  She was drawn to him.  So she had written him more letters, unknowing if he had left for Africa or would even care to respond to her letters. So… just why is she there? Join us as we take a second breath of dead air with Olive McLeod in part two of her story.

Sources -

"Olive the Lionheart" by Brad Ricca

Music -

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