Pop Culture Preservation Society

By Pop Culture Preservation SocietySociety & Culture

Favorites
52
Followers
Typical duration
66 min
per episode
If it hooks
63%
finish an episode

Based on Podcast App listening data

Pop Culture Preservation Society episodes

October 05 PCPS LIGHT: The Gen X Outcry After The Stranger Things Finale
We dug this recording out of the vault, recorded long ago, after the finale of Stranger Things aired on New Year's Eve 2025. But the timing didn't work out and the recording got shelved. Today -- what seems like old news is relevant again as gen x bashing (or what we like to call "Gen X Misunderstanding") bubbles up on social media alongside myriad rants and hilarious Gen X clapbacks. What happened as the closing credits rolled on The Stranger Things finale was an outpouring of love from Gen Xers. Whether or not the creators intended the show to be a love letter to Gen X, it definitely felt that way. It lifted up a whole generation of people who took to social media to express all the ways the show made them feel seen. So with no planning or forethought, Carolyn and Kristin sat down at the mics to quickly capture how the show made them feel -- how the music of the 80s shaped who we are, how Gen Xers get sh*t done, or how the single moms of the 80s kept the whole world afloat and definitely deserve the opportunity to whack some bad guy with an ax. You don't have to be a Stranger Things fan to feel those things deeply. You don't even have to watch the show yourself! Just know that we see you. And so does Stranger Things.
Generations by Jean Twenge
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
50 min
September 28 PCPS Light: Revisiting "Stand By Me" on its 40th Birthday
This episode is a recap of Kristin's experience at STAND BY ME LIVE, a screening of the 1986 movie followed by a Q&A with the film's stars, Wil Wheaton, Jerry O'Connell and Corey Feldman. As the movie celebrates its 40th birthday, we now see it through an adult lens that reveals a far more profound and emotional story about young boys and friendship, a perspective we didn't have as teens in the 80s. The film's stars clearly shared a bond forged in childhood and they held up Rob Reiner as one of the few directors they worked with who cherished them and allowed them to be children. Stand By Me Live felt like a tribute to childhood friendships and a memorial for the dearly departed Rob Reiner. Visit standbymelive.com to see if there's a show near you.
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
42 min
September 21 PCPS Light: How Costco's ESPRIT Sweatshirts Caused a Gen X Pandemonium
How Costco’s ESPRIT Sweatshirts Caused a GenX Pandemonium and Why It’s About So Much More Than a Sweatshirt
As we navigate the complexities of mid-life and menopause, the recently-available Costco ESPRIT sweatshirts are wrapping us up in more than (moderately) cozy fleece. They’re hugging us with their colorful joy and, as most nuggets from our childhoods do, connecting us. Join us today as we talk about our own ESPRIT memories, and discuss why we're not only all here for this recent hysteria, but why it's all been about so much more than a sweatshirt.
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
25 min
September 14 PCPS Light: Netflix's "Little House on the Prairie" and How We Feel About It
At last, the episode so many of you have been waiting for...the PCPS take on the new Netflix "Little House on the Prairie" series. Which one of us thought it "was lacking"? Who fell in love with the cinematography and the music? And, who pronounced it the best tv series she has watched in years? Join us as we discuss what we loved and didn't about the series and how we felt about the very "hot" Mr. Edwards.
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
47 min
September 07 PCPS Light: WHAM!'s "Ten Days in China" and How It Helped Them MAKE IT BIG
The Cold War meets “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go.” Michelle dives into WHAM!: 10 Days in China, the fascinating documentary about the duo’s historic 1985 tour behind the Iron Curtain—where bewildered teens encounter Western pop for the first time, government officials keep a VERY close eye on the dancing, and George and Andrew bring maximum hair, blazers, and cool factor to a decidedly monochrome scene.
Join us as Michelle shares her experience and what she learned when she saw the documentary during its one-night showing in movie theaters.
Read Michelle's Substack piece about her experience here
Subscribe to our Substack newsletter here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
31 min
August 31 PCPS Light - Dolly Parton: We Will Always Love You
The world lost Dolly Parton, and the Pop Culture Preservation Society is not okay.
In this very un-light PCPS Light, we process the loss of a woman who somehow felt less like a celebrity and more like a favorite aunt. We talk collective grief, childhood memories, Dolly’s quiet activism and extraordinary philanthropy, her unapologetic approach to beauty, and the uncanny way her songs seem to find us exactly when we need them.
It’s funny, heartfelt, a little messy, and very, very Dolly.
Dolly, we will always love you.
Listen to the podcast, Dolly Parton's America here
Purchase "She Come By It Natural: Dolly Parton and the Women Who Lived Her Songs" by Sarah Smarsh here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
59 min
August 24 The Official Preppy Handbook: The Original Influencer
Before Coastal Grandma and Grandmillenial, there was Preppy—and in the 1980s, it was practically a way of life. From Izods and penny loafers to monograms, madras, and The Official Preppy Handbook, we’re revisiting the look, the lore, and the aspirational fantasy that defined a certain corner of our Gen X childhoods.
In this episode, we share your hilarious and revealing listener comments and take a look at how the preppy aesthetic went from Ivy League campuses to suburban malls, television screens, and closets everywhere.
Carolyn shares how she deeply, unapologetically loved this book—and it informed far more of her life than she probably realized at the time.
But where did Kristin and Michelle fall on the Preppy Spectrum? Were they true preps, mall preps, reluctant preps—or no way in hell?
So grab your Izod, pop the collar and join us in our Volvo wagon for this trip down Memory Lane.
Find The Official Preppy Handbook here
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
1 hr 18 min
August 17 Benign Neglect: GenX Parenting Stories
They don’t say GenX was raised on hose water and neglect for nothing. Sit your baby in the sun to tan? Yep! Give your toddler a lip of chewing tobacco? Sure (and make sure to snap a picture)! Babysit an infant with a heart monitor when you’re 10 years old? What could go wrong?!? Join us as we save the free-range, often lackluster parenting we experienced in our GenX childhoods by sharing some wild and hilarious stories sent in by many of our listeners ... who we are so glad made it out alive.
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
1 hr 27 min
August 10 AM RADIO GOLD: 1978 - Part 2
Another episode talking about the songs of 1978 -- because they were just that good! This is where we get deep into the songs, one after another, with Kristin going rogue and read-singing a whole list of favorites at the end. It was the height of disco, the dawn of yacht rock, and the golden era of sweet, soulful ballads that made us cry in the backseat of the station wagon as we drove that ribbon of highway to the gulf stream waters. In 1978 we had radios and we had feelings and that might be the glue that held us together and made us who we are today. Tune in to see if any of our picks give you some big feelings, too.
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
1 hr 10 min
August 03 AM Radio Gold: 1978
Join us on the podcast for another installment of our very popular series, "AM Radio Gold." This time we're celebrating our favorites from 1978 ... so many, in fact, that we split the episode into TWO PARTS! It was the year of juggernaut cultural game changers like Saturday Night Fever, Grease and anything with the name Gibb attached to it. No wonder we couldn’t stop talking! Will your favorite '78 songs be mentioned? (Spoiler: if it's "He's a Dancer" by Jimmy and Kristy McNichol, the answer is yes).
Click here for a year of Remind Magazine for only $12.
Shop our link at bookshop.org to support independent bookstores and the PCPS.
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here
Follow the Pop Culture Preservation Society on Instagram, Facebook an TikTok
Support the PCPS by becoming a patron on Patreon. Check all the extra perks you get here.
Help the PCPS keep on truckin' by making a one-time donation here
Subscribe to the PCPS email newsletter, "The Weekly Reader" here
Send us an email at [email protected]

Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
51 min

About Pop Culture Preservation Society

From the publisher's feed

The Pop Culture Preservation Society is a podcast dedicated to preserving and elevating the unsung pop culture nuggets of the classic Gen X childhood. Were you there when Marcia broke her nose?…