The untold stories behind the products you’re obsessed with and the bold risk-takers who made them go viral. How did Birkenstocks go from a German cobbler’s passion project 250 years ago to a starring role in the Barbie movie? Who created that bottle of Sriracha permanently living in your fridge? Did you know the Air Jordans were initially banned by the NBA, or that Super Mario became the best-selling video game character ever thanks to a strategy called “The Infinite Game?” On Wondery’s new weekly podcast The Best Idea Yet, Nick Martell and Jack Crivici-Kramer (hosts of the award-winning daily pop-business podcast, The Best One Yet aka TBOY) have identified the most viral products of all time and reveal their untold origin stories — plus the bold risk-takers who brought them to life. From the Happy Meal to Levi’s 501 jeans, come for the products you’re obsessed with, stay for the business insights that’ll make you the most interesting person at your next brunch. 

Follow The Best Idea Yet on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Wondery.fm/TBIY_IP

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At a time when we’re debating where policing is going, we’re going to tell you where the police came from. Guided by Peabody award-winning host Chenjerai Kumanyika, Empire City will provide the first accessible narrative history of the American police and its place in popular culture. Who are the police? And why were police departments created in the first place? To find answers, we’re going to tell the origin story of the largest police force in the world: The NYPD. We begin in the late 1800’s at a moment when the entire police force was on trial. It’s the biggest corruption scandal in the history of the NYPD, and it all plays out like a high stakes courtroom drama. What follows is the action-packed account of how the NYPD got to this point and what happened next. It involves Black abolitionists fighting slave patrols in the courts of Gotham; two rival police forces duking it out for power at City Hall; the origins of the true crime genre; and how the NYPD spread their tactics worldwide.

Listen to Empire City wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/Empire_City.

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Join NFL Insider and social media breakout star, Annie Agar, as she tackles the world of fantasy football, odds, props and parlays in “The Offensive Line.” Each week, Annie will break down the NFL’s juiciest and trendiest matchups and drama in her signature quick hitting style, while roasting players and teams (sorry in advance Cowboys fans), dishing out some ice-cold takes, teasing you with a weekly teaser 😉 and slamming the most “offensive” lines, odds and spreads. She’ll be joined by current and former players, and celebrity superfans for a fiery and fun slant on all things football, fantasy and Annie’s favorite picks!

Enjoy The Offensive Line with Annie Agar wherever you get your podcasts: Wondery.fm/TOL

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Pablo Escobar is a household name, known for his reign of terror in Colombia’s cocaine wars. But it wasn’t always that way. The leader of one of the world’s most infamous drug cartels fought his way to the top throughout the 1970s and 80s. Escobar’s Medellin cartel was determined to extinguish its main rival — the Cali cartel, but with billions of dollars at stake, trade disputes quickly turned into actual battles with body counts. The new season of Business Wars goes deep into the battles between the Cali and Medellin cartels, who will stop at nothing to win market dominance.

Follow Business Wars on the Wondery App or wherever you get your podcasts. Listen to all episodes of Business Wars: Drug Cartels exclusively and ad-free by joining Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Start your free trial today Wondery.fm/BWDC_IP. And check out the new TV series that inspired this season of Business Wars 'Hotel Cocaine’, on MGM+. Click here to get 50% off your first month: https://www.mgmplus.com/wondery.

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In the first episode of Spellcaster, you learned about the meteoric rise of Sam Bankman-Fried. The financial savant accomplished a lot before turning thirty: he founded his own crypto-exchange, became one of the youngest billionaires ever, and shared the stage with world leaders and celebrities alike. But Bankman-Fried wasn’t prepared for when journalists started poking around and asking tough questions.

If you want to hear the rest of Spellcaster, you can binge the nine-part series, about one of the most catastrophic financial frauds in history, exclusively on Wondery Plus.

On Wondery Plus, you can listen to all your favorite podcasts early and ad-free. With a library featuring over 50 #1 Apple Podcast hits and 45,000 binge worthy episodes, there’s something for everyone.

Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or an Apple Podcasts.

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Sam Bankman-Fried was making billions. He shared the stage with world leaders and celebrities. His face appeared on billboards promoting his plans to save the world. But this carefully staged production was about to be tested when reporters started asking questions.

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When nerdy gamer Sam Bankman-Fried rocketed to fame as the world’s richest 29-year-old, he pledged to donate his billions to good causes. But when Sam's crypto exchange FTX collapsed, billions of dollars went missing, and Sam was in handcuffs, those who knew him were left wondering — who was Sam really? A well-meaning billionaire who made a mistake? Or a calculated con man? From Wondery and Bloomberg, the makers of The Shrink Next Door, comes a new story of incredible wealth, betrayal, and what happens when “doing good” goes really, really, bad.

You can binge all episodes of Spellcaster: The Fall of Sam Bankman-Fried exclusively and ad-free on Wondery+. Find Wondery+ in the Wondery App or on Apple Podcasts.

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