New Slate Podcast Examines The Thrilling Histories Of Some Of The World’s Biggest Companies

For me and many others, the Slate Political Gabfest that launched in December 2005 was one of the first podcasts we listened to with its lively mix of fact and opinion-based journalism with hosts whose charming banter told us just what we needed to hear for the week.

Since that time they’ve become a leader in the podcast field with veteran reporting you can count on that’s led to over 250 million downloads in 2019 and more than 25 podcasts currently in production. They’re anchored by the smash hit Slow Burn which began in 2017 with an 8-episode investigation into Watergate that gripped our nation’s listeners who couldn’t help but notice the parallels to the Donald Trump presidency and his at the time soon to be forthcoming impeachment hearings. 45 million downloads later, it’s safe to say that podcast audiences have devoured their style of long-form investigative journalism and the upcoming fourth season on David Duke and fifth season on the Iraq War should do nicely as well.

The upcoming podcast Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism that launches this Friday looking at companies that are major movers and shakers in the business world, fits nicely into that established mold.

It’s hosted by longtime Slate contributor Seth Stevenson who’s guested on many of their popular programs like the Culture Gabfest and The Gist and whose most recent podcast The Secret History of the Future was a tech podcast featuring a partnership between Slate and The Economist. The show sought to make connections between technologies of the past and today and looked at how people’s reactions to new technology have largely remained the same. “Ultimately,” Seth told me, “human nature seems immutable.”

That immutability would seem to be a very big part of the reason why so many people continued to book cruises after news of the Coronavirus broke in America. The first episode of the show is about Carnival Cruise Line, and like so many other things right now, it didn’t start out as a COVID-19 story, but ultimately it kind of ended up that way.

“I’m kind of fascinated by maritime stuff,” Seth told me. “We’ve been planning the show for months and Carnival was one of the stories I definitely wanted to do from the start.” Seth says that originally the episode was going to be focused on the problems with the cruise ship industry, like when Carnival cruise ships collided with tankers in Mexico. However, those plans ran aground as soon as COVID-19 hit and the trajectory of the show had to change to include it.

In fact, many of the upcoming episodes had to be retooled in light of the new world that we’re living in. Obviously an upcoming episode about Purell hand sanitizer had to be changed since we’re all so desperately hoarding the stuff, but it’s even impacted unrelated companies like Victoria’s Secret whose fortunes have been sinking like a rock with no one going to malls anymore.

But despite last-minute updates from COVID-19, Thrilling Tales is a terrific show with a hilariously snarky title. Seth tells me that originally when planning the title they were thinking of pithy business terms like “Market Report” and other two-word business jargon. But that was scrapped when Seth realized he wanted it to be more fun and less like a dull business recitation, but a rollicking tale that might have to look slightly askance at questionable business practices instead of just being complete boosters.

“I’m interested in telling fascinating, informative stories about companies that are in the news,” Seth told me. “By looking at their history and how they got here you can discover something about the essential nature of the company, and that kind of informs why they ended up where they are.”

A short trailer is now available, and future episodes will also include Epic Games, Domino’s Pizza, McKinsey & Co, and Harley Davidson.

The first episode of Thrilling Tales of Modern Capitalism about Carnival Cruise Line premieres this Friday May 22 and future episodes will launch on Friday as well.