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This Day

This Day

By: Jody Avirgan & Radiotopia
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About this listen

“This Day” takes you beyond the head-spinning headlines of today and into the unexpected historical moments that have shaped American politics. Hosted by Jody Avirgan (538), and historians Nicole Hemmer (Vanderbilt), and Kellie Carter Jackson (Wellesley), each episode explores a moment from that day in U.S. political history to uncover its lasting impact.

On Sunday episodes, Jody, Niki and Kellie react to current news with their usual mix of humor, analysis, and historical perspective.

New episodes released Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Lots more on our Instagram page, YouTube, and newsletter. Find it all at thisdaypod.com.

This Day is a proud member of the Radiotopia podcast network from PRX.

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Episodes
  • "I'm Just A Bill" [2025 Favorite]
    Dec 23 2025

    We're bringing you some of our favorite episodes of 2025 while we get a holiday break -- and prepare for our big America250 series. See you in 2026!

    It's March 27th. This day in 1976, Schoolhouse Rock premieres the song "I'm Just A Bill," an animated look at the process by which legislation gets passed -- or languishes in the halls of Congress.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie talk about how the song came together, the legislation at the heart of the process, and whether lawmaking still happens the same way.

    Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com

    This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

    Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

    If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

    Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

    Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Julie Shapiro and Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producers at Radiotopia


    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
    Show More Show Less
    19 mins
  • Starbucks Fixes Racism [2025 Favorite]
    Dec 21 2025

    We're bringing you some of our favorite episodes of 2025 while we get a holiday break -- and prepare for our big America250 series. See you in 2026!

    It's April 3rd. In 2015, Starbucks announces that it is bringing its "Race Together" initiative to a close, after it was relentlessly mocked and critced online and in stores.

    Jody, Niki, and Kellie look back at the very-Obama-era effort by the coffee chain to spark conversations about racial inequality by having their baristas write #racetogether on customer's cups. Customers were not feeling it.

    Sign up for our newsletter! Find out more at thisdaypod.com

    This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

    Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

    If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

    Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, want to buy some merch, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com

    Follow us on social @thisdaypod

    Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich, Executive Producer at Radiotopia

    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
  • The Anglo-American Film Spat (1947)
    Dec 18 2025

    It's December 17th. This day in 1947, the US and UK film industries are in a trade war -- a couple years after the two countries fought together in an actual war.

    Jody, NIki, and Kellie talk about the year-long battle over taking the film industries, how Britain tried to protect its domestic industry from US dominance -- and the various ripple effects for the cultural dominance of the two countries.

    Sign up for our newsletter! We’ll be sending out links to all the stuff we recommended later this week.

    Find out more at thisdaypod.com

    This Day In Esoteric Political History is a proud member of Radiotopia from PRX.

    Your support helps foster independent, artist-owned podcasts and award-winning stories.

    If you want to support the show directly, you can do so on our website: ThisDayPod.com

    Get in touch if you have any ideas for future topics, or just want to say hello. Our website is thisdaypod.com Follow us on social @thisdaypod

    Our team: Jacob Feldman, Researcher/Producer; Brittani Brown, Producer; Khawla Nakua, Transcripts; music by Teen Daze and Blue Dot Sessions; Audrey Mardavich is our Executive Producer at Radiotopia

    Learn about your ad choices: dovetail.prx.org/ad-choices
    Show More Show Less
    21 mins
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