bsnsHistory
Every day of the year has a story where business reshaped the world.
And each day, host Ron Trucks takes you through that story - part history lesson, part trivia fun - in less time than it takes to order your Starbucks.
And on Fridays? We cut loose with bsnsBloopers: the missteps, meltdowns, and epic fails that prove business doesn’t always go according to plan.
Episodes
37 episodes
Feb 11, 1936: The Day Power Became an Operating Advantage
The real shift wasn’t construction, it was reliability.On February 11, 1936, electricity from Hoover Dam began flowing into regional utility systems and onward to private industry, transforming a New Deal infrastructure project into prac...
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Season 1
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12:00
Feb 10, 2026: The Game That Changed How Businesses Trusted Data
Human intuition wasn’t wrong, it just wasn’t enough anymore.On February 10, 1996, IBM’s Deep Blue won a single game against world chess champion Garry Kasparov, revealing that computational scale could outperform expert judgment in narro...
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Season 1
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10:07
Feb 09, 2026: When Accusations Became a Corporate Risk
Risk stopped waiting for proof and started responding to perception.On February 9, 1950, Senator Joseph McCarthy’s public claims of Communist infiltration signaled a shift in how American institutions assessed exposure. Studios, universi...
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Season 1
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10:28
Gerber Tries to Feed Grown-Ups
At the time, the idea seemed like a logical extension of a trusted brand.In the 1970s, a household name known for reliability and efficiency decided to apply those same strengths to a new audience, assuming the product would be judged on...
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Season 1
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Episode 26009
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11:46
Feb 05, 2026: When Mexico Rewrote the Fine Print
The rules didn’t change overnight, but the leverage did.On February 5, 1917, Mexico adopted a new constitution that placed land and subsoil resources under national ownership, quietly reshaping how foreign companies operated inside its b...
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Season 1
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11:34
Feb 04, 2026: When Attention Became a Business Signal
What mattered wasn’t the story itself, it was how long people kept watching.On February 4, 1974, the kidnapping of Patty Hearst triggered sustained, wall to wall media coverage that revealed something new taking shape inside newsrooms. A...
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Season 1
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11:35
Feb 03, 2026: When Infrastructure Learned to Move People
Growth didn’t come from tighter rules, it came from smarter design.On February 3, 1913, the first full weekday of operations at Grand Central Terminal revealed how infrastructure could quietly reshape commerce and daily behavior. By desi...
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Season 1
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11:27
Feb 02, 2026: When Apple Stopped Explaining and Started Persuading
Apple didn’t try to explain what a computer did, it changed what owning one meant. On February 2, 1984, the impact of Apple’s Super Bowl gamble was becoming clear as early sales and public conversation began to reflect something new...
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Season 1
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11:20
Electrolux: The Slogan That Sucked
At the time, the slogan sounded like a confident statement of quality.In the early 1990s, a well-established appliance brand brought a line that worked perfectly in one market into another, assuming the message would land the same way. I...
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Season 1
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Episode 26016
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12:49
Jan 29, 1990: When Fast Food Got Serious About Waste
A small packaging decision quietly forced an entire industry to rethink its costs, image, and responsibilities.On January 29, 1990, McDonald’s launched its first national packaging reduction and recycling pilot, responding to rising mate...
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Season 1
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Episode 26029
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13:54
Jan 28, 1887: When Weather Became a Story
A curious detail quietly revealed how attention could turn nature into media.On January 28, 1887, reports of an unusually large snowflake falling near Fort Keogh, Montana spread rapidly across newspapers nationwide. The story mattered le...
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Season 1
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Episode 26028
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11:40
Jan 27, 1880: The Patent That Powered the Pitch
A legal document quietly turned an invention into a scalable business system.On January 27, 1880, Thomas Edison received the U.S. patent for his electric lamp, but the real breakthrough extended far beyond the bulb itself. Edison paired ...
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Season 1
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Episode 26027
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13:05
Jan 26, 2020: When Legacy Became the Franchise
A sudden loss quietly revealed how modern fame can outlive the individual who built it.On January 26, 2020, the world learned that Kobe Bryant had died in a helicopter crash, triggering global mourning and an immediate shift in how his i...
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Season 1
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Episode 26026
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12:15
The Video Game Atari Buried Alive
At the time, confidence in the brand made the timeline feel achievable.In the early 1980s, one of the most powerful names in entertainment pushed a product to market at breakneck speed, trusting momentum, licensing, and scale to carry it...
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Season 1
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Episode 26023
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15:09
Jan 22, 2026: Economic Moat, and the Defense That Keeps Competitors Out
Some businesses survive intense competition while others disappear, often for reasons that have little to do with size or popularity.On January 22, 2026, this episode examines the idea of the economic moat, the structural advantages that...
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Season 1
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Episode 26027
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12:30
Jan 21, 1793: When Monarchy Loses Its Head and Meets Market Reality
A political execution quietly marked the collapse of an unsustainable economic system.On January 21, 1793, King Louis XVI was executed in Paris, signaling more than the end of a monarchy. The moment exposed the fiscal breakdown beneath r...
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Season 1
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Episode 26021
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12:15
Jan 20, 2009: When Leadership Walked Into a Burning Economy
A moment meant for ceremony quietly became a test of confidence, coordination, and economic trust.On January 20, 2009, the United States inaugurated a new president while financial markets remained unstable and the economy was still reel...
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Season 1
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Episode 26020
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11:16
Jan 19, 1809: Famous, Broke, and Still Changing the Industry
A celebrated name quietly exposed how fragile the business of creativity could be.On January 19, 1809, Edgar Allan Poe was born into a world where writing was admired but rarely rewarded. Through sharp criticism, distinctive style, and a...
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Season 1
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Episode 26019
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11:04
Jan 15, 2001: When Knowledge Left the Bookshelf
A simple online experiment quietly challenged who gets to create, control, and trust information.On January 15, 2001, Wikipedia went live, allowing anyone to write, edit, and improve articles in real time. What began as an open collabora...
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Season 1
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Episode 26015
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12:00
Jan 14, 1943: When Allies Designed the Peace Before Winning the War
A closed door meeting quietly shifted the focus from winning a war to managing the world that would come after it.On January 14, 1943, Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill opened the Casablanca Conference, bringing Allied leaders ...
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Season 1
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Episode 26014
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12:26
Jan 13, 1930: Mickey Mouse Learns to Multiply
Before entertainment scaled through movies or theme parks, it scaled through paper, ink, and syndication.On January 13, 1930, the first Mickey Mouse newspaper comic strip debuted across the United States, marking a quiet but cri...
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Season 1
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Episode 26013
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10:18
Jan 12, 1971: All in the Family Premieres and Television Gets Real
Television didn’t become more honest because audiences demanded it, it happened because risk finally looked profitable.On January 12, 1971, All in the Family premiered on CBS, putting race, politics, class, and uncomfortable rea...
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Season 1
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Episode 26012
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10:57
Jan 08, 1935: Elvis Presley Born, Pop Culture Becomes an Industry
A single life quietly helped turn fame into a scalable, enduring business.On January 8, 1935, Elvis Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, entering a world far removed from the cultural and commercial machine he would later shape. As h...
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Season 1
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Episode 26008
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9:34
Jan 07, 1927: Six Players, One Ball, and a Dream
A small traveling team quietly proved that sport could be packaged, branded, and sold far beyond the court.On January 7, 1927, Abe Saperstein and a group of young Black athletes played their first game under the name Harlem Globetrotters...
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Season 1
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Episode 22007
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10:18
Jan 06, 1907: The Woman Who Taught the World to Learn
What began as a small classroom experiment quietly reshaped how societies think about learning, talent, and human potential.On January 6, 1907, Maria Montessori opened Casa dei Bambini in Rome’s San Lorenzo district, introducing an appro...
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Season 1
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Episode 26006
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9:47