It's A History Podcast: From Ferris Wheels To FDR

 "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication," is a quote often attributed to Leonardo da Vinci. There's wisdom in that statement. Sometimes, podcasts don't need a noisy, complicated, and often fabricated, premise to attract listeners. Recent podcast trends reveal high-concept, lowbrow shows that promise everything from judging the hotness of food to arguing about the seasonal effect of music albums.

I do love the straightforward premise of It's a History podcast. Here is the hook from creator/host Madison Schmidt: "Join me as we take a look at all things history! Whether it be a person, a place, event, or just something really interesting, we will cover many stories our past has to offer."

Of all the academic subjects taught in schools, history is the one that fascinates people for a lifetime. The History Channel is one of the most popular cable channels in the cable bundle. 

Creator/Host Madison Schmidt has crafted an independent podcast that doesn't rely on gimmicks. She offers her listeners a short lesson in history with a light touch. No pontificating, no overly dramatic background music, and no unsubstantiated assertions.

Madison explained to Ear Worthy why she started this podcast. "I started listening to podcasts in my freshman year of college and I can’t imagine living life without them today. I love listening to someone talk about their passion and something they enjoy. I find comfort in listening to podcasts and in carrying my show I hope that someone else can find comfort in my show. I have thought about doing other forms of visual media, but right now audio only seems to be working with the amount of time I’m able to commit to the show."

What does Madison cover on the It's a History podcast? Since the start of the show in June 2024 and through 43 episodes, Madison has covered the substantial -- the Electoral College, George Washington and slavery, Frederick Douglass, and the Louisiana Purchase. 

She has also covered the nerdy, the commonplace, the oddly fascinating, and the intriguing. Such episodes include topics on the history of iced coffee, the history of the Happy Birthday song (one of my favorite shows), the complex history of romance novels, and the Ferris Wheel.

We asked Madison about her choice of topics, and she explained: "I have a running list of topics to research. Sometimes I try to associate episodes with certain holidays or months. It is definitely not a perfect science, and some episodes have come out later than I wanted, due to a larger research need than I originally thought." 

Madison continued: "I try to have a mix of lighthearted episodes and deep dives. The lighthearted episodes are usually researched with a mix of news articles and maybe passages from books, but the deep dives are researched with books. I like to borrow books from Libby and read them on my Kindle app so I can highlight!"  

The show is structured simply and effectively. It begins with a Ragtime music intro that Madison told us,"After looking at many, many options, I looked through the YouTube audio library and after poking around for a few minutes I found the ragtime options and really like the song that I pulled the snippet from."

Madison's narration is fluid, empathetic, and focused on historical exploration rather than theatrical flourishes. Episode runtimes are blissfully short, ranging from 10 to 30 minutes.

At the end of each episode, Madison encourages interaction with listeners through her social media, her email, and also lists the reference material for each episode.

We wanted to know more about Madison and her background.

 "I grew up in Florida, in a smaller town but moved to the Tampa Bay Area to go to college and never left! I attended the University of South Florida and graduated with a degree in history in December 2020. Arguably one of the worst times to graduate school. When I was younger I wanted to be a teacher, but while I was in college I moved away from wanting to teach and looked more into working in a different field related to history. I started working a retail job while in college and moved up the ladder. I currently work in retail management and really enjoy it, but I needed something to fulfill my love for history."

Interestingly, Madison shared in the March 26th episode about the history of the sewing machine that her employer of six years, Joann Fabrics, was going out of business. Madison was the assistant manager at one of the chain's stores. While listeners contemplated the loss of a job, Madison explained that she had found another job and was doing well there.

I thought the history of the sewing machine was a touching tribute to her former employer.

Like many independent podcasters, it's the technology that ends up becoming the greatest challenge. Madison was no exception.

She told Ear Worthy: "The biggest hurdle was figuring out how to edit. I’m still learning how to record in a way that makes it easier to edit later on. I think each time I get a little better at editing, but it is still one of the challenges I deal with on a week-to-week basis. My biggest single challenge was when I accidentally bulk recorded three longer episodes using my laptop's microphone instead of my separate microphone. That was quite a bit of re-recording and editing to fix that one."

Madison notes that "Listener response has been positive! I’ve had people reach out so far, but overall it seems like the listeners are liking it!"

At this early stage of the show, Madison acknowledges It's a History podcast is a hobby, but, she admits, "I would love to monetize this show in the future. Right now, I’m just working on being consistent and putting out a show each week! I’ve seen my listenership grow over time, and I am going to keep working on growing so that maybe one day I can monetize."

If you have 10 to 15 minutes to spare in your day and want to learn more about history without enduring two hours of details and minutiae, then It's a History podcast is for you. The host, Madison Schmidt, is earnest and hard-working, and the show offers such a diverse range of historical topics that you'll receive a healthy dose of dopamine.