{"podcast":{"title":"History Dispatches","slug":"history-dispatches-7236148","podcast_index_feed_id":7236148,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/ARML6613457202","website_url":"https://historydispatches.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/1607f9de-dabb-11ef-a28f-837d166c2ed7/image/2311d0d11b0bdda63fef19e10a34c43c.jpg?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"Matt and McKinley Breen","episode_count":351,"summary":"History Dispatches is a daily history show hosted by father and son duo Matt and McKinley Breen. The show covers people, places, events and even objects from throughout history. While any topic is fair game, Matt and McKinley hold a soft spot for the offbeat and wacky stories that most people don’t know about.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T16:20:59.234463+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-dispatches-7236148"},"episode":{"title":"Exploding Whale of Florence","slug":"exploding-whale-of-florence","published_at":"2026-05-20T07:10:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-dispatches-7236148/exploding-whale-of-florence","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-dispatches-7236148","url":"https://pdrl.fm/ccb7c9/rss.pdrl.fm/ccb7c9/tracking.swap.fm/track/YfZO4tERxneauNcW9Fgn/mgln.ai/e/211/traffic.megaphone.fm/ARML2065787746.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdrl.fm/ccb7c9/rss.pdrl.fm/ccb7c9/tracking.swap.fm/track/YfZO4tERxneauNcW9Fgn/mgln.ai/e/211/traffic.megaphone.fm/ARML2065787746.mp3","summary":"In 1970, a 45 foot long, eight ton whale washed up on the beach near Florence, Oregon. Local officials weren’t sure what to do with the stinking, decomposing whale - so they decided to get rid of it by blowing it up with half a ton of dynamite. This is the story of the Exploding Whale of Florence. Sources https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exploding_whale https://www.xplodingwhale.com/ https://www.oregonencyclopedia.org/articles/florence_whale_explosion/ https://davebarry.substack.com/p/the-exploding-whale Watch the whale blow up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V6CLumsir34 Sponsor Go to factormeals.com/dispatchespod50off to get 50 percent off and free daily greens per box. New subscribers only. While supplies last until 09/27/2026. (See website for more details). History Dispatches is part of the Airwave Media Network: www.airwavemedia.com Interested in advertising on History Dispatches? Email us at advertising@airwavemedia.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices","meta_description":"In 1970, a 45 foot long, eight ton whale washed up on the beach near Florence, Oregon. Local officials weren’t sure what to do with the stinking, decompos…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":942,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/history-dispatches-7236148/episodes/exploding-whale-of-florence/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/history-dispatches-7236148/exploding-whale-of-florence.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}