{"podcast":{"title":"Today In History with The Retrospectors","slug":"today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506","podcast_index_feed_id":3756506,"rss_url":"https://feeds.megaphone.fm/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors","website_url":"https://www.theretrospectors.com","image_url":"https://megaphone.imgix.net/podcasts/0863cc78-24a8-11ef-b214-97eca5428ac1/image/6963d381f67e7fa1caf5e758ac2154be.png?ixlib=rails-4.3.1&max-w=3000&max-h=3000&fit=crop&auto=format,compress","author":"The Retrospectors","episode_count":1302,"summary":"Curious, funny, surprising daily history - with Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina and Arion McNicoll. From the invention of the Game Boy to the Mancunian beer-poisoning of 1900, from Julius Caesar's invasion of Britain to America's Nazi summer schools... each day we uncover an unexpected story for the ages. In just ten minutes! Best Daily Podcast (British Podcast Awards 2023 nominee). Get early access and ad-free listening at Patreon.com/Retrospectors or subscribe on Apple Podcasts.","last_synced_at":"2026-06-25T12:18:38.453166+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506"},"episode":{"title":"Recording 'White Christmas'","slug":"recording-white-christmas","published_at":"2026-05-29T00:30:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/recording-white-christmas","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506","url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR9509034063.mp3","audio_url":"https://pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/pscrb.fm/rss/p/traffic.megaphone.fm/NSR9509034063.mp3","summary":"Bing Crosby recorded the biggest-selling single of all time, ‘White Christmas’, on 29th May, 1942. The session took just 18 minutes, and the song was not considered the standout from the album: everyone thought the Valentine’s-themed ballad ‘Be Careful, It's My Heart’ had a better chance of chart success. The songwriter, Irving Berlin, was perhaps not an obvious person to pen the quintessential American Christmas song, given that he was a Russian-born Jew, who had never celebrated the holiday until his arrival in the United States. But the record’s airplay on US Army overseas radio stations during World War II struck a chord with homesick soldiers, and helped embed the tune deeply into the American psyche. In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly reveal why the version you’re almost certainly thinking of is NOT the version with which Bing initally topped the charts; unpick the confusing Russian Doll stack of genres into which the song has been repurposed; and explain why Berlin’s Oscar win became a pivotal moment in the Academy Awards ceremony… Further Reading: • ‘'White Christmas' at 75: A Snapshot of the Most Successful Song In Music History’ (Billboard, 2017): https://www.billboard.com/culture/lifestyle/white-christmas-bing-crosby-history-8071111/#! • ‘Is White Christmas the Best Popular Song Ever Written?’ (Smithsonian Magazine, 2012): https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/is-white-christmas-the-best-popular-song-ever-written-165989545/ • ‘Holiday Inn | Bing Crosby Sings \"White Christmas\"’ (Universal Pictures, 1942): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GJ36gbGlm8Y We'll be back on Monday - unless you join CLUB RETROSPECTORS, where we give you ad-free listening AND a full-length Sunday episode every week!Plus, weekly bonus content, unlock over 70 bonus…","meta_description":"Bing Crosby recorded the biggest-selling single of all time, ‘White Christmas’, on 29th May, 1942. The session took just 18 minutes, and the song was not…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":718,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/episodes/recording-white-christmas/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/today-in-history-with-the-retrospectors-3756506/recording-white-christmas.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}