A History Of The United States In 100 Objects
100 Objects #22: AOL Disc
30 October 2026
Available for over a year
In 1998, the recording industry was thriving. But the company pressing more compact discs than anyone else in America wasn't a record label…it was an internet company: America Online. The AOL Disc was a marketing coup – hugely successful. It’s not an overstatement to say that it’s the campaign that introduced America to the internet. Because of how well it worked, for a while the Internet was AOL. And then… it felt like AOL just disappeared. So what happened? Alex Goldman (Reply All, Hyperfixed) finds out.
Host: Roman Mars
Producers: Priscilla Alabi, Brenna Daldorph, Isaac Fisher, Ellie Lightfoot
EPs: Annie Brown, Courtney Harrell, Kathy Tu
