#TBT: Hear about 1995’s ‘Macarena,’ the internet, and more on ‘One Year’
Slate Podcasts’ “One Year” recaps critical years in history, and this season, host Josh Levin is tackling 1995. The internet was on the rise and the “Macarena” took over American dance floors. This same year, Oklahoma City was hit by domestic terrorism and a medical fertility scandal shook the nation. We learned about “Fake Oxford” when American students flew abroad in hopes of achieving their academic dreams. Hear about these stories and more this season on “One Year.”
Check out “One Year” episodes in any order, since each episode explores one headline from 1995. The average length of episodes is an hour long, and the series has released 4+ episodes so far this season. In episodes, Josh is joined by guests to investigate this seminal year’s news, culture, politics, science, religion, and more.
A recent episode covered how basic the internet was before 1995, previously serving as a text only, non-graphical interface. After 1995, the internet’s potential was flourishing with the creation of Netscape’s navigator browser, URLs, and more. By the summer of 1995, many people began logging on. Amazon opened for business, starting as an online bookseller, and people logged onto AuctionWeb to sell their items before it became eBay. Sites like Match.com were invented, too.
1995 also led to innovators utilizing the new space for media and self-expression. Filmmakers had an idea to create an online soap opera documenting a cast of actors playing roommates and broadcasting their lives online. This project was called “The Spot,” and this series set the stage for multimedia content and vlogging we see today on sites like YouTube and TikTok. The show’s cast also interacted with fans online and made them part of the show by allowing people to post on forums and write in with advice. This series went viral as the internet exploded!
Other episodes of “One Year” explained the homegrown terrorist attack in Oklahoma City, where a suspect was wrongfully connected to the crime. FBI then identified the perpetrator, Tim McVeigh, a former Army soldier and his friend who helped build the bomb.
Last season, “One Year” covered 1977’s culture and biggest news in 12 episodes. Check out new episodes this season from “One Year” to hear more about 1995.
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