Cement City
*Named one of The New York Times Best Podcasts of 2024* Two journalists stumble into a dying town with a Smog Museum and a mayor named Piglet… and not a whole lot else. They have one burning question: What’s it like to live here, in a town left for dead? They buy a house and stay – for three years. They get caught up in an election cycle and a web of scandals. It’s democracy in action on the smallest scale. It’s Our Town for our time. And it’s all real.
Cement City is an Audacy original in partnership with Cement City Productions.
For more stories on the power of American resilience, check out Seasons 1 and 2 of Hope, Through History, available in this feed. Hope, Through History is an Audacy original in association with Jon Meacham and The HISTORY® Channel.
Episodes
Presenting Gone South Season 4
Gone South, the Edward R. Murrow award-winning podcast, is back. Unlike previous seasons, writer and host Jed Lipinski brings listeners new episodes every week with no end in sight. Each episode of Gone South Season 4 tells a different story about one of the South's most interesting crimes.
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13/11/24•9m 20s
Cement City: Episode 10 | A Thousand Pairs of Untied Shoes
Jeanne Marie and Erin are closing in on a year in Donora. At Twinkle Bright Night they face existential questions: Will the new mayor save council? Is the community college going to come? What’s gonna happen to this town, anyway? But first things first: will Jeanne Marie and Erin ever leave?
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06/11/24•1h 3m
Cement City: Episode 9 | No Indictments
It’s the general election! Yancey vs. Ed! The future of Donora is on the line, and ballot tampering and election denialism are in the air.
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06/11/24•1h 7m
Cement City: Episode 8 | Don’t Bitch About the Smog
Other towns have apples. Or pumpkin festivals. Donora has smog. Mayor Piglet sees this as an opportunity, and Donora is totally transformed — if only for a day.
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30/10/24•56m 42s
Cement City: Episode 7 | Make Sure You Take Care of Vicki
Donora to the rescue!... of itself. Jeanne Marie and Erin discover the intricacies of Donora self-provided, self-maintained, totally improvised safety net.
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23/10/24•52m 6s
Cement City: Episode 6 | The Island of Donora
There’s trouble everywhere. Jeanne Marie and Erin realize what the town has always known: This town isn’t on anyone’s radar. No one is coming in to help.
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16/10/24•1h 2m
Cement City: Episode 5 | Great Societies Crumble from Within
Indictments! Scandal and intrigue! The s***show on council is worse than anyone could have imagined.
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09/10/24•1h 1m
Cement City: Episode 4 | Big Day in a Little Town
It’s Election Day. A ragtag group of rookies is promising change and looking for a clean sweep. Jeanne Marie sees a potential hero and falls hard.
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02/10/24•1h 8m
Cement City: Episode 3 | The Skeleton Crew
It’s gridlock on council and nothing’s getting done. An upcoming election feels like the only ray of hope.
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25/09/24•46m 42s
Cement City: Episode 2 | Just as Good as Ever
Donora has no banks, no gas stations, no schools. Jeanne Marie and Erin discover the one thing that could bring the town back to life.
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18/09/24•51m 30s
Cement City: Episode 1 | I’ll Die Here
Jeanne Marie and Erin wander off the highway into Donora, Pa, a dying town with a dark secret. They decide to buy a house. A solid concrete house. In a neighborhood called Cement City.
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18/09/24•52m 34s
Introducing Cement City: I Think I Like You
Two journalists stumble into a dying rust belt town with a Smog Museum and a mayor named Piglet… and not a whole lot else. They have one burning question: What’s it like to live here? In a town left for dead. But it’s not dead. Donora, PA will not go down without a fight.
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17/09/24•3m 56s
Hope, Through History: Episode 5 | Bloody Sunday: A Battle For Justice
A violent attack on peaceful marchers in Selma, Alabama fuels the fires of progress, leading to a monumental victory for voting rights.
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28/07/21•43m 33s
Hope, Through History: Episode 4 | Death At Sea
As World War erupts in Europe, President Woodrow Wilson follows public opinion and stays out of the international conflict. But when a merchant ship carrying American passengers is attacked by a German U-boat, the United States begins to emerge from isolation and establishes itself as a source of possibility in the world.
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21/07/21•27m 17s
Hope, Through History: Episode 3 | To End A Plague
In the midst of a devastating humanitarian crisis, President George W. Bush announces a bold, international plan to turn the tide against HIV/AIDS.
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14/07/21•25m 19s
Hope, Through History: Episode 2 | A New Birth Of Freedom
Abraham Lincoln arrives in Gettysburg to consecrate a battlefield, and to commit America to fulfilling its original promise that all men are created equal.
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07/07/21•34m 7s
Hope, Through History: Episode 1 | Slow Walk To War
At the onset of World War II, Franklin Roosevelt contends with a fierce and at times virulent isolationsist movement in America while Winston Churchill pleads with President Roosevelt to join the fight against Axis forces.
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30/06/21•35m 51s
Trailer: Hope, Through History, Season Two
Welcome back to a new season of the C13Originals critically acclaimed Hope, Through History documentary limited series. Narrated and written by Pulitzer Prize Winning and Best Selling Historian, Jon Meacham, Season Two explores some of the most historic and trying times in American History, how this nation dealt with the impact of these moments, and how we came through these moments a more unified nation. Season Two, presented by C13Originals, in association with The HISTORY® Channel, will guide you through the Battle of Gettysburg and its impact on the future of the country, the relationship between FDR and Churchill and America’s slow walk to war, the plan for AIDS relief, the sinking of the Lusitania and events impact on the future of America, and Bloody Sunday and the Voting Rights Act. As Winston Churchill once remarked, “The future is unknowable, but the past should give us hope”—the hope that human ingenuity, reason, and character can combine to save us from the abyss and keep us on a path, in another phrase of Churchill’s, to broad, sun-lit uplands. Welcome to Season Two.
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28/06/21•1m 56s
Hope, Through History: Episode 5 | The 1918 Influenza Pandemic
In 1917, as President Woodrow Wilson prepared the nation for World War, an even deadlier crisis was hiding in plain sight. An influenza virus flourished on European battlefields and rapidly spread among civilians, paralyzing the globe with illness and fear. The 1918 flu pandemic serves as a poignant reminder that science, cooperation, transparency and leadership can help clear a path to recovery.
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19/05/20•26m 58s
Hope, Through History: Episode 4 | JFK and the Cuban Missile Crisis
It is known as the most dangerous moment in human history. In late October of 1962, American spy planes discovered Soviet missile bases with nuclear capabilities on the island of Cuba. Normalcy was put on indefinite pause as millions of Americans grappled with terrifying idea that at any moment, without warning, their communities and loved ones could be decimated by an atomic bomb. While military leaders and hardliners clamored for aggressive action, it was the patience and poise of a president that saved the world from mass destruction.
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12/05/20•42m 48s
Hope, Through History: Episode 3 | The Polio Epidemic
From the late 19th to mid 20th centuries, the nation lived in fear of the polio virus. Often handicapping or paralyzing its victims, sometimes resulting in death, the disease was made all the more frightening by the fact that it preyed on young children. Generations of Americans were affected by this incurable illness until a brilliant young medical researcher, empowered by the coordinated efforts of public and private institutions, developed a miraculous vaccine. The expert knowledge and first-hand experiences of Walter Isaacson, David Oshinsky and Geoff Ward, assist Jon Meacham in telling a story which begins with debilitating fear and ends with everlasting hope.
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05/05/20•34m 33s
Hope, Through History: Episode 2 | Winston Churchill and World War II
In May of 1940, Great Britain was in the crosshairs of Adolf Hitler and the Nazi war machine. As nations on mainland Europe fell prey to fascism, Winston Churchill seized the moment in dramatic fashion, ultimately winning a permanent place in the pantheon of heroic leaders who have single-handedly shifted the course of history. Churchill believed that “the only safe way” forward “was to convince Hitler that he couldn’t beat us.” And the only safe way to do that was to fight on. Accompanied by award-winning authors Erik Larson, Evan Thomas and Andrew Roberts, Jon Meacham revives one of the most consequential days of World War II, and creates a portrait of a man who used courage, candor and cooperation to protect the future of democracy.
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28/04/20•35m 14s
Hope, Through History: Episode 1 | FDR and The Great Depression
Following a decade of roaring prosperity in America, something invincible was proving vulnerable. The Great Depression was ravaging the economy and destroying lives, creating a dire need for bold, honest leadership. With the help of Pulitzer Prize-winners Doris Kearns Goodwin and David M. Kennedy, along with Allida Black, the Director of The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers, Jon Meacham delivers a vivid and intimate look at a President who countered depression with action, and who conquered fear with hope.
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21/04/20•40m 4s
Trailer: Hope, Through History
Welcome to Hope, Through History with Jon Meacham. This limited series explores some of the most historic and trying times in American History, and how this nation dealt with these moments, the impact of these moments and how we came through these moments a unified nation. Season One takes a look at critical moments around the 1918 Flu Pandemic, the Great Depression, World War II, the polio epidemic and the Cuban Missile Crisis.
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09/04/20•3m 20s