'Landslide' Narrative History Podcast Traces Roots of Today's Political Division

February 15, 2024; North Carolina — While the current presidential race showcases the country's rawest divisions, the new narrative podcast Landslide, launching on February 22, reveals how our partisan gulf formed — with a particular emphasis on the rise of the modern Republican Party.

Landslide and host Ben Bradford offer a gripping, sound-rich story of an overlooked presidential race that doubles as a critical resource for understanding why our political divide exists and the forces that have driven it exponentially deeper over the past half-century.

Each week the podcast follows Ford vs. Reagan in 1976 and its effect on the GOP, continuing through the general election race, and culminating in 1980. Over the course of seven episodes, the narrative podcast tells the story of three unlikely presidents, their bitter campaigns against each other, and how they upended American politics — propelling the nation and political parties into today's division.

"It's a wild story, definitely stranger than fiction. You hear so much that could have been pulled from today's political scene," said Ben Bradford, Host of Landslide. "The other side of it is that our current political crises did not just suddenly emerge, and if we want to make sense of them — if we want solutions — we have to understand the root causes."

The campaigns of Ford, Reagan, and Jimmy Carter pushed the country to the right, reorienting what Americans expected from their government. It cemented a political realignment, pivoted the GOP to fully embrace social and cultural battles, and helped reshape the political debates between the parties from questions of policy to fundamentally moral conflicts.

The rise of a conservative party

As late as the mid-1970s, the political parties were not primarily divided by ideology. But after Watergate, the Republican Party looked on the verge of collapse, with only 18 percent of voters identifying as members.

The new president, Gerald Ford, unelected and mulling retirement, planned to rebuild the party as it had been — a big tent with voters across the ideological spectrum. Until, he faced a primary challenge from a candidate considered at the time too fringe, lightweight, and right-wing to have a real shot at winning: Ronald Reagan. It launched the closest presidential primary race in history — a cut-throat, deeply personal battle for the GOP nomination and the party's future.

Production and its sound

Suspenseful and heavily researched, Landslide unearths archival footage and features original interviews with key players to take listeners back to the time, place them in the action, show how the events were viewed then, and hear how it all reverberates today. A fully original score growls underneath the story, sounding like no other podcast of its genre.

Landslide is distributed by the NPR Network, and produced by NuanceTales in partnership with public radio station WFAE in Charlotte, North Carolina.

Segments, review copies of episodes, and exclusive material can be made available. The creator and host, award-winning journalist Ben Bradford, is also available for interviews to discuss the 2024 presidential race, the visceral and emotional issues that dominate our political discourse, and what we can learn from the past.

Listen to the trailer.

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About Ben Bradford (host and creator) and NuanceTales

An award-winning public radio reporter with an inside perspective into the nation's political system, Ben Bradford is the creator, producer, and host of the political history podcast series Landslide and the Audible Original Of The People, and founder of the independent podcast company NuanceTales. Before learning he preferred journalism, Ben spent two years as a press secretary for a senior member of Congress. Then, as a reporter, he covered politics in both a red state — North Carolina (at WFAE) — and blue California, where dozens of public radio stations relied on his statehouse reporting. His work has aired on NPR, the BBC, and Bloomberg Radio, as well as in newspapers around the country. Most recently, Ben reported for the iconic business program, Marketplace. He's won a national Edward R. Murrow award for his political coverage and numerous regional awards.

About WFAE

WFAE is one of the country's leading public radio stations, reaching 200,000 listeners each week as a major source of news for the Charlotte, North Carolina region. WFAE offers a broad range of national, international and regional news, podcasts, and public radio programs, including from National Public Radio (NPR), the BBC, PRX, American Public Media and WFAE's award-winning newsroom.

About the NPR Network

The NPR Network is a local-national media network comprised of independent public media organizations in communities around the country, founded on a mission to create a more informed public. Through the Network, NPR and Member stations are working together to bring America closer through free and independent journalism, music, politics, culture, and more. This collaborative initiative aims to engage more audiences with public media content through all digital platforms. NPR Network content is available through local Member stations (npr.org/stations), NPR.org and NPR One, and wherever podcasts are found.

Press Contacts:

James Purcell, NuanceTales
[email protected] (213-255-5876)

Dan McCoy, NPR Network
[email protected]