Our summer radio special, in partnership with American Public Media

LINKS:

• Join the Niche List (our monthly newsletter…er, Nicheletter)
• Have feedback or just want to say hi? Email us: hello@nichetomeetyou.show

EPISODE NOTES:

We got invited to produce an hourlong radio special for American Public Media, and wanted to share it with you. It’s taken from some of our early episodes, so if you’ve joined Niche Nation in 2025, this is all new content for you!

So hop on the niche party bus, because we’re taking you on a summer road trip to explore niche interests both on-the-road and at home. From Rubik’s speed cubing to dog agility, and from regional cooking to competitive jigsaw puzzling.

ABOUT US:

Niche to Meet You is an investigative storytelling podcast about the little-known niche interests. Our work has been featured on Nashville Public Radio and has been seen in the likes of The Guardian and the 1440 newsletter. Our stories introduce listeners to folks involved with things like Warhammer 40,000, Rubik’s cube enthusiasts and competitors, armored combat champions, professional Santas and Mrs. Clauses, and more. It's like if Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Revisionist History teamed up for a Netflix special.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHOW HERE.

SHOW CREDITS:

Senior creator/host: Leslie Thompson

Associate Script Editor: Chris Thiessen

Show theme by Abigail Flowers with this arrangement of the theme Produced & Arranged by Abigail Flowers, Chris Leidhecker, Kevin Gift

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Episode mastering by Kevin Morris

Show artwork created by Rachel Hardacre

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Malcolm Gladwell comes to Niche to Meet You.

Our FINAL Revisionist History Takeover Month episode!

LINKS:

• Join the Niche List (our monthly newsletter…er, Nicheletter) to learn what the next niche will be!
• Have feedback or just want to say hi? Email us: hello@nichetomeetyou.show
• Check out Revisionist History!
• NICHE TO MEET YOU MERCH!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Revisionist History teams up with the Culinary Institute of America to reverse engineer the secret recipe for Thomas’s English Muffins.

Our second Revisionist History Takeover Month episode!

LINKS:

• Join the Niche List (our monthly newsletter…er, Nicheletter)
• Have feedback or just want to say hi? Email us: hello@nichetomeetyou.show
• Check out Revisionist History!
• NICHE TO MEET YOU MERCH!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Seven people knew the recipe for a half-a-billion dollar muffin. Then, one of them tried to leave.

Our first Revisionist History Takeover Month episode!

LINKS:

• Join the Niche List (our monthly newsletter…er, Nicheletter)
• Have feedback or just want to say hi? Email us: hello@nichetomeetyou.show
• Check out Revisionist History!
• NICHE TO MEET YOU MERCH!

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Niche to Meet You takes to the high seas in search of the unconquerable.

LINKS:

• Join the Niche List (our monthly newsletter…er, Nicheletter)
• Find photos of Leslie’s time at the Barkley on the show page
• Have feedback or just want to say hi? Email us: hello@nichetomeetyou.show

EPISODE NOTES:

Somewhere deep in the Tennessee woods, there’s a race with no finish line — at least not one most people will ever reach. There’s no official website, no posted start time, and the course changes every year. Runners carry pages torn from books as proof they’ve completed each loop. And it all begins with the lighting of a cigarette.

The Barkley Marathons isn’t just an ultramarathon. It’s a ritual. A myth. A puzzle designed to break you — mentally, physically, spiritually. In this episode, we crack open a great American novel written in the 1800s, Moby Dick, as a map to discover a bizarre niche that even has its own captain Ahab, a man named Lazarus Lake. But whereas Ahab is driven by hate for the white whale, Laz and the runners of the Barkley are driven by something completely different. What we find in our quest is the same Ishmael found in his search for the white whale: it’s a meditation on suffering, identity, and the purpose of attempting the impossible.

LINKS MENTIONED:

• Lazarus Lake biography

ABOUT NICHE TO MEET YOU:

Niche to Meet You is an investigative storytelling podcast about the little-known niche interests. Our work has been featured on Nashville Public Radio and has been seen in the likes of The Guardian and the 1440 newsletter. Our stories introduce listeners to folks involved with things like Warhammer 40,000, Rubik’s cube enthusiasts and competitors, armored combat champions, professional Santas and Mrs. Clauses, and more. It's like if Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Revisionist History teamed up for a Netflix special.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHOW HERE.

SHOW CREDITS:

Senior creator/host: Leslie Thompson

Associate Script Editor: Chris Thiessen

Show theme by Abigail Flowers with this arrangement of the theme Produced & Arranged by Abigail Flowers, Chris Leidhecker, Kevin Gift

Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions

Episode mastering by Kevin Morris

Show artwork created by Rachel Hardacre

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

History, science, and Leslie tries to beat a national champ.

LINKS:

• Join the Niche List (our monthly newsletter…er, Nicheletter) and BE SURPRISED when we announce something HUGE in a few days.
• Have feedback or just want to say hi? Email us: hello@nichetomeetyou.show
• Get your own flippable Springbok puzzle. You can get 10% off your order with code: NICHEPUZZLE10. Shop for puzzles HERE.

Thanks to our show sponsor, 1440 Daily News Digest. Click here to join the 4 million folks getting great news in their inbox every day (like, Leslie)!

EPISODE NOTES:

Where’d the puzzle come from? Why does it matter that puzzle companies CARE about the people who solve them? Which puzzles can be picked up after they’re completed? Why does science support us doing puzzles? And how much of a 500 piece puzzle can Leslie do in the same time as a national champion?

All questions answered in this episode.

Thank you to Springbok Puzzles for sponsoring this story. We are so grateful for your support!

ABOUT NICHE TO MEET YOU:

Niche to Meet You is an investigative storytelling podcast about the little-known niche interests. Our work has been featured on Nashville Public Radio and has been seen in the likes of The Guardian and the 1440 newsletter. Our stories introduce listeners to folks involved with things like Warhammer 40,000, Rubik’s cube enthusiasts and competitors, armored combat champions, professional Santas and Mrs. Clauses, and more. It's like if Mr. Rogers Neighborhood and Revisionist History teamed up for a Netflix special.

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE SHOW HERE.

SHOW CREDITS:

Senior creator/host: Leslie Thompson

Associate Script Editor: Chris Thiessen

Show theme composed by Abigail Flowers with this arrangement Produced & Arranged by Abigail Flowers, Chris Leidhecker, Kevin Gift

Episode mastering by Kevin Morris

Show artwork created by Rachel Hardacre

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.