The Backstory with Patty Steele

25

Love a good, juicy story that goes beyond what we already know? We're talking scandalous presidential family members, a mass murder at a world-famous architect's home, stolen inventions, nude athletes at the first Olympics, compulsive liars, the arrival of the bikini, and so much more. History fanatic Patty Steele tells you the inside backstories you didn’t know you needed to know.

Recent Episodes
  • The Backstory: Millions gazed at Lincoln's decomposing face
    Apr 8, 2025 – 09:17
  • The Backstory: The Superfreak Behind Superfreak
    Apr 4, 2025 – 08:43
  • The Backstory: Abraham Lincoln dreams of his own murder
    Apr 1, 2025 – 08:02
  • The Backstory: Robert Downey Jr. reinvents himself
    Mar 28, 2025 – 07:17
  • The Backstory: Tiny kidnap victims survive the Titanic disaster
    Mar 25, 2025 – 07:28
  • The Backstory: How come there were no women’s running shoes until 1978?
    Mar 21, 2025 – 08:18
  • The Backstory: Charles, Camilla, and Diana: Proving your virginity
    Mar 18, 2025 – 08:02
  • The Backstory: Yasuke: The only black samurai
    Mar 14, 2025 – 05:43
  • The Backstory: Losing your head over royalty
    Mar 11, 2025 – 06:27
  • The Backstory: Graffiti was Pompeii’s Instagram
    Mar 7, 2025 – 06:55
  • The Backstory: The guy that connected us all
    Mar 4, 2025 – 06:37
  • The Backstory: Kate Chase: From the belle of Washington to egg lady
    Feb 28, 2025 – 08:02
  • The Backstory: Stealing Frank Sinatra Jr.
    Feb 25, 2025 – 11:02
  • The Backstory: Stealing George Washington’s head
    Feb 21, 2025 – 07:43
  • The Backstory: Lucky Luciano: From mob boss to war hero
    Feb 18, 2025 – 09:25
  • The Backstory: My bloody valentine!
    Feb 14, 2025 – 11:24
  • The Backstory: Did Shakespeare steal the Romeo and Juliet story?
    Feb 11, 2025 – 07:06
  • The Backstory: The real American psycho
    Feb 7, 2025 – 08:48
  • The Backstory: How one woman helped ignite the Civil War
    Feb 4, 2025 – 07:10
  • The Backstory: Nxivm: A Hollywood sex cult
    Jan 31, 2025 – 08:27
  • The Backstory (Replay): A middle-class kid rises to the top of the ad world
    Jan 28, 2025 – 08:55
  • The Backstory: The Mariana Trench: A hundred horrible ways to die
    Jan 24, 2025 – 07:52
  • The Backstory: Beyond the Hamilton duel: Aaron Burr’s rise and fall
    Jan 21, 2025 – 07:51
  • The Backstory: Why did these two presidents have 2 nonconsecutive terms?
    Jan 17, 2025 – 06:40
  • The Backstory: The fire was master
    Jan 14, 2025 – 11:49
  • The Backstory: Our world on fire
    Jan 10, 2025 – 07:29
  • The Backstory: Barbie dolls: boobs, Mickey Mouse club, and fraud
    Jan 7, 2025 – 10:48
  • The Backstory (Replay): A hero emerges from a 19th century insane asylum
    Jan 3, 2025 – 08:03
  • The Backstory: Looking good at any price
    Dec 31, 2024 – 09:10
  • The Backstory: Making a statement with A Christmas Carol
    Dec 27, 2024 – 07:05
  • The Backstory (Replay): How did Christmas turn into trees and egg nog?
    Dec 24, 2024 – 08:30
  • The Backstory: The charming spy who got away with it all
    Dec 20, 2024 – 11:22
  • (Replay) The Backstory: The 9-year-old Union soldier
    Dec 17, 2024 – 06:38
  • (Replay) The Backstory: Where did all the dinosaurs go?
    Dec 13, 2024 – 06:50
  • The Backstory: The big movies their stars hate
    Dec 10, 2024 – 08:39
  • The Backstory: Drinking the Kool-Aid – the Jonestown massacre
    Dec 6, 2024 – 08:12
  • The Backstory: The American fashion model in Hitler's bathtub
    Dec 3, 2024 – 07:54
  • The Backstory: Thanksgiving from another point of view
    Nov 29, 2024 – 06:51
  • The Backstory: Unpacking Thanksgiving
    Nov 26, 2024 – 08:50
  • The Backstory: The Human Zoo
    Nov 22, 2024 – 08:10
  • The Backstory: Did Leonardo da Vinci invent robots and the helicopter??
    Nov 19, 2024 – 07:02
  • The Backstory: Date raped by a superstar in classic Hollywood
    Nov 15, 2024 – 09:27
  • The Backstory: Surviving a grizzly attack
    Nov 12, 2024 – 08:14
  • The Backstory: From prostitute to queen of the pirates
    Nov 8, 2024 – 09:37
  • The Backstory: Politics meets The Purge
    Nov 5, 2024 – 06:54
  • The Backstory: Searching for the killer called the Axeman
    Nov 1, 2024 – 07:35
  • The Backstory: Back from the dead to take the gold
    Oct 29, 2024 – 07:44
  • The Backstory: Demons to moon landings – the story that inspired The Exorcist
    Oct 25, 2024 – 10:56
  • (Replay) The Backstory: Cannibalism on the wild frontier
    Oct 22, 2024 – 10:02
  • The Backstory: All the money in the world…and a torturous upbringing
    Oct 18, 2024 – 07:31
Recent Reviews
  • AHL8400000000
    Trump watch
    This podcast has a gross commercial for Trump watches. Don’t like that they are promoting a criminal’s merchandise on this podcast.
  • coolkkkid
    Love
    Wish the it was longer.
  • Sinclair1995
    Wonderful info
    I love your podcast. I do wish ads were a lot shorter, but the overall delivery and content provided is great. Keep doing a wonderful job.
  • 911 grail
    Idea for a new show
    This show is great informative and quick. Patti could you please do a show about Jack Keroack the great American writer
  • Global Podcasts
    Fantastic Show!
    Outstanding effort by Patti post Morning Radio Show
  • Nee 2020
    Good listen!
    I wish it was longer !! Love the fun facts my kids do too 💕
  • sarah12345678899543
    More length, less ads
    I started listening to this podcast after hearing Patty talk about it on the Elvis Duran Morning Show, as I really enjoyed the concept and was intrigued to learn more. While the narration is great and the stories are interesting, I really wish the topics were a bit more broad. Sometimes I feel they are a bit too narrowed and the episodes are too short. If the topics were slightly more general, I think they could easily span 20 minutes. This brings me to my next point: the ads. Four minutes of ads is pretty normal for most podcasts that are 20 - 30 minutes in length. These episodes however are 8 - 10 minutes, meaning almost half the episode is filled with ads. This is far too much, and I’ve found myself disappointed that the actual contact was no more than 5 minutes long. TLDR: make the episodes slightly more general to lengthen them, which will make the amount of ads more bearable.
  • rickdoss
    Bills gotta get paid but
    Almost half of the podcast is ads.
  • Kboyd14
    Learned About Honda Sales
    I tried so hard to enjoy the content, which was super short and so quickly delivered. I learned more about what ads iHeart has to sell than anything else. Kinda ridiculous.
  • Daceface187
    Ad to episode ratio is impossible
    For such short episodes, the amount of ad time for this show is utterly ridiculous.
  • Buddydog1141
    Great show
    The topics are varied, so I’m always intrigued. The narration is great, too.
  • DevonM16
    Captivating but too short
    I love how entertaining this podcast is, I just wish the episodes were longer.
  • xtina621
    Love it! Need it to be longer.
    Intriguing podcast but I with it was so much longer!
  • Bone621
    Where are the episodes?
    I really enjoy this podcast, much different than the true crime podcast I usually listen to. I’m confused as to where are all the episodes. I thought the host said there were episodes twice a week but I only had 4-5 episodes. I’m I missing something? Want more 😊😊
  • CHJ27
    Like it but…
    The background music is distracting and too loud.
  • Clint.Lorance
    Short and powerful
    Refreshingly educational, yet not so long as to lose your attention or disrupt your day.
  • Dancehallgirl\
    Great Premise, Little Substance
    I heard an ad for this show and and was excited to check it out. The stories/themes presented so far are interesting, but the episodes leave much to be desired at only 6 minutes long. You can basically read the episode overview and learn everything you’ll hear in the show. The FLW episode was especially disappointing. If you have a short attention span, maybe this is for you.
  • dene113
    Interesting, but the delivery…
    Steele speaks with an unsettling amount of relish about horrible things. It comes across as sensationalism. Perhaps this could be adjusted?☮️
  • legos at 60
    Abraham Lincoln
    I heard you on Elvis Duran show this morning talking briefly about Abraham Lincoln’s shooting. You are a wonderful story teller and great voice for story telling. I look forward to listening to more episodes.
  • Nanmarch
    History
    I love history and interesting facts Thanks to Elvis in the morning radio show I tuned in to back story I’m glad I did
  • mcotrel
    What a Treat!
    This taste of history in a podcast is quite tasty! It is interesting and fun, and easy to fit into your listening schedule. Bravo!
  • marilynm62
    Great!
    Short, informative and very interesting.
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