By the early 1930s, nine out of ten American farms were still in the dark. Cities glowed with electric lights, radios, and neon signs, but out in the countryside, nights ended with kerosene lamps and wood stoves.
This episode takes you deep into the forgotten struggle to bring electricity to rural America; a fight that wasn’t just about technology, but about power in every sense of the word.
We trace the story from the shadow empires of holding companies that controlled three-quarters of the nation’s electricity, through their dramatic collapse in the 1930s, to the creation of the Rural Electrification Administration and the farmer-led cooperatives that finally lit up the last dark corners of the map.
It’s a story of money, politics, and class; but also of dignity, connection, and what it means to share progress.
Perfect for: History buffs, energy nerds, and anyone who’s ever flipped a light switch and wondered what it took to make that possible.