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If you will indulge me, I'm going to be a little petty.

Running a This Day in History show, as I have for years, it's still always a little shocking at the presumption of some of my listeners when it comes to topic selection.

Some listeners feel compelled to tell me in comments, reviews, and social media just how ignorant, misguided,

or inappropriate our topic selections are. How dare you not cover topic X today? They will scream

painfully unaware that we covered that event last year. It's unconscionable not to celebrate

why today when we have plans to cover topic why next year upon its 250th anniversary. No one wants

to hear about Z when K is clearly more important, says someone who thinks only American history

exists. I tell you, it's exhausting and it's disappointing,

and it happened again recently on November 10th when we did not cover the sinking of the Edmund

Fitzgerald on its 50th anniversary. But look, I understand. The sinking of that ship is an event

that people know and care about, made immortal by Gordon Lightfoot's song.

But it's not the worst shipwreck in history. That's the M.V. Wilhelm Gustloff, which sank in the

Baltic Sea on January 30, 1945, taking an estimated 9,000 passengers with it. It's not even the

worst shipwreck in the Great Lakes. That's the SS Eastland, which sank on July 24, 1915,

killing 844. Still, the 50th anniversary of a well-known tragedy is something to mark,

and we're going to do so on today's Saturday matinee with an episode from the podcast

Ship History Radio from the Steamship Historical Society of America.

Okay, petty mode off. I hope you enjoy. While you're listening, be sure to search for and follow

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