meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
An Old Timey Podcast

75: Advice Column Rivals: Dear Abby and Ann Landers (Part 2)

An Old Timey Podcast

An Old Timey Podcast

True Crime, History, Comedy

4.91.3K Ratings

🗓️ 8 October 2025

⏱️ 81 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ann Landers was thrilled. She’d just landed a job as the new syndicated advice columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times. Her new role gave Ann something to call her own. Then, just three months later, her twin sister Abby shared some news. She’d gotten a job as an advice columnist, too.

Remember, kids, history hoes always cite their sources! For this episode, Kristin pulled from:
The book “Dear Ann, Deary Abby: The Unauthorized Biography of Ann Landers and Abigail Van Buren” by Jan Pottker and Bob Speziale
“Twin lovelorn advisers torn asunder by success,” by Paul O’Neil for Life Magazine
The book, “The Best of Ann Landers: Her Favorite Letters of All Time,” by Ann Landers
The book, “The Best of Dear Abby,” by Abigail Van Buren
“Pauline Phillips, better known as ‘Dear Abby,’ dies at 94,” Washington Post
“Ann Landers, advice giver to the millions, is dead at 83,” by Margalit Fox for the New York Times
“The rivalry of Dear Abby and Ann Landers,” by Melissa Baron for BookRiot.com
“Landers’ death renews family feud,” South Florida Sun Sentinel
“Pauline Phillips, longtime Dear Abby advice dies at 94,” by Michael Martinez for CNN
“Columnists/ daughters carry on the feud,” by Beverly Beyette for the Los Angeles Times
“Competition between Iowa sisters who penned Dear Abby, Ann Landers fueled advice columns,” Des Moines Register

Are you enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Then please leave us a 5-star rating and review wherever you listen to podcasts!

Are you *really* enjoying An Old Timey Podcast? Well, calm down, history ho! You can get more of us on Patreon at patreon.com/oldtimeypodcast. At the $5 level, you’ll get a monthly bonus episode (with video!), access to our 90’s style chat room, plus the entire back catalog of bonus episodes from Kristin’s previous podcast, Let’s Go To Court.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hear ye, hear ye. You are listening to an old-timey podcast. I'm Kristen Caruso. And I'm Normie C.

0:09.5

And on this episode, Anne Landers gets her column. And so does Abby.

0:15.1

Ooh, the rivalry. It's heating up, folks. Oh, it's on. In this episode, it is on.

0:22.3

I mean, again, before you told me about this topic, I had no idea they were rivals.

0:27.9

I didn't even know they were related.

0:29.5

So this is all...

0:30.5

You'd never even heard of a newspaper before I started this.

0:33.1

This is all breaking news to me.

0:34.8

It's all fascinating.

0:36.5

Welcome to an old-timey podcast where we bring you breaking news from 70 years ago.

0:42.8

Kristen, I actually do have some breaking news for you.

0:45.4

Okay.

0:46.5

So, this is hot off the press.

0:49.7

Hang on.

0:49.9

This is hot off the press.

0:51.7

Usually people talk a little faster. They have a little more energy.

0:54.5

You're kind of like, eh.

0:55.8

Just ran the numbers. Okay. Through the machine. Uh-huh. Uh-huh. We are now predicting the future on an old-timey podcast. My goodness. Okay. Stuff we say on this show happens in real life. Kristen, last week, I made a joke about how the Army only wants sexy soldiers fighting.

1:16.3

Oh my God, yes!

1:18.5

Yes!

1:19.3

Right?

1:19.8

Yes, you did.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from An Old Timey Podcast, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of An Old Timey Podcast and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.