The Day the World Almost Ended: Episode 1— The Soviet Officers Who Defied the Machines

The President's Daily Brief

The First TV

Politics, News

4.7 • 3.2K Ratings

🗓️ 17 October 2025

⏱️ 15 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A special look at episode 1 of Mike Baker's PDB special subscriber only series: On September 26th, 1983, the world came closer to nuclear war than most people ever realized. Inside a secret Soviet bunker, Lieutenant Colonel Stanislav Petrov faced a terrifying choice: trust the computers that screamed U.S. missiles were on the way—or trust his gut. Protocol said one phone call could unleash thousands of Soviet warheads and end civilization in less than an hour.This is the story of how one man’s decision in the middle of the night may have saved humanity.In this first episode of PDB’s The Day the World Almost Ended, Mike Baker takes you inside the Cold War’s most dangerous moment, explores the global tensions that set the stage, and explains why Petrov’s judgment still matters in today’s world of AI, cyber threats, and hair-trigger nuclear systems.Watch now to learn how close we came to annihilation—and why the fate of billions rested on a single man at a console in 1983. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	In the Premier League, everyone pushes their hardest to win. And now it's your turn. With their EPL fantasy challenge, Coca-Cola are giving you a chance to win big by beating the best. All you have to do is build a team based on rules set by an icon. And to help you on your way, I've got a tip to help you build your team. Make sure you keep an eye on fixtures. Who are the players up against next? Sometimes it's not about form.
0:21.7	Like there are some players that, for whatever reason, always play well against certain teams.
0:27.0	To do your research. To get involved in the EPL Fantasy Challenge, all you've got to do is grab
0:31.8	a Coke and scan the code on the pack. Just by playing, you get a chance to win Coke swag or
0:36.6	vouchers. But if you beat the icon
0:38.9	who set the rules, you could win vintage Coca-Cola jerseys, Premier League tickets and more. So go
0:45.0	ahead and get involved. Grab a Coke, drink it in. Here's the truth about AI. AI is only as powerful
0:51.9	as the platform it's built into. Service Now puts AI to work for people across your business, removing friction and frustration for your employees, supercharging productivity for your developers, providing intelligent tools for your service agents to make customers happier. All built into a single platform you can use right now. That's why the world
1:12.9	works with ServiceNow. Visit ServiceNow.com slash UK slash AI for people. Hey folks, Mike Baker here.
1:20.6	We wanted to give you a chance to listen to an episode of my new limited podcast series,
1:25.0	The Day the World Almost Ended. I know. It's a cheery,
1:29.2	uplifting title. This series takes you inside the moments when the world came dangerously
1:33.8	close to nuclear war, from false alarms and miscommunications to the people who stepped
1:39.1	in at the last second to stop disaster. The rest of the series is available to PDB subscribers, so if you enjoy this episode
1:46.3	and you want to hear the rest, you can sign up at PDB Premium.com.
1:50.0	It's that simple.
1:51.0	Not only will you get access to the series, as a premium subscriber, you'll also receive
1:55.4	other special episodes like our monthly Ask Me Anything shows, and you'll be able to listen
2:00.7	to the PDB ad-free.
2:02.8	Just head on over to PDB Premium.com.
2:06.7	The date is September 26, 1983.
2:10.7	It's after midnight inside a Soviet military bunker near Moscow.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

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

Generated transcripts are the property of The First TV and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.