Send us Fan Mail

April 1976 is one of those weeks where the radio dial feels like an entire universe. We pull up the Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 from the first week of April 1976 and react in real time, from songs we wore out as kids to deep cuts we barely recognize until the title jogs the memory. Along the way we talk about what Top 40 radio edits left out, why certain hooks became permanent, and how a track can rise, fall, or hang on for dear life depending on what the culture wanted that week.

The chart run turns into a time capsule: disco energy rubbing shoulders with classic rock, soft rock, country crossover, and the kind of pop that only the 1970s could make feel normal on the same list. We hit big landmarks like “Bohemian Rhapsody,” “Dream On,” and “Dreamweaver,” plus the #1 that still gets everyone singing. If you love building playlists, you’ll have plenty of prompts to make your own “April 1976” set and test which songs still sound alive today.

Then we zoom out from singles to albums and dig into a handful of 1976 releases that shaped careers and changed trajectories: Rush taking a massive risk with “2112,” Kansas landing their defining moment with “Leftoverture,” Paul McCartney and Wings firing back with “Silly Love Songs,” Bob Seger breaking through with “Night Moves,” and Journey in the fascinating pre-Steve Perry years on “Look Into The Future.” We close with some current show plans that tie the old music to the live stage right now.

If this kind of music history and real-listener commentary is your thing, subscribe on your podcast app, watch on YouTube, share it with a friend, and leave a quick review so more people can find the show.

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com

Send us Fan Mail

Most Americans only meet Iran through a headline, a chant, or a talking head. Then Sormeh walks into our studio and calmly says what almost never makes the news: the Iranian people are not the Iranian regime, and many Iranians don’t hate Americans at all. She grew up in Tehran, lived the fear and the censorship, and still has family there, so this isn’t theory or politics for sport. It’s personal.

We talk about what it feels like to be a kid forced to chant “Death to America,” what you can’t say at school, and why families learn to split life into “inside the house” and “outside the house.” Sormeh explains the pressure of internet shutdowns in Iran, why VPNs become normal, and how even a simple phone call to check on relatives can be risky when you assume someone is listening. We also get into the parts that are hard for Americans to picture: bans around music and dancing, fear of hospitals after protests, and the way the IRGC’s control shows up in everyday choices.

From there, we zoom out to the bigger questions: why the world ignores certain human rights abuses, what hope looks like for people living under the Islamic Republic, and why many Iranians fear a “ceasefire” if it leaves the same regime in place. We also discuss the Iranian diaspora’s rallies, why you often see American flags there, and what kind of leadership and free elections people are calling for, including mention of Reza Pahlavi.

If you care about media literacy, human rights, Iranian protests, or the real story behind US-Iran tension, this conversation adds the missing human element. Subscribe to the Ben Maynard Program, share this with someone who only knows Iran from TV, and leave a review or a comment with what challenged you most.#tellyourstory #familymatters #realstories #humanrights #iran #womenofiran #standwithiran #freeiran #middleeast

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com

Send us Fan Mail

Van Halen didn’t just get popular, they changed what rock music sounded like when the needle hit the record. Craig Dodge joins me after a year of planning to talk through the David Lee Roth era and why those early records still feel loud, hungry, and unreal decades later. We start with the personal stuff, how we go back to Cub Scouts, how Craig first heard “Jamie’s Cryin’,” and why Van Halen's debut still lands like a musical event rather than just another classic rock album.

From there, we get into the craft: Eddie Van Halen as a once-in-a-generation composer on guitar, the misconception of calling the band “heavy metal,” and the magic trick Van Halen pulls off by being both heavy and melodic at the same time. We also talk about cover songs, deep cuts, and what it was like seeing the band live on the Women and Children First and Fair Warning tours, plus the real difference between a lead singer and a true frontman. Roth’s voice is only part of the story; his presence, lyrics, and showmanship help explain why the band’s identity hit so hard.

Then we do the thing every fan loves to argue about: we rank the Roth-era Van Halen albums, from A Different Kind of Truth to 1984, Diver Down, Fair Warning, Women and Children First, Van Halen II, and the debut that started it all. If you care about classic rock, hard rock history, Eddie Van Halen’s influence, or the peak years of Van Halen, this one is for you. Subscribe to the Ben Maynard Program, share it with a friend, and leave a review, then tell us your Roth-era album ranking.

Thanks for listening! Follow me on Instagram: benmaynardprogram
and subscribe to my YouTube channel: THE BEN MAYNARD PROGRAM
I also welcome your comments. email: pl8blocker@aol.com