Columbia House recently shut down, and Ed Conroy finally explains the business model that kept it running for decades after everyone assumed it should have collapsed. It came to Canada in 1979, and the reason it worked has nothing to do with luck.
Those free cassette deals came with a catch that most people never noticed. Conroy breaks down how the physical tapes themselves were produced in a way that meant the artists on them never actually got paid.
1979 gets remembered for a handful of big radio hits, but Conroy argues the real story of the year is what never made the charts. He points to the genres quietly taking shape underneath the mainstream that would go on to define everything after.
Topics: Columbia House, 1979 music, cassette tapes, mail order records, Canada
GUEST: Ed Conroy | http://retrontario.com | @retrontario
Originally aired on2026-09-17
