What if one minute of advertising could tell the story of an entire civilization?
Tonight, on The Marketplace, we begin with a 1957 Chevrolet radio commercial and Dinah Shore’s beloved See the USA in Your Chevrolet. Together, they reveal far more than a new automobile. They reveal what millions of Americans believed about progress, freedom, family, craftsmanship, and tomorrow itself.
From the little station on Commercial Street in Atchison, Kansas, we explore the engineering behind the iconic ‘57 Chevy, the birth of the Interstate Highway System, the optimism of postwar America, and the values woven into one of the most memorable advertising campaigns ever broadcast.
This isn’t a podcast about classic cars.
It’s a conversation about the civilization that built them.
Join us as we discover how one ordinary commercial became an extraordinary window into the American imagination—and ask the question that closes every episode of The Marketplace:
What was this commercial really selling?
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