WEBVTT - How Did a Team of Immigrants in America Help Win WWII?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio, Hey Brainstuff, Lauren Voleebaum. Here.

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<v Speaker 1>During World War II, the US military recruited and trained

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<v Speaker 1>a secret army of nearly twenty thousand intelligence officers at

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<v Speaker 1>a site called Camp Richie in rural Maryland. The Richie Boys,

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<v Speaker 1>as they're known today, weren't your average American soldiers. They

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<v Speaker 1>represented seventy different nationalities and spoke many different languages. The

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<v Speaker 1>best known Richie Boys were some two eight hundred Jewish

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<v Speaker 1>refugees from Germany and Austria who fled the Holocaust then

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<v Speaker 1>heroically returned to Europe as American soldiers to defeat Hitler.

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<v Speaker 1>Their remarkable story was chronicled by Sixty Minutes in twenty

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<v Speaker 1>twenty one and in a German documentary from two thousand

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<v Speaker 1>and four. But there were also Black Ritchie Boys, Japanese

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<v Speaker 1>American Richie Boys, and female Richie Girls, all of whom

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<v Speaker 1>played a critical and largely unrecognized and the Allied victory

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<v Speaker 1>in World War II. When war broke out in Europe

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<v Speaker 1>in nineteen forty one, the US military lagged far behind

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<v Speaker 1>the British when it came to intelligence capabilities. The Americans

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<v Speaker 1>knew that if they were going to join the fight,

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<v Speaker 1>they couldn't win without soldiers trained in the latest interrogation techniques, counterintelligence,

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<v Speaker 1>that is, spying, and psychological warfare. In April of nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>forty two, the US Army converted a Maryland National Guard

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<v Speaker 1>site into Camp Ritchey, a dedicated military intelligence training center.

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<v Speaker 1>From the start, the Army sought out recruits with foreign

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<v Speaker 1>language skills, particularly the languages of their enemies. Before the

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<v Speaker 1>article this episode is based on How Stuff Works, spoke

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<v Speaker 1>with Land and Grove, an educator who directed the creation

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<v Speaker 1>and opening of the Richy History Museum in twenty twenty three.

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<v Speaker 1>He said, you can teach anybody how to fire a

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<v Speaker 1>rifle in just a few weeks, but you can't teach

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<v Speaker 1>them fluent German, Japanese or Italian. Of the nearly twenty

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<v Speaker 1>thousand trainees who passed through Camp Riccie, about sixty percent

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<v Speaker 1>were American born, including Native Americans, and the rest included

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<v Speaker 1>refugees classified as enemy aliens like Germans and Austrians, plus

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<v Speaker 1>immigrants from everywhere from Morocco to Iceland to India. For

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<v Speaker 1>eight weeks, Camp Richie recruits learned how to extract information

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<v Speaker 1>from captured prisoners of war, a right propaganda pamphlets to

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<v Speaker 1>drop behind enemy lines, analyze reconnaissance photos, and kill the

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<v Speaker 1>enemy in hand to hand combat if necessary, although their

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<v Speaker 1>methods were more based in soft power and cultural know

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<v Speaker 1>how than in violence. To complete their training, Richie Boys

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<v Speaker 1>were shipped off to England to learn advanced intelligence techniques.

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<v Speaker 1>It's there that the Americans may have earned the nickname

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<v Speaker 1>Richie Boys from their more experienced British instructors. As newly

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<v Speaker 1>minted intelligence officers, Ritchie Boys were embedded in every American

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<v Speaker 1>military branch and unit, and they fought in every major

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<v Speaker 1>World War II battle, from the D Day Invasion of

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<v Speaker 1>Normandy to the Battle of the Bulge to Euejima. In

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<v Speaker 1>fighting the Nazis, one of the Ritchie boys most important

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<v Speaker 1>contributions was something called the Order of Battle of the

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<v Speaker 1>German Army aka the Red Book. Using captured German documents,

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<v Speaker 1>the Ritchie Boys assembled a continuously updated list of every

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<v Speaker 1>Nazi unit in Europe, including its leadership, structure, troop numbers,

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<v Speaker 1>battle history, and more. Houstuffworks also spoke with Beverly Eddy,

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<v Speaker 1>author of Richie Boy Secrets, how a force of immigrants

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<v Speaker 1>and refugees helped win World War II. She said the

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<v Speaker 1>order of battle was crucial for interrogation purposes and for

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<v Speaker 1>the Allies to know exactly what they were up against.

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<v Speaker 1>The Richie Boys conducted tens of thousands of interrogations of

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<v Speaker 1>both enemy soldiers and civilians. A fluent in the language

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<v Speaker 1>and culture of their Captivesie Boys didn't need to resort

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<v Speaker 1>to violence to get information. Instead, they would offer a

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<v Speaker 1>friendly cigarette and commisserate over local sports rivalries. Grove said

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<v Speaker 1>that then launch into this spiel. Isn't the war awful?

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<v Speaker 1>You and I aren't really that different. We're all just

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<v Speaker 1>sick of fighting and want to go home. It'll all

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<v Speaker 1>be over a lot sooner if you tell me where

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<v Speaker 1>the minefield is. And if a Nazi officer was really

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<v Speaker 1>tight lipped, they might threaten to hand them over to

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<v Speaker 1>the Russians. Grove was using Russians and scare quotes there

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<v Speaker 1>as it'd be another Richie Boy playing the role convincingly

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<v Speaker 1>in a Russian officer's uniform. According to a US Army

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<v Speaker 1>report published in nineteen forty six, the Ritchie Boys were

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<v Speaker 1>responsible for gathering sixty percent of all actionable battlefield intelligence

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<v Speaker 1>in World War two, though Eddie thinks that number should

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<v Speaker 1>probably be lower, since the Americans who wrote the report

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<v Speaker 1>didn't know at that time the full extent of the

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<v Speaker 1>secret British program that cracked the Enigma code. Several famous

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<v Speaker 1>people were members of their ranks, including author J. D. Salinger,

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<v Speaker 1>one of the founders of Wafflehouse, Tom Faulkner, financial magnate

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<v Speaker 1>David Rockefeller, and politicians like Frank Church. But some of

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<v Speaker 1>the most inspiring stories about the Richie Boys concerned those

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<v Speaker 1>Jewish refugees who fled Nazi atrocities in Europe and returned

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<v Speaker 1>to fight for the family members and communities that had

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<v Speaker 1>lost to Hitler's genocide. Ediside's examples like Ernest Kramer, a

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<v Speaker 1>German Jew who, at eighteen years old, was imprisoned at

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<v Speaker 1>the notorious Bukenwald concentration camp. Kramer was one of the

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<v Speaker 1>lucky few to get an affidavit for release to America

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<v Speaker 1>the minute he stepped on US soil. Kramer enlisted in

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<v Speaker 1>the Army and was sent to Camp Ritchie to train

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<v Speaker 1>in psychological warfare. During the war, Kramer wrote pamphlets urging

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<v Speaker 1>German soldiers to surrender, and when the war was finally over,

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<v Speaker 1>he helped establish independent newspapers and destroyed German cities. Another

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<v Speaker 1>sample is Albert Rosenberg, who was a university student in

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<v Speaker 1>Germany in nineteen thirty seven when he was brutally attacked

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<v Speaker 1>by an antisemitic mob. He escaped to America, joined the army,

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<v Speaker 1>and became the leader of a richie boy interrogation team

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<v Speaker 1>responsible for extracting information from high value Nazi targets Alike Kramer,

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<v Speaker 1>Rosenberg lost his entire family in Hitler's death camps, and

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<v Speaker 1>he was determined to see Nazi war criminals brought to justice.

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<v Speaker 1>Eddie said. At the end of the war, Rosenberg and

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<v Speaker 1>his team were assigned by General Eisenhower to investigate book involved.

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<v Speaker 1>They interviewed prisoners to learn exactly how the camp was

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<v Speaker 1>organized and who was in charge. Those materials were used

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<v Speaker 1>at the Nuremberg Trials. During World War two, black soldiers

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<v Speaker 1>in the US military often faced Jim crow eras segregation.

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<v Speaker 1>Even at Camp Ritchie, black trainees graduated with impressive credentials,

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<v Speaker 1>but had to navigate a military culture that treated them

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<v Speaker 1>as second class soldiers. Take one Daniel Skinner, a professor

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<v Speaker 1>at a black college who came to Camp Richie with

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<v Speaker 1>a Harvard degree influency in French, German, Italian, and Spanish.

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<v Speaker 1>Eddie said at Camp Richie, Daniel Skinner was as good

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<v Speaker 1>or better than any of the other trainees, but when

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<v Speaker 1>he was posted abroad, he couldn't serve over white soldiers.

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<v Speaker 1>What they did was make him the driver of the

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<v Speaker 1>interrogation team so he could still participate as a translator

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<v Speaker 1>and interrogator. The Richie Boys also included Japanese Americans among

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<v Speaker 1>their ranks. Take David Akira Atami, who was born an

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<v Speaker 1>American citizen, but was imprisoned along with his family in

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<v Speaker 1>an internment camp after the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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<v Speaker 1>A year later, Atami volunteered for the army. As Atami's

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<v Speaker 1>daughter wrote, the US government would not recognize your citizenship rights,

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<v Speaker 1>but they would let you volunteer to serve the same

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<v Speaker 1>country who had deprived you of those rights. Atammi trained

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<v Speaker 1>at Camp Richie and later served as the lead interpreter

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<v Speaker 1>at the Japanese War crimes trials in Tokyo. And around

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<v Speaker 1>two hundred Richie girls trained or worked at Camp Ritchie,

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<v Speaker 1>including twenty two women instructors. The Women's Auxiliary Corps was

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<v Speaker 1>an active duty branch of the Army for women, but

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<v Speaker 1>they often struggled to earn the respect of the male

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<v Speaker 1>dominated military. A Two high profile Richie Girls were Sally Davis,

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<v Speaker 1>who trained in the Order of Battle and served with

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<v Speaker 1>General MacArthur in Australia, and Lillian Tombacher, who served as

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<v Speaker 1>General Eisenhower's personal Polish interpreter in Europe and received the

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<v Speaker 1>Bronze Star. Of the nearly twenty thousand Richie Boys who

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<v Speaker 1>served in World War II, around one hundred and forty

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<v Speaker 1>were killed in action, including at the costly landings at

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<v Speaker 1>Normandy and Euejima. Richie Boys earned more than sixty five

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<v Speaker 1>Silver Star medals and countless Bronze Star medals for their service.

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<v Speaker 1>In twenty twenty two, the US Holocaust Memorial Museum present

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<v Speaker 1>the Richie Boys with its highest honor, the Elie Weisell Award,

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<v Speaker 1>and legislation has been submitted to Congress to award the

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<v Speaker 1>Richie Boys with the Congressional Gold Medal. Eddie and Grove

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<v Speaker 1>estimate that over one hundred Richie Boys are still alive today.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article how the Richie

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<v Speaker 1>Boys Secret refugee infiltrators took on the Nazis on HowStuffWorks

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<v Speaker 1>dot Com, written by Dave Brus. Brain Stuff is production

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<v Speaker 1>of iHeartRadio in partnership with HowStuffWorks dot Com and is

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<v Speaker 1>produced by Tyler Klang. Four more podcasts my heart Radio,

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<v Speaker 1>visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen

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<v Speaker 1>to your favorite shows.