Episode 13
Nov 10, 2016
Show notes
Brian calls a McDonald’s location and discovers that they sell pizza before getting disconnected and deciding the employee was giving him a “facetious” answer. The second location says they do not sell pizza, prompting Brian to ask if the employee voted for Trump. The employee hangs up. The third call is nearly identical to the second. Brian’s next call reaches a frustrated employee who informs him that a prank call can result in a fine up to $130. Brian asks if the employee voted for Trump, and the employee refuses to disclose political information while at McDonald’s. Brian continues calling McDonald’s locations asking about pizza and employees’ voting choices. One employee responds that she did not vote for Trump.
Episode 12
Oct 29, 2016
Show notes
Brian introduces the subpodcast, “Do You Remember That?” by delving into the history of McDonald’s Pizza. Brian discusses dramatic increases in profits and menu additions over the years, including salads and breakfast items. Brian discusses the rise in popularity of pizza chains in the 1980s, specifically Pizza Hut. In the mid-80s, McDonald’s added pizza to their menus by the name of “McDonald’s Pizza,” not McPizza, according to Brian. McPizza was briefly tested but more closely resembled a Hot Pocket than pizza. McDonald’s Pizza reached the market in 1988 after extensive research and funding with the goal of discovering the fastest way to cook pizza. Pizza Today publisher Gerry Durnell (allegedly voiced by Edward Herrmann) doubted McDonald’s, saying that McDonald’s is not a fast food. McDonald’s settled on a process that made pizzas available to customers in five minutes: slower than most McDonald’s menu items yet faster than many pizza chains. Brian describes Pizza Hut’s attack ads against McDonald’s, calling their pizzas “McFrozen.” Brian articulates that this is a lie, as the pizza is not frozen but cooked in a specific oven. Brian states that McDonald’s incurred high renovation costs in order to put the pizza ovens in view of customers and to expand drive thru windows. That said, the corporation decided to proceed with the menu addition. Two years later, McDonald’s removed pizza from the menu. Brian’s investigative journalism quest is to discover why.
Episode 11
Oct 25, 2016
Show notes
Brian calls for legal advice and requests an attorney that has no previous cases for or against McDonald’s. Brian is disconnected, calls back, and requests that the representative does not hang up on him. Jessica lets Brian know that there are no attorneys who can take on his case but gives him the phone number for the Los Angeles Bar Association. Brian calls the LA Bar Association, but the office is closed.
Episode 10
Oct 18, 2016
Show notes
Brian offers legal protection to whistleblowers, saying he is not required to reveal their identities. Brian admits that he cannot confirm Lamont’s identity and recalls being scammed by Monroe Boswell. Brian expresses his frustration that the majority of McDonald’s employees claim to have no knowledge of McDonald’s pizza. A franchise owner that serves pizza at his McDonalds’ locations has ignored Brian’s calls and has a full voicemail box. Private investigators are demanding high prices, and the corporate media team has yet to respond to Brian’s email. Brian says that the investigative journalism project has cost him everything from his job to his wife, yet he intends to continue the project. Brian expresses his belief that Lamont was a sophisticated audio playback device using recordings from a Coast to Coast AM radio segment about Area 51. Host Art Bell was driven off the air following the segment. Brian apologizes to listeners about Lamont and admits that he is unsure if Monroe Boswell is behind the call. Brian has a minor freakout in frustration at the end of the episode.
Episode 9
Oct 15, 2016
Show notes
Brian starts by advising listeners that the following episode may be disturbing. Brian receives an email from Lamont claiming to have information on why McDonald’s stopped selling pizza. Lamont claims to be a former employee let go on a medical discharge, running across the country. Lamont claims that the people who shut down McDonald’s pizza are not who they claim to be and have ties to the military, specifically Area 51. Lamont tells Brian that there is danger to come before the call is cut off.
Episode 8
Oct 12, 2016
Show notes
Brian calls McDonald’s customer service to ask why they stopped selling pizza, and the representative gives Brian the number for the general service line. Brian calls, asks about McDonald’s pizza, and the representative says she will pass along his request to bring back McDonald’s pizza. Brian responds that he never actually got to try the pizza, but is interested in trying it. Brian explains that he is investigating why McDonald’s stopped serving pizza in the first place. The employee explains that it was a test product and did not work out most likely due to its sales and cooking time. She tells Brian there is not a person who can answer the question “whatever happened to pizza at Mcdonald’s?” The representative gives Brian an email to discuss his investigative journalism project with the media team.
Episode 7
Oct 08, 2016
Show notes
Brian calls an investigation firm to ask if they can investigate why McDonald’s stopped selling pizza and is hung up on. He calls a second private investigator, George, who says he will call McDonald’s and look for historical records for $100 per hour. Brian asks him to do it for $20 and George says no. Brian starts searching for historical records and finds an article on McPizza. The article claims that most McDonald’s locations stopped selling McPizza because it took 11 minutes to cook, and customers associate McDonald’s with fast food. Only three McDonald’s locations still serve McPizza today: Pomeroy, Ohio, Orlando, Florida, and Spencer, West Virginia. Brian questions the credibility of the source due to the lack of citations.
Episode 6
Oct 05, 2016
Show notes
Brian encourages listeners to sign his Change.org petition for Panoply to host “Whatever Happened to Pizza at McDonald’s?” in an official capacity. Brian goes back to calling McDonald’s. The first employee thinks McDonald’s pizza is a great idea and tells Brian he has not experienced any pressure from corporate to not sell pizza. The second McDonald’s answers and says they sell pizza and pasta from 6am to 1am. The employee says they sell pizza because they are owned by a different company but cannot connect Brian with headquarters. Brian’s third call reaches an employee who asks Brian if he has ever seen McDonald’s pizza. Brian says no; the employee says Brian answered his own question; Brian asks the employee why he is speaking in riddles and if someone told him not to talk about McDonald’s pizza.
Episode 5
Sep 27, 2016
Show notes
Brian Thompson addresses the email he received from Ava Lubell, General Counsel at the Slate Group (Panoply’s parent company). Ava Lubell asks Thompson to confirm his formal affiliation with the Panoply Network or remove the logo and stop claiming to be part of the network. Brian explains the misunderstanding in his response to Lubell, claiming that he received correspondence from Mark Panoply months earlier about joining the network. Brian accepted the offer after confirming that the Panoply Network had no ties to McDonalds. Brian explains that he had wired money to Mark Panoply for advertisements that never aired. After not being invited to the company Halloween party, Brian begins to suspect that he is not a part of the Panoply network, but is being scammed by Monroe Boswell. Brian lets Ava know that he has filed a police report and removed the Panoply logo from the podcast’s social media. Brian apologizes, lists all of the podcasts that are part of the Panoply network, says he would be happy to officially join the Panoply network in the future, and concludes his email asking if Ava remembers pizza at McDonald’s.Brian lets listeners know that he believes his invitation to the Now Hear This podcasting event was part of Monroe Boswell’s confidence scheme and encourages them to reach out to the festival for refunds.
Episode 4
Sep 22, 2016
Show notes
Brian recaps the previous episode and gets in touch with the office of Greg Mills. The employee tells Brian about the location’s annual fight with corporate to keep pizza on the menu. Brian lets her know that he is an investigative journalist looking for answers about McDonald’s pizza. The employee discusses not being able to disclose certain information about McDonald’s, but affirms that no one has specifically told her not to discuss pizza. Brian asks if McDonald’s pizza is as good as or better than other pizza franchises to which the employee of 30 years responds that she is a McDonald’s fanatic. Brian thanks her for her candor, and she encourages him to call Greg when he returns.
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