Relive the days of video rental stores through the stories of former employees. You'll hear experiences from the infancy of rental stores in the 1980s, their dominance in the 1990s, and their demise in the 2000s. From VHS to DVD, from Blockbuster to 'Mom and Pop' stores, Rental Return celebrates this distinctive time in film history.
We close out season 4 with a first for Rental Return as we interview a father and son who both worked at video rental stores. Joe shares amazing stories about his time as the general manager of Canadian chain, The Video Movie Place from 1984-1988, while Mike reveals how much the business changed a decade later when he worked at Blockbuster Video.
Plus, we announce a special event screening of documentary, 7 Year Rental, whi...
Lee joins us to recount his experience working at multiple Movie Gallery stores throughout the state of Iowa. Hear tales of getting peed on while dressed up as The Grinch for in-store events, destroying video store shelves with Spider-Man style shenanigans and so much more!
Follow @TRNsocial on X, Instagram, and Facebook for more Rental Return visuals provided by our Video Heroes and other memories form the video store era.
...
David joins us to tell the fascinating tale of working in a privately owned video rental store in Wisconsin from it's opening day in 1999 to it's abrupt closing 8 years later. Plus learn about the documentary he created during the store's final year. Get more details about the doc here http://sevenyearrental.squarespace.com/synopsis/
Follow @TRNsocial on X, Instagram, and Facebook for more including visuals from our Video H...
Dalibor joins us to share stories of working at Blockbuster Video in the early 2000's during the transition from VHS to DVD to streaming, explains how he became the top seller of upgraded memberships and more.
Follow @TRNsocial on X, Instagram, and Facebook for more including visuals from our Video Heroes.
If you are a former rental store employee and would like to be interviewed for an upcoming season, please contact Adam @...
Rob joins us to share his tales of the first video rental store in Australia, founded by his father in 1980. Lines out the door, Mickey Mouse costumes, gangsters, illegal porn and more! We've never heard wild stories like these before. Press Play now for one of kind stories from Down Under.
Follow @TRNsocial on X, Instagram, and Facebook for more including visuals from our Video Heroes.
Danielle from the No More Late Fees podcast shares her experience working at 4 different Blockbuster Video locations in Florida during the early 2000's, breaks down the daily grind and you won't believe the story she shares at the end about an incident in the video game section.
Follow @TRNsocial on X, Instagram, and Facebook for more including visuals from our Video Heroes.
Dirk Marshall from the VH-US podcast share his fantastic stories about growing up in a mom & pop video rental store during the 80's and 90's. Discover all the awesome promotional items he brought home as a kid, what he did with movie screener tapes, the terrifying tale of cockroaches invading a VCR and so much more! You can check out Dirk's podcast at vh-us.com.
Follow @TRNsocial on X, Instagram, and Facebook for more i...
Rental Return is back for Season 4! In this kickoff episode, Adam and Chad Young (Horror Movie BBQ) introduce the new season of interviews with former video rental store employees, explore a long closed video rental store through instagram, talk about favorite childhood VHS tapes and recent additions to their video collections. Plus, a very special farewell to dearly departed friend and producer of Rental Return, Jason Gro...
With Season 3 of Rental Return in the books, Adam (@Hojukoolander) and Jason (@RD80s) bookend the season by reflecting on what they learned through the experiences shared by the Video Heroes. They discuss some of the most interesting stories, things they did not know about the video store business, and favorite moments overall. They also talk about some recent video rental news including Netflix finally cancelling their DV...
Season 3 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store concludes with an interview of Landall Goolsby (@iamlandall) who owned his a video store, Landall's Box Office, up through 2019. He also worked at several stores in the New Mexico area which he started working at 13. Randall talks about the circumstances of beginning in the video store industry, managing stores, and then owning his own store and becoming a board member...
Season 3 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store continues with an interview of Russ Burlingame (@RussBurlingame) who worked at Emerald City Video and just about every chain video store during the 2000s in the Syracuse area. Russ talks about the difference between working at a "Mom and Pop" store versus the corporate giants. He remembers some of the unique décor at Emerald City Video include screen used (and not so s...
Season 3 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store continues with an interview of Michael May (@MichaelMayComix) who worked for a "Mom and Pop" store called Adventureland Video (later changed to Aardvark Video) in the late 80s in Tallahassee, Florida. Listen as he shares his early memories of visiting the store and how eventually was hired and became the manager for a time. Michael talks about ordering new movies, the ...
Season 3 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store continues with an interview of Andy Serwin who worked for a "Mom and Pop" store called The Video Hut in the late 80s in rural Pennsylvania. Listen as he shares his memories of working at the store and the family atmosphere it had when he started. Then he talks about new ownership and how he eventually moved on from working at the store. Andy also talks about the perks ...
Season 3 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store continues with an interview of Michael Labbe (@Superstarml) who worked for Movie Gallery in Augusta, ME in the late '90s to early 2000s. Listen as he shares his memories of working at the store, what he did in a typical week, and perks. Michael also remembers the layout of the store, encounters with the adult film room, and the unique time of when VHS was slowly being ...
Season 3 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store kicks off with an interview of Landon (@HOC_STUDIOS) who grew up in a family-owned store in the early to mid '90s. Listen as he shares his memories of the store his mother ran for several years including her trips to the VHS warehouse that sold tapes and promotional items. Brandon also talks about the setup of the store, his favorite and least favorite rentals, and a g...
Adam, Chad, and Jason host a preview episode for Season 3 of the Rental Return podcast series. First, the hosts comment on the recent representation of rental stores on Netflix including Blockbuster and That 90s Show. Then the trio share recent VHS finds in thrift stores and on eBay. Then, get a sneak preview of what to expect for Season 3 of Rental Return.
Follow @TRNsocial on Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook for more Rent...
Get ready for Season 3 of Rental Return as we introduce our Video Heroes!
Thanks to our monthly supportersWith Season 2 of Rental Return in the books, Adam (@Hojukoolander), Chad (@HorrorMovieBBQ), and Jason (@RD80s) bookend the season by reflecting on what they learned through the experiences shared by the Video Heroes. They discuss some of the crazier stories, things they did not know about the video store business, and favorite moments overall. They also talk about some old newspaper stories that Jason dug up from the '80s ...
Season 2 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store comes to a close with "Pushing Stop." This episode features the final days of video stores from the perspective of our Video Heroes. You'll hear how DVD, Blu-Ray, and Netflix affected the operation of their stores. Then, listen how some of our Heroes ended their tenures and their perspective on other store closings in the area. With the perspective of hind sight, we th...
Season 2 of Rental Return - Tales From the Video Store continues with "Secrets of the Staff." This episode features some wild stories of staff shenanigans during and after business hours. Here Brandon tell about an epic pen-throwing war that occurred after hours one night that ended with an exploding marker and a clean up that lasted until the wee hours of the morning. Our Heroes also take us behind-the-scenes with details...
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations.
Anna Sale explores the big questions and hard choices that are often left out of polite conversation.
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people.
A straightforward look at the day's top news in 20 minutes. Powered by ABC News. Hosted by Brad Mielke.