Rumble: Ali/Foreman and The Soul of '74

Fall 2024 marks 50 years since both the legendary Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman, and the Zaire’ 74 music festival, headlined by the likes of James Brown, BB King, Miriam Makeba and myriad other stars.Muhammad Ali’s life bobs and weaves through an era of revolutions and disruptive social change in both the US and Africa. In the lead up to this highly politicized superfight, Ali and many other freedom fighters are forced to confront old truths and build bridges toward understanding while they learn to wield the power of influence and sacrifice. Featuring personal accounts of the monumental effort it took to put on these events, Rumble walks backstage with a staggeringly powerful group of fighters, performers, producers and activists, uplifting the legacy of Black Excellence.

Rumble: Ali/Foreman and The Soul of '74 is a history podcast hosted by iHeartPodcasts, with 15 episodes on record and a Required Pod Score of 80. PitchCentric scores this show on Booking Probability, Listen Score, and live audience signals refreshed every 24 hours.

iHeartPodcasts hosts Rumble: Ali/Foreman and The Soul of '74, a history show with 15 episodes published.

Our AI reads these to draft pitches. Use them as grounding for a pitch that cites a real guest and a specific topic.

• 

  Episode #14

  Vote for "RUMBLE" in the Webby Awards!

  Apr 10, 20252 minS1

  <p>Great news: "Rumble: Ali/Foreman and the Soul of ‘74" was nominated for a Webby Award – and YOU, the people, get to vote in the People’s Voice Awards!</p> <p>LINK TO VOTE: https://vote.webbyawards.com/PublicVoting#/2025/podcasts/individual-episode/history </p> <p>Make your voice heard by voting for us by April 17th. </p> <p>The episode “Coming Home to Africa… If James Brown Don’t Kill Us All” was nominated in the History category for Best Single Episode. </p> <p>And what an episode it was: the overloaded plane, Bill Withers pulling a knife on James Brown, and all those many...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #13

  THE LEGACY

  Jan 22, 202553 minS1

  <p>What do our heroes leave behind? Nico Ali-Walsh shares memories of his grandfather, The People’s Champ. George Foreman transforms after The Rumble in the Jungle, realizing that Ali “beat the devil” out of him. Hugh Masekela is finally able to return home to South Africa and his son, Selema follows in his footsteps. Fred Wesley can still play the trombone and will do so as long as he can. After Vietnam, the momentum behind the Civil Rights Movement seems to all but disappear. History moves on. What’s left is the legacy of these soul rebels.</p> <p>LITERARY...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #12

  THE RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE

  Jan 15, 20251h 2mS1

  <p >The infamous fight. Play by play. It's a punishing display of brutality and endurance. The avatars of America’s Culture War stand tall and fierce in the African ring. Foreman is fearsome, throwing haymaker after haymaker. Ali is classically savvy, inventing a new technique on the spot: The Rope-a-Dope. It’s all he can do to survive the onslaught of Foreman’s violence. This fight is considered by many to be the greatest sporting event of all time. </p><p>See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.</p>

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #11

  THE SOUL OF '74

  Jan 8, 202557 minS1

  <p>The show must go on! The Zaire ‘74 Music Festival is underway. The sounds of the diaspora grace the stage, united by the drum. Bill Withers stuns listeners with his raw talent. BB King wails on his guitar in one of his all-time best performances. Celia Cruz croons to the crowd, who finds an unexpected familiarity in her Afro-Latina rhythms. Miriam Makeba hypnotizes her audience and ties the whole ensemble together with her unifying spirit. And finally, James Brown emerges to close out the show. His performance makes history as he steps into the crowd and shares the mic with hi...

  ListenShow Notes
• 

  Episode #10

  A LIE IN A LEOPARD SKIN HAT

  Dec 18, 202458 minS1

  <p>Stuck in Zaire, Ali stays busy winning The People to his side. Foreman remains sullen and sequestered. Don King keeps the hype going as the festival is ramping up, and all involved insist: The Rumble in the Jungle will happen. In the meantime, we recount the tragic history of Zaire's decolonization attempts and Pan-Africanism 2.0; the rapid rise and fall of beloved independence leader, Patrice Lumumba, and the role of the CIA and the Western World in all of it. The consequences of this corruption are tangible to the musicians, photographers and festival-makers, who experience first hand, Mobutu's tyrannical grip...

  ListenShow Notes

Recent guests on Rumble: Ali/Foreman and The Soul of '74. Study who booked and why before you pitch.

Based on semantic analysis of episode topics and host coverage, this show is a strong guest fit for executives in:

Industry fit is computed by PitchCentric using vector embeddings of the show's episode catalog.