logo
episode-header-image
Jan 2017
1h 18m

129. Michael March on the Indie ISP Indu...

Brian McCullough
About this episode

Michael March was the founder of Internet Direct, the first commercial ISP in Arizona. Michael gives us a first-hand account of the independent ISP industry that grew up around the country in the 1990s. AOL might have been the training wheels for the internet, but the Mom-n-Pop ISPs probably gave more Americans their first Internet experience than any of the online services.

Bonus: Michael was an incidental witness to the first major commercial spam event on the Internet, a story that he relays at the end of this episode.

And you can see Internet Direct featured in a really delicious infomercial from the time here.

And you can follow Michael on twitter @cowmix


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
Up next
Oct 2021
203. Shirish Nadkarni On Microsoft, Hotmail, MSN and Blackberry Internet Email
Serial entrepreneur Shirish Nadkarni came to the U.S. as a teenager with $25 in his pocket. After graduating from Harvard Business School, he worked at Microsoft where he engineered the $400 million acquisition of Hotmail and launched MSN.com, the world’s leading web portal.Strik ... Show More
34m 18s
Oct 2020
202. The del.icio.us Story With Joshua Schachter
Joshua Schachter, founder of del.icio.us, is someone I’ve wanted to talk to from the very first day of this podcast. As we’ll discuss, del.icio.us was such a standard bearer of the web 2.0 era. Of user generated content. Of sharing long before Facebook or Twitter or any of that. ... Show More
1 h
Aug 2019
201. The History of Audible With Angelika Fuellemann
Angelika Fuellemann is a designer who worked early on with BookSense.com, then got hired by Audible early on, so this is the early story of Audible. It’s funny… audio, streaming music, podcasts, audiobooks, it seems so obvious now, but it really is funny to look back and think ab ... Show More
25m 4s
Recommended Episodes
Jun 2012
Happy Fathers of the Internet Day
<p>What was ARPANET? Who was on the team that designed the basic infrastructure for the Internet? What was the first message sent over the ARPANET connections? In this episode, Jonathan and Chris pay their respects to the Dads of the Internet.</p><p> </p> Learn more about your ad ... Show More
40m 14s
Jul 2024
460. AI, Internet Scams, and the Balance of Freedom | Chris Olson
Dr. Jordan Peterson sits down with cybercrime expert and CEO of The Media Trust, Chris Olson. They discuss the key targets for cybercrime, dating and other online scams, what legislative measures for internet safety might look like, and the necessary sacrifice major companies nee ... Show More
1h 21m
Jun 2024
Protecting Your Online Reputation
<p>James Mawhinney, Visionary, Investor, and Business Builder at Media.com, delves into truth in the digital age and online reputation management. The explosive growth of the internet has revolutionized how information, both accurate and misleading, spreads. Businesses now face t ... Show More
15m 49s
Mar 2021
Connecting the Dot-Com
The year is 1995. The internet starts going mainstream and the dot-com bubble begins its rapid inflation. But 10 years before all of this, a small team of systems administrators made a seemingly simple decision that would turn out to have a monumental impact on these events and w ... Show More
27m 54s
Feb 2022
Michael Theo 😀
Michael Theo (Love on the Spectrum) and Justin chat about the importance of finding meaningful connection, Michael's newest endeavor into voice acting, and they leave friend of the show, Kristen Bell, a special message.Listen ad free with Wondery+. Join Wondery+ for exclusives, b ... Show More
1h 31m
Aug 2023
Leave Me Alone | 7
Michael’s eccentric behavior and ever-changing appearance pique the curiosity of the public and the press. But was Michael a tabloid victim or a genius public relations ringmaster?Think Twice: Michael Jackson was produced by Dustin DeSoto, Benjamin Frisch, Kim Gittleson, Danielle ... Show More
51m 15s
Jun 2020
Howie Mandel
Howie Mandel (America’s Got Talent) talks to Justin about the importance of prioritizing mental health, and shares his own personal struggles. Support us by supporting our sponsors!ExpressVPN - Go to EXPRESSVPN.com/LONG to get an extra three months for free!See Privacy Policy at ... Show More
1h 31m