Legends of the Old West - UPDATE | Schedule Changes in 2026

Episode Date: December 31, 2025

A quick update episode about changes to the release schedule for Legends of the Old West in 2026. Next year will begin with an encore presentation of the story of the Donner Party, followed by a 3-episode miniseries about the Alaska gold rush and then the regular full-length series. In addition to a slightly reduced schedule, Legends of the Old West and Infamous America will now have staggered release schedules. All episodes will continue to release on Wednesdays, but new episodes of each podcast will not be perfectly in sync with each other.  Join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: blackbarrel.supportingcast.fm/join Apple users join Black Barrel+ for ad-free episodes, bingeable seasons and bonus episodes. Click the Black Barrel+ banner on Apple to get started with a 3-day free trial. For more details, visit our website www.blackbarrelmedia.com and check out our social media pages. We’re @OldWestPodcast on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. On YouTube, subscribe to LEGENDS+ for ad-free episodes and bingeable seasons: hit “Join” on the Legends YouTube homepage. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hi, everyone. I'm a little late releasing this update about some schedule changes for 2026, but it was a mad rush to finish all the episodes for the end of this year, 2025. I don't want to bury the lead, so I'll jump right into the changes, which are going to happen in 2026, and then I'll explain why. First, we're going to release fewer new episodes next year than we did this year. This year, we released 72 new episodes, and it was a crushing amount of work. We need to scale back a little bit for the sake of our own sanity. Second, we're going to use a staggered schedule. When the new episodes start in 2026, Legends of the Old West and Infamous America will no longer be perfectly in sync.

There will be some overlap between the two podcasts, but they just won't start at the same time. In addition to the total number of episodes this year being a ton of work, the task of producing 12 episodes in a batch was crazy. We've been doing that for several years now, and it's time to ease up on the pressure of producing so many episodes at one time. All episodes will still release on Wednesdays. That won't change, but the timing will just be a little different. So next year, right after the end of our current series on Buffalo Soldiers and H.H. Holmes,

we'll run an encore series on each podcast. and then we'll run a three-episode mini-series of new episodes on each podcast, and then we'll begin our regular rotation of six episodes per series. Because we're producing fewer new episodes overall, the gaps between seasons will be one week longer than normal. And I'm sure all of this sounds complicated, but if you could see it on paper, it would make sense. You'll get the hang of it as we go along next year.

We'll make sure to keep you updated through our social media channels, primarily Instagram. So if you follow us there, you'll know when each other, new series will begin. Lastly, a big reason why we're changing the output and the schedule is to make room for new projects. We've had lots of new things simmering on the back burner, some of them for years, and if we don't move forward with them now, we never will. With some luck, we'll replace some of the inventory of legends and infamous with some new stuff. So to wrap this up, thank you for your support over the years, and thank you in advance for your patience with the changes

next year in 2026. We have lots of fun stories in the lineups for both shows, and we hope you enjoy them. Thanks again.