ATLANTA - Over the years, the public radio show "This American Life" has done some ambitious work. It was the first media outlet in the United States to broadcast lengthy interviews with Guantanamo Bay prisoners. It sent reporters to Iraq for a month. And it exposed the misdeeds of a hedge fund.

So what other topic could be so weighty, so captivating that it would cause the radio show's Web site to crash under a stampede of visitors?

A soft-drink recipe.