Going radio gaga for serialised podcast
IF YOU happened to find yourself on Twitter you might well have read an unusually high number of agitated tweets, all asking the same thing: “Does anyone know when the next episode of Serial will arrive?”
For those not in the know, Serial is a highly addictive weekly podcast. Revolving around the 1999 murder of schoolgirl Hae Min Lee in Baltimore, Maryland, and the conviction of her former boyfriend Adnan Syed, Serial sifts through the evidence, unearthing discrepancies, talking to key witnesses and looking at whether Syed is, as he says he is, innocent.
If that sounds like an online version of Truman Capote’s In Cold Blood, that’s because it essentially is. Presenter Sarah Koenig follows false leads down rabbit holes and recasts the evidence again and again, demonstrating how fickle memory is and how two different people can see the same thing in two ways.
The result is forensically detailed and entirely compelling: latecomers are binge listening to catch up.
And Serial fans aren’t alone in their desperation for an aural fix. Where once we speculated about Breaking Bad’s latest plot twist or boasted about watching the latest series of Orange is the New Black in three days, these days the latest cult show is just as likely to be something you listen to as it is something you watch.
Take Welcome To Night Vale. An offbeat drama launched in 2012, it hit the top of the US podcast charts last year and continues to gain support.
But Serial’s impact threatens to dwarf all others. “It’s the first breakout podcast,” says Matt Deegan, creative director at radio consultancy Folder Media. “Serial could be to podcasting what House of Cards was to Netflix.”
This is due largely to Koenig’s reporting. In the wrong hands, this tale could have been a sensationalised mess, but Koenig painstakingly builds a picture of the relationship between Lee and Syed, the bright children of immigrants, who kept their private lives hidden from their parents.
Koenig never forgets that this is a real story with a real victim. It’s detailed, immersive journalism – an example of how reportage can adapt in a technology-driven age.
“When I first proposed the idea of a serial show… some people thought I was insane,” Koenig has said.
Although the story is sensitively handled, Lee’s parents have yet to feature, and questions loom: How do they feel about their daughter’s death being raked over? Should a murder be used in this way? Isn’t there something discomfiting about the way we respond to murder as entertainment?
At these moments Serial raises important questions about voyeurism and the blurring of public and private lines. As Syed’s close friend, Rabia Chaudry, has written on her blog: “It’s okay to be entertained, but there is no excuse to forget that the stakes here are much higher than our entertainment.” – Independent