Serial + The Return of Episodic Radio

Photo credit: serialpodcast.org

I am addicted to Serial, the ubiquitous podcast that tells the story of a real-life Baltimore murder that took place in 1999, week by week. A spin-off of NPR’s This American Life, host Sarah Koenig takes listeners along as she investigates the murder of Hae Min Lee, questions the conviction of Adnan Syed, and unveils discrepancies in Jay’s witness testimony, the acquaintance who took a plea deal to convict Adnan.

With an average of 850,000 downloads per episode, you can’t throw an iPhone without hitting another Serial listener. A Google News search of “Serial Podcast” turns up more than 150,000 results, with daily – and sometimes hourly – coverage. There are Reddit boards filled with theories on whether or not Adnan did it. The Washington Post calls it a “breakout hit” (a phrase I never guessed I would see describe a podcast). To say the podcast is eliciting a response, both good and bad, is an understatement. Articles like What Serial Gets Wrong and Why Serial Drives Some People Crazy touch on some issues with Koenig’s amateur investigation and whether we, the readers, will be satisfied with the ending.

Koenig (a journalist by profession, not a detective) has been upfront with listeners from day one that she can’t promise she’ll answer the question, “did he or didn’t he?” and honestly, I don’t care if she can. Ten episodes in, and it’s abundantly clear that this is storytelling at its best – it’s equivalent to watching an award-winning HBO crime drama or reading the latest cliffhanger novel. Every Thursday, hundreds of thousands of users download the new episode, slip in their earphones, and gasp audibly while staring at nothing as Koenig parcels out breadcrumbs. An image that brings to mind a scene in A Christmas Story (set in 1939), where young Ralphie runs to the radio in the living room to turn on the latest episode of Little Orphan Annie.

So, how did we get back here?

Serial has masterfully captured basic entertainment and storytelling and we’re eating it up. It’s helping to revive a suffering medium. The podcast asked for donations to create a second season, and one week later they had enough for season two. It’s opening doors for episodic storytelling in a podcast format, and I’m eager to see if more podcasts like this one are in our future. We’re not sure how Serial will end, but we’re all listening.