Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Oz Woloshyn was mulling over something when he wrote me a note.
I wanted our listeners to get to know them as they were in life.
There was one incident in particular that caught theForgottenteams attention on this note.
I could go on and on, Ortiz Uribe said in the narration.
Two men are now sitting on the US Supreme Court despite strong allegations of sexual abuse.
Now, its important to properly contextualize the scale of these responses.
Nevertheless, the bump in seemingly ideologically-driven negative responses still registered prominently in the minds of the two producers.
It was a little disconcerting, Woloshyn said.
Particularly at the time, it felt bad when it felt like the audience was turning against us.
But Woloshyn was struck by several entries that he felt were comparatively more reasoned.
Heres one such example:
I thought the show was very well done and professionally done.
It could have easily been a five star if not for the latest episode.
Yet failing to mention a former and current presidential candidate?
I dont believe that abuse of women is exclusive to a single political party.
Now, it wasnt that the team didnt hope to reach conservative audiences.
Effectively engaging listeners outside ones ideological corner is an objectively positive outcome for any journalistic enterprise.
I am glad to know we had listeners with diverse political leanings, said Ortiz Uribe.
This is an urgent issue.
Its a story that concerns all of us, no matter where we live or how we vote.
Most of the big narrative shows come firmly from the liberal tradition, Woloshyn contends.
Knowing the landscape, we simply assumed that the audience for our show would be liberal.
Its all very interesting, but my brain is still stuck on the whole broadcast promotion thing.
(Spotify remains a prominent exception.)
Slates Political Gabfestis celebrating fifteen years this week.
Thats almost half my age!
Bookmarking this, just in case: Dan Le Batard is leaving ESPN in January.Heres theSportsIllustratedwrite-up.
From NPR: Benjamin Netanyahus Son Makes Podcast Debut.
Looks like theyre out of the picture now, probably due to the price tag.
The deal is not done yet.
Heres the Variety write-upon the appointment.
I wonder what theyre thinking.
(As a reminder, the Times acquired Serial Productions earlier this summer.)
That translation from the one to the other seems a little strange to me, but okay!
Tis the season for year-end lists…and the opening volley is well underway.
My own top ten list for Vulture will drop later this week.
And of course, we went over our respective top three picks.
Perhaps a panel with ten people with one pick each?
Could be wild, could be interesting.
Share, leave a review, so on.
Were not an amateur radio station.
We have very serious editorial standards.
We have very serious technical standards.
We demand that sort of professionalism from everybody who works with us.
I asked Wilkie why he thinks audio from prisons has proved so powerful and so popular.
He traces it back to the core intimate dynamic between host and listener.
You know, that friendly voice in the corner is very, very valuable.
This year has been challenging for the PRA due to restrictions that Covid-19 has brought to prisons.
Another big innovation since the initial lockdowns in March has been making the station more interactive.
Since we opened that phone line, the number of contacts weve had has been incredible, he explained.
In the six months from April onwards, we got around about 20,000 calls.
Producers have been incorporating these voice messages from inside into the programming schedule wherever possible.
Theyve also incorporated faith services, Wilkie explained, as in person worship in prisons has also stopped.
Amplifying the sense of community within the prisons system has been very important, too.
The PRA, therefore, makes podcasts to communicate its work to people on the outside.
In July this year, for instance, BBC Radio 4 broadcasta programmehosted by awards nominee Brenda Birungi.
We want to maintain the standard of our broadcast schedule, he said.
So we want to maintain that.
