I have a new podcast addiction. I first listened to it a few days ago and haven’t stopped. I’ve binge listened to it all day today, in fact, and am listening to the end of an episode as I type this. Episode 88: Cold Case, if you’re curious. A part 1 of a 2 episode installment. The podcast is CRIMINAL, hosted by co-creator Phoebe Judge and part of the Radiotopia network.
The subject matter of CRIMINAL is probably quite apparent from the title. It’s a podcast about crime. But it’s not at all the type of podcast about crime I assumed it to be initially. It’s not simply the re-hashing of various crimes, many of which may have been re-hashed to death by similar podcasts and TV shows, similar to how even the most well-produced paranormal podcast will have too many (1 being enough for this qualification) about Roswell. It’s something different. Each of the roughly 30 minute long episodes details a unique perspective of not only specific crimes, large or small, but of intriguing characters on both sides of the law.
The podcast is expertly produced (no surprise coming from the Radiotopia folks) with riveting interviews with the subjects of their stories and/or those people immediately involved in them. They aren’t just reading summaries of Wikipedia entries and previously published books. They’re creating entirely fresh and new stories on crime subjects that are obscure, interesting, humorous, and sometimes emotionally jarring. I highly recommend it. I’m also glad I’m done writing this, because I can’t write and listen to podcasts at the same time and I’m itching to get back to another episode of CRIMINAL.