‘Serial’ Podcast Explodes On Scene With 15-Year-Old Whodunit Cliffhanger
In an era where the popularity of DIY is the hippest trick in town, anyone can be a producer or the next big “TV Star” with just a little imagination and a crowd-pleasing story that hooks the cyber world. Enter the Serial podcast.
The Washington Post reveals the gist of the Serial podcast, which tells the tale of a non-fiction story about a 15-year-old murder case that some believe convicted the wrong man.
Serial is based on a 1999 strangling death of a Baltimore high-school student and her 17-year-old boyfriend, who was convicted of the murder and is currently serving a life sentence.
From the producers of This American Life, host Sarah Koenig presents the Serial podcast story through spoken-word with a lot of help from producer Dana Chivvis.
Baby boomers remember the Golden Age of hit radio episodes and Saturday morning matinees that were built-in baby sitters for the kids of that generation. Comedy and horror were hot-ticket items, and most of the programs were designed as “serials” to keep people coming back for more.
The Serial podcast is just a modern-day version that uses these early prototypes as a guide through a maze that is over-saturated with podcasts and has managed to rise to the top of the heap. For the moment, Serial is the top-rated podcast in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia. The Serial podcast is also in the top 10 in Germany, South Africa, and India.
The Inquisitr wonders if it is okay to be obsessed with the Serial podcast. New episodes are released every Thursday at 6 a.m. Eastern time. Hundreds of thousands of listeners are tuning in each week to the 12-part series, which just released the eighth episode. The Serial podcast also gets 1.2 million downloads per episode.
The Wall Street Journal writes that Serial has become a global phenomena. Part of the great appeal is the undeniable attraction of great storytelling and keeping the audience in suspension.
One thing is for sure — we can’t beat the price of admission, since a podcast is usually free and on demand. Being able to access content when the consumer has time available has driven a spike through the heart of “real time” broadcasting, and podcasting has turned ordinary people into the super stars of the day.
The Serial podcast has become a classic demonstration of the ability to rise and shine in the midst of so much content. The “Theater of the Mind” is the entire appeal behind the most powerful sense people have — our ability to visualize through sound, and a never-ending curiosity for whodunit murder mysteries.
[Image courtesy Chicago Public Media]
