Audio seems to be having its New Journalism moment, where the distant authoritative narrator is being replaced by an emotional, sometimes neurotic, even unreliable voice. Radiolab has done this for a while, and now there are dozens more: StartUp, Strangers, Love + Radio, an upcoming show by my friend and TAL (The American Life) alum Alix Spiegel called Invisibilia. Just like New Journalism in its early days, the shows are sometimes brilliant, sometimes frustrating and self indulgent, but always exciting and fun.
Case in point: Serial, the podcast from the people behind This American Life that reinvestigates the 15-years-ago murder of a high school girl, Hae Min Lee, and reveals its discoveries one week at a time.
Read the full piece at Slate
