I first learned about “Serial” the podcast from my Twitter feed. It was a day I was thinking a lot about the future of radio and audio entertainment. I was feeling pretty pessimistic. The current crop of news and talk programming on radio wasn’t giving me much hope. The headline style news delivered by most radio stations has become a commodity available on demand on multiple platforms. The superficial reports of common crime, ordinary human misfortune, politics and political process that dominate the radio news menu aren’t distinctive, interesting or relevant to the lives of most listeners. Talk programming is limited to conversations about sports and politics from a conservative political perspective. Digital audio initiatives from radio broadcasters are primarily repurposed radio programs offered as podcasts. The lack of imagination, innovation, and variety in audio content created by radio broadcasters left me feeling depressed about the future of the business to which I’ve dedicated most of my professional life.
It took hearing one episode of “Serial” to completely change
my mood. It rekindled my love of audio entertainment and my belief in its power
and appeal. It took me back to the experiences that made me fall in love with
radio and audio entertainment. I remembered listening to my first Seattle Rainiers
baseball broadcast. I’d never been to a game or met any of the players, but Leo
Lassen’s enthusiasm, excitement, and colorful descriptions allowed me to
visualize them in my mind. It felt like I was right there in the stadium. I
remembered Lan Roberts, the morning personality on KJR, and his fascination
with and belief in UFOs. His vivid descriptions and recorded sounds of his
midnight experience waiting for a UFO and its passengers that he expected to
land in a field east of Seattle were unforgettable. My imagination allowed me
to see what he saw and feel his anticipation and then disappointment when it
didn’t happen. It was magic. I felt that same sense of magic listening to
“Serial”.
It’s no accident “Serial” has attracted so much media attention
and millions of listeners for each of its 12 episodes in just three month’s
time. For creators of audio information and entertainment content, especially
journalists, news reporters and storytellers of all kinds, there is so much
that can be learned from the success of season one of “Serial”. Here is some of
the wisdom revealed by the producers of “This American Life” and Sarah Koenig’s experiment in “audio
storytelling”:
· The ideal
length of a story should be determined by the time it takes to tell a complete
story that is meaningful to its audience. Sarah Koenig decided it would
take nearly 8 ½ hours and 12 episodes to meaningfully tell the complete story
she chose for season one of “Serial”.
· Humans
have an insatiable appetite for “truth”. We have a natural yearning to know
and understand what is real, honest, and true in our lives. It’s what attracts
us all to solving mysteries. It’s the goal and fundamental appeal of great
journalism. It was the search for “truth” about the murder of Hae Min Lee and
the trial of Adnan Syed that was a primary attraction of “Serial” season one.
· Crazy
curiosity and imagination are essential to great journalism and meaningful
storytelling. The “truth” is often found beneath the surface. Sarah
Koenig’s insightful, incisive, probing and seemingly endless questions produced
the fuel for her truth seeking and storytelling. Her imaginative ability to
connect the dots of what she learned from her questions revealed and lighted
the trail to the “truth” and exposed the meaning of her story.
· Listeners
love participating in the search for “truth”. Sarah Koenig shared her
process in every episode. It’s not something journalists usually do, but Sarah
did and others probably should. She constantly revealed her questions,
theories, suspicions, speculation, doubts, frustrations, conclusions, successes
and failures. It made her storytelling far more interesting and real. It
allowed listeners to follow along and contribute if they so desired. Which they
did providing some perspectives and details Sarah would likely not have discovered
on her own.
· Journalists
and news reporters are often trapped in the current “news cycle” when
determining what is news. If it didn’t happen in the last 24-48 hours
somehow it’s no longer news. How about adopting some new guidelines to define
news. If it’s new or unknown to you or your audience shouldn’t it be considered
news? Sarah Koenig discovered all kinds of stuff that was new, interesting, and
meaningful to her and “news” to her audience when she began examining a murder
that occurred in 1999.
· News
reporters frequently focus on events and often miss the related stories. Events
are episodes in stories. Events are obvious and easy to report. Stories not so
much. Hae Min Lee is murdered. Adnan Syed is arrested and charged with the
murder. Adnan Syed is tried and convicted of the murder. Adnan Syed appeals the
conviction. The appeal is denied. All events with obvious conclusions. All
reported in 1999. Along comes Sarah Koenig in 2013. She examines these events
and notices the untold story of a trial where “something went wrong”. A story
that reveals and explores imperfections in our justice system and mysteries of
life and human behavior.
· News
consumers want more than a quick superficial headline summary of complex and
controversial stories. The main facts of these stories and opposing
soundbites are available on demand on every smart phone and computer from
multiple sources. “Serial” demonstrated the desire for and appeal of complete stories
that provide context, analysis, informed commentary, insight and a sincere search
for the “truth”. The real meaning of these stories to listeners.
· Human
behavior is a subject with universal appeal. Why do people think and feel
the way they do? Why do people do what they do? These real-life questions and mysteries
are things every human being wants to answer and solve. Season one of “Serial”
examined and tried to understand all kinds of human behavior in every episode.
· Vivid,
concrete, descriptive language and sound is essential to effective audio
storytelling. Words and sounds that allow listeners to see, hear, taste,
touch, smell, feel and fully imagine what is going on. Sarah Koenig’s use of
language and sound is masterful and makes full use of the “theater of the
mind”. Witness this reaction to Adnan Syed after her first in person meeting
with him: “The thing you can’t miss about
Adnan is that he has giant brown eyes. Like a dairy cow. That’s what prompts my
most idiotic lines of inquiry. Could someone who looks like that actually
strangle his girlfriend? Idiotic. I know.”
· Audio
entertainment isn’t going away. Its shape, size, and delivery methods are
changing but not its appeal. It can’t be ordinary to compete in a world
addicted to “screens”. When done well, “Serial” showed us what it can do. This
experiment in “audio storytelling” delivered by podcast attracted a larger
audience than many prime time television programs. Lots of people reported
replacing their television viewing with listening to Sarah Koenig tell her
story “week by week”.
· Audio is
a superior method for storytelling. It compels the listener to use his or
her imagination in the “theater of the mind” to participate in the telling of
the story. This creates unequaled intimacy and connection to the story and a
uniquely personalized experience with the story.
· Contrary
to conventional wisdom among radio broadcasters and PPM data from Nielsen,
consumers of audio entertainment don’t all have ADD. They are discerning.
If what they hear is not interesting or meaningful, they discard quickly.
Enrich their lives and they will definitely listen longer than 10 minutes per
“occasion”. The average run time for an episode of “Serial” is 42 minutes.
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