Voice

MOVERS, SHAKERS, MEDIA MAKERS: THE (MOSTLY) UNTAPPED POTENTIAL OF PODCASTS

The short history of podcasting is longer than you might think. The actual practice has roots that can be arguably traced back to the 1980s, but podcasting as we know it was born around 2004 — not 10 years later when Sarah Koenig's Serial became first program to leap from dominance in the medium to mainstream saturation.

Still, despite the popularity of many podcasts for many years pre-Serial, (looking at you NPR old guard), we can date the creative explosion and growth of the medium to the early 2010s. And certainly we can pin the serious interest of marketers and advertisers to the era immediately following the Serial explosion. As the demand for binge-worthy, high-quality podcast content soared, the format developed the potential to be exceedingly lucrative.

And we’re not just talking about paid advertisers and branded podcasts here. Aaron Mehnke’s folklore podcast, Lore, was optioned and made into an anthology series for Amazon Prime. The McElroy brothers’ Dungeons and Dragons podcast, The Adventure Zone has spawned spin-off graphic novels and a tie-in with The Mysterious Package Company. Countless show hosts go on tours and attend festivals to tape their shows live. And all of them hold their audiences in absolute thrall.

Which brings us to Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark, the women behind the comedic true crime podcast that built an empire from a cult following (one that includes a number of CSGers).

My Favorite Murder’s legions of fans, affectionately known as Murderinos, span the globe and have taken up the show’s central message of vigilance for oneself and others — stay sexy and don’t get murdered — as a rally cry for shared interests and real world efforts to support issues close to the show’s subject matter. Fans have organized to raise money to end the backlog, made investigator Paul Holes an unlikely minor celebrity and sex symbol, sent the late, great Michelle McNamara’s book I’ll Be Gone In The Dark skyrocketing to the top of the non-fiction charts and perhaps even influenced Oxygen’s decision to heavily rebrand as a crime-focused network. The notoriously female-skewing cable network didn’t namedrop My Favorite Murder in the extensive press about their decision, but they did launch a competing podcast titled Martinis and Murder.

Talk about your engaged audiences and brand champions. Much of this success is down to Karen and Georgia’s talent and chemistry, but there’s no denying that a great deal of MFM’s power stems from its resonance. The fanbase skews heavily female and there is a near-constant dialogue among fans that Karen and Georgia have made them feel seen in a way that no other creators have. Polite society rather frowns upon the open and passionate discussion of murders at your average dinner party, but Karen and Georgia brought their true crime fascination out into the light and in so doing gave listeners in their hundreds and thousands permission to do so too. And for that, as much as anything else, they’ve earned the undivided attention of Murderinos everywhere.

In a world where our attention spans are less than that of a goldfish, capturing hearts and minds with nothing more than the power of voices and storytelling is an accomplishment unto itself. That Karen and Georgia have galvanized their listeners into a kind of army of hyper-aware true crime devotees may be the only true demonstration of the real potential of podcasts.

And with that, I bid you, SSDGM.