Title: True-crime podcast 'Small Town Murder' is suddenly killing it - Chicago Tribune
Headings: True-crime podcast 'Small Town Murder' is suddenly killing it
True-crime podcast 'Small Town Murder' is suddenly killing it
1. Put a novel spin on an already popular idea
2. Understand that if you don't get the tone right, you will be doomed
3. Being a comedian helps more than you'd think
4. Research helps too
5. Don't worry. No one really has this podcast thing figured out.
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Content: True-crime podcasts have been popular for as long as the format has existed; " Crime in Sports," like countless others, emerged in the wake of the success of "Serial." Both men had long been addicted to true crime. Pietragallo's mother "used to read me horrible true-crime books when I was a kid," he remembers, and Whisman never missed an episode of "Dateline." " Anything that has an eerie undertone to it, I was always a fan of," Whisman says. " We both like true crime, and we both like to make jokes about it." [Most read] In first post-Michael Madigan legislative session, Illinois Democrats stage partisan tour de force »
2. Understand that if you don't get the tone right, you will be doomed
"Crime in Sports" and its sister show, "Small Town Murder," are both technically humor podcasts. They are indebted to forerunners like "Last Podcast On the Left" and "My Favorite Murder," which blended comedy and crime to blockbuster effect. " They really did a great job with that, and broke that door down, of talking about horrible subjects in a funny way on a podcast," Pietragallo says.