Each month, Podcast Review’s staff offers recommendations on the best new shows to listen to. Here are our favorite podcasts for May.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer
If you keep up with your true crime podcasts, you might already be half way through Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer, a series that dropped at the beginning of April and continues to rise through the charts. The eight-part story recounts the terrifying details of scheme involving letters laced with anthrax, a terror plot that was largely overshadowed by 9/11. The deadly letters were mailed to news media offices across America, and to US Senators Tom Daschle and Patrick Leahy. As the post 9-11 chaos continued to dominate public services, the FBI scrambled to understand the origin and scale of the threat.
Aftermath: Hunt for the Anthrax Killer is a combined effort by Wolf Entertainment, USG Audio, Dig Studios, and CBC. The series, which concludes later this week, promises new information, fresh insights, and a retrospective on a terror plot that has mostly departed from our collective memory.
If you’re an audiophile, this podcast might be your must-listen for May. Audio Maverick is a new nine-part documentary podcast about visionary radio man Himan Brown. One of my favourite ways to explore a topic is through the lens of a singular innovator. It’s even better if the story is told through the medium they helped pioneer. Brown was instrumental in developing audio dramas, a form that continues to thrive on networks like the BBC and paved the way for the fiction podcasts we love today.
In Audio Maverick, CUNY TV and Brown’s estate have assembled an impressive selection of archival recordings, and includes analysis from historians and scholars who help contextualize the work that Brown helped shape. Episodes have been releasing monthly since late last year, and the show launched its final episode this week.
Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer
Along similar lines is Final Thoughts: Jerry Springer, a nine-part podcast that seeks to understand the life of the titular politician turned television host. For those with an Audible subscription, this new treat from journalist Leon Neyfakh (Slow Burn, Fiasco) is exemplary of his journalistic style. The show is probing, never content with a simple answer. Neyfakh describes the project as a sort of spiritual companion to Think Twice, his critically acclaimed podcast about Michael Jackson.
As with podcasts like Famous & Gravy, there are lessons to be learned from Springer’s life, though they rarely sit easily; Springer made his name placing ordinary human drama center stage. Was it exploitative? Or did The Jerry Springer Show cast light on real people living lives previously ignored?
While younger generations will recognize Springer from his eponymous daytime show, his previous stint as the mayor of Cincinnati in the mid 1970s may come as a surprise. Despite his television success, Springer never left his political ambitions behind. As a 360 degree look at the life of a complex public figure, this podcast finds plenty to unpick about an American television icon, the likes of which we won’t see again.
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Alice Florence Orr is a staff writer and managing editor for Podcast Review. She is a writer and freelance media strategist.