SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. (CN) — In the first episode of his true-crime podcast, Chris Lambert offered listeners a promise regarding a 23-year-old missing persons case in San Luis Obispo, California:
“I’m going to try to learn everything I can about Kristin Smart and what happened to her in the only way that I know,” he said. “By talking to people.”
Over the next four years, the musician and audio engineer did just that, interviewing scores of people for his popular podcast “Your Own Backyard,” including some previously unknown witnesses who eventually helped law enforcement arrest a suspect and secure a murder conviction.
“The podcast was helpful for us because it energized a new wave of interest in the case,” Tony Cipolla, public information officer for the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Office, wrote in an email. “The relatively new format of podcast versus traditional media was viewed by the public as highly credible and trustworthy. In our case, the trustworthy perception was the key to people coming forward with case information who had not previously done so.”
While the podcast industry suffered financial losses and layoffs in 2023, the medium has continued to grow, opening new opportunities for in-depth journalism that, in some cases, have had a significant impact.
“If anybody were to pour limitless energy into a cold case, is there a chance they would make new discoveries?” asked Ellen Horne, associate professor at New York University. “Absolutely.”
Horne, the director of a new podcasting and audio reportage concentration at NYU, knows about the impact podcasts can have firsthand: She is the executive producer of “Admissible: Shreds of Evidence,” which explored the stories of 13 men who were convicted — and later exonerated — as a result of misconduct by a forensic scientist in Virginia.
“The state has just mandated a response to our podcast, and they are notifying anyone who was convicted by this forensic lab worker,” Horne said.
Simply described, a podcast is an audio program made available as a digital download over the internet. Podcasts come in many forms — fictional shows, music features, sports talk, politics and history — and advances in digital editing have drastically improved audio quality, increasing the entertainment value.
According to Edison Research’s recently released Infinite Dial report, 100 million Americans listen to at least one podcast a week – up 31% from 2023 and 26% from 2022. According to Pew Research Center, many Americans rely on podcasts for their news.
While the media has long grappled with how to appeal to audiences with short attention spans, the podcast medium is conducive to greater time commitments.
“I’m listening to podcasts while I’m doing dishes, while I’m exercising, while I’m doing the laundry, while I’m commuting,” Horne said.
True crime stories are the most highly ranked podcasts, bolstered by successes like “Serial” and “Dirty John.”
“Crime stories have long been the bread and butter of news storytelling,” said Sitara Nieves, vice president of teaching and organizational strategy at the Poynter Institute, a nonprofit journalism school and research organization. “Part of that is the shock value. Some of it can be salacious, obviously.”
The popularity of true-crime podcasts might not be surprising given the appeal of true-crime reporting in other mediums. But podcasts often explore crimes in greater detail.
Lambert, who began his podcast in 2019, quit his day job to focus on “Your Own Backyard” and spent the next four years creating 10 episodes, followed by court recaps and post-conviction follow-ups. The podcast focused on Kristin Smart, a 19-year-old college student who vanished after attending a party in 1996. The last person seen with her, fellow student Paul Flores, was long suspected in the case but prosecutors didn’t have enough evidence to levy charges.
