Life and Death Row — a podcast
“Documentaries depict or represent a real rather than imaginary world” — Prof. Tim Crook (2012:198)
This podcast, presented by Greg James, derives from an original BBC Three documentary on Capital Punishment and focuses on the real-life story of one of the show’s subjects.
BBC Radio 1’s target audience is 15–29 year olds and this is evident when you listen to this podcast.
The structure of this podcast is described by Ira Glass, the Public Radio Producer for ‘This American Life’.
“There’s an anecdote, that is, a sequence of actions where someone says ‘this happened then this happened then this happened’ — and then there’s a moment of reflection about what the sequence means, and then on the next set of actions.” — Ira Glass
Although a pretty simple structure, it works well because it’s easy for the listener to follow.
Now I am usually a massive fan of Greg James, I am a loyal listener to his show on my evening drives and wouldn’t listen to any other drive time programme. However, his narration throughout this podcast drives me mad!
Take the following link as an example…
04:29 — “Daniel’s mother, Terry again”
Yes, it’s very short and snappy which works for the young audience, but it is basically a repeat of the titles that appear on TV when a new person talks. There’s no smooth link into each person like you would usually hear on a radio package, for example “Terry describes their conversation in prison…”. I personally would have used this approach rather than the snappy links Greg James uses.
What does work well though, is the use of news bulletins in the background from the night, which act as a second narrator. This gives a sense of reality because the rest of the podcast is filled with interviewee recollections and opinions, whereas the news pieces were done in real time and provide facts from that night and the subsequent court case.
This podcast revolves around emotional subjects; death, loss, fear, love…and the interviewees alone successfully convey the various emotions to the listener.
A music bed can also be heard throughout each episode and fades between music types depending on who is talking. Classical music is played between 00:44 — 02:16 and this is when the night of the incident is initially being talked about, with a ‘minor tone creating a somber feeling’ (Jess Turner, 2015).
This then changes when the police officer recalls the night and a bass music bed underlies his speech, this turns the sombre feel into a more sadistic feeling.
These two music beds alone say a lot about the opinions of the different interviewees. Whilst the mother of the killer feels sympathy for him and this comes across to the listener through the classical music, the change to bass creates a sinister mood and insinuates that Daniel Lopez was a coldblooded killer.
I think the use of music beds is very effective and works well for the target audience because it evokes emotion. The change in beds also keeps your attention focused on the podcast, rather than a continual sound which would usually allow my mind to wander.
Overall, I enjoyed the topic this podcast focused on (despite it being pretty miserable) and it was easy to listen to and understand.
