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N.H. based true crime podcast partners with Facebook

By George Pelletier - Milford Bureau Chief | Jul 4, 2020

Husband and wife co-hosts Kevin Flynn, left, and Rebecca Lavoie talk during a recent ‘Crime Writers On’ podcast. (Courtesy photo)

CONCORD – If you’ve ever wondered what your favorite true crime podcast would look like with video, look no further.

The New Hampshire-based podcast “Crime Writers On” and Facebook have announced a partnership which will bring a video version of the popular podcast to Facebook Watch.

“This is a great opportunity to bring our podcast to a whole new audience and there’s no bigger platform in the world than Facebook,” host Rebecca Lavoie said. Fans can view the panel give their thumbs up/thumbs down reviews on Facebook Watch the day after the audio podcast drops.

Facebook Watch is a free video destination on Facebook, where content, community, and conversation come together. Fans can join the conversation by viewing along with others, interacting within Facebook pages and even connecting directly with show creators and talent.

“We were thrilled when Facebook approached us about capturing the podcast as an exclusive videocast,” co-host and Lavoie’s real-life husband, Kevin Flynn said. “The viewing choices on Facebook Watch are growing all the time. We’re proud to be among the first podcasts to partner with them in this way.”

The iTunes top ten podcast started in 2015. “Crime Writers On” features a panel of four fiction and nonfiction authors discussing the latest true crime podcasts, television shows, books, documentaries, and pop culture. Each episode, the writers critique a new work and dispense thumbs up-or-down reviews. The show provided early critical praise and listener discovery to such hits as “Ear Hustle,” “S-town,” “In the Dark,” “Accused,” and “Dirty John.” The videocast will capture a section of that week’s audio podcast.

Flynn said the original name of the podcast was “Crime Writers on Serial,” because the hosts talked about the “Serial” podcast.

“‘Serial’ was a watershed podcast that looked at the possible wrongful conviction from a 1999 homicide,” he said. “It’s become the most downloaded podcast in the world. It was a big cultural thing and people were commenting on it. And as true crime writers, we thought we brought a unique perspective to commenting on that podcast.”

As “Serial” released a new podcast each week, “Crime Writers On,” would do the same. And when “Serial” ended, Lavoie and Flynn decided to continue their series, dropping “serial” from the title.

There was never a plan to take the podcast to the next level, but obviously Lavoie and Flynn are thrilled.

“If you told me five years ago that this is what it would be, we wouldn’t believe it,” he said. “Our plan was just to do the podcast and make enough money to offset the cost of the equipment. Right now, working on this podcast and the related things is my fulltime job.”

Flynn stated they’re never short of material, with so many subjects bordering pop culture, or the steady stream of content that presents itself through different media platforms such as television, books, movies and podcasts.

“We look at both look at both podcasts and documentaries,” he said. “So, it’s anything that we consider to be crime-adjacent; next time we’re going to be talking about this podcast out of Canada, episode one on Facebook Watch on July 7; next we’re going to be talking about the re-boot of ‘Perry Mason.’ We have a pretty liberal view of what qualifies as interesting crime related content.”

With a large audience, “Crime Writers On,” also has the ability to spike (or not) the success of a particular movie, show or book. Flynn said that with their podcast, they are considered “pacemakers within the industry.”

One of the things that they gave an early boost to was, “Dirty John, The Betty Broderick Story,” which told the true crime story of socialite Betty Broderick, who murdered her ex-husband and his new wife in San Diego in 1989.

Each episode of “Crime Writers On,” begin with a ’40s film noir-like saxophone music, a la Sam Spade, but with a ska twist.

“We get people in the industry asking us if we’d be interested in looking or listening to something, or getting an early copy of something to discuss,” Flynn said. “I think our audience really values our opinions of these things.”

Prior to hosting a podcast, Flynn was a broadcast journalist and author.

“As a reporter, I was general assignment,” he said. “I really enjoyed doing more creative kinds of stories. Breaking news of the day or writing features were something that I really enjoyed. And then one of the stories that I caught was the Sheila LaBarre case, the female serial killer from Epping. And that was my first book.”

Flynn’s editors at Penguin Publishing thought this was the right niche for Flynn and his wife, who was his editorial assistant, and they decided that they would write together.

“That’s what we were actually doing,” Flynn pointed out. “Those were our bonafedes when it came to looking at crime podcasts.”

Pop culture provides plenty of fodder for their podcast, which broadcasts nationally and will reach an even further audience now that they’ve teamed with Facebook Watch.

That teaming however, won’t allow Facebook Watch to direct the editorial content of their podcasts.

“No,” Flynn said. “They’ve provided some advice about things like graphics and what-not, and it’s still run through standards and practices so they can give it a rating, but as far as ‘you can’t cover this’ and ‘you have to cover that,’ that’s not part of the deal.”

In addition to Lavoie – whose books include “Dark Heart” and Our Little Secret – and Flynn – author of such books as “Wicked Intentions” and “Legally Dead,” the panel includes author/journalist/private investigator Lara Bricker (“Lie After Lie”) and noir author Toby Ball (“The Vaults,” “Scorch City,” “Invisible Streets)”. All four podcasters live in New Hampshire.

“We have an incredibly engaged audience who rely on our reviews and love to offer their own opinions,” said Lavoie. “As much of this interaction is already happening on Facebook, it’ll be great to have viewers post their thoughts and discuss the episode in the same place they’re watching it. You can’t do that on regular TV.”

Episode 1 of “Crime Writers On” is scheduled to premiere on Facebook Watch July 7. The audio podcast is available on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, and everywhere podcasts are available.

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