The last week of “Real News with Rick Outzen” was spectacular in the podcast world, setting records for downloads and plays. Interviews with journalists Mike Boetcher and Larrison Campbell attracted attention outside Northwest Florida. Locals also wanted to hear about The Business Alliance’s effort to preserve the commerce park component of OLF-8. Mayor D.C. Reeves’ discussion of the cost of demolishing the old Baptist Hospital complex also drew listeners.
Fifty years ago, Karen Silkwood, a 28-year-old plutonium plant worker, died in a fatal crash in Oklahoma. She was reportedly on her way to meet an investigative reporter with The New York Times to hand over documents she’d secretly been collecting at her job. The details surrounding her death, made famous by the movie “Silkwood” starring Meryl Streep, continue to be a mystery that haunts Oklahomans and the nation.
“Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery” is a gripping new podcast series from ABC Audio that reexamines her mysterious death with brand-new reporting. It is hosted by veteran journalists Mike Boettcher and Bob Sands.
“DEVIL IN THE DITCH’ AND ITS AFTERMATH
Pensacola loves true crime stories, and Larrison Harrison’s reporting on her grandmother’s brutal murder and how her family reacted to her podcast made for a compelling interview. The 2013 interview about her investigation popped up in our Top Five, as did this week’s conversation.
On June 13, 2003, Martha Dyer Campbell, 85, was found dead by her sister in the garden room of her big house in the affluent Wilzin Park neighborhood of Greenville, Miss. She had been beaten brutally with a blunt object, and a towel was placed over her head.
Campbell was a well-known community activist who had entertained Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in the same room nine days before her murder. Her death rocked her family and Greenville, and it remains unsolved.
Journalist Larrison Campbell returned to Greenville 20 years later to reexamine her grandmother’s murder and run down the many rumors about the case, including that her first cousin might have been the murderer. Her investigation is told in the podcast – “Devil in the Ditch.”
THE AFTERMATH
This summer, Larrison Campbell released a follow-up podcast about the aftermath of her investigation into her grandmother’s murder and the impact of the podcast on her relationships with her family and her hometown. She discusses with Rick the challenges of investigating such a personal story.
Ensuring OLF-8 Creates Jobs
The Business Alliance of Escambia and Santa Rosa counties has presented to the Escambia County Commission the idea of turning over the “commerce park” section of the OLF-8 Master Plan to the Pensacola Escambia Development Commission (PEDC). Bruce Vredenburg and David Bear discussed the proposal.
Weekly City Update
Pensacola Mayor D.C. Reeves talks about the poor condition of the old Baptist campus and the Strive to Thrive plan.
Photo by Viktoria Lavrynenko on Unsplash