Podcast Corner: Tragic death in Roscommon covered in Death By Rooster
Jasper Kraus is the focus of Death by Rooster.
You might have seen a story last year about a man in Roscommon who was attacked by a rooster and died. The freak incident made unsurprising jokey, clickbait headlines around the world. The Irish Examiner’s latest podcast, following last year’s award-winning The Lost American and the acclaimed Catherine the Fake, is entitled Death by Rooster and finds journalist Sorcha Crowley looking past the clickbait at the victim and his family left behind. Jasper Kraus lived a sensational life filled with “circus tigers, trick horses, Hollywood westerns” and many other beloved animals. But there is another family tragedy at the heart of this three-part series, which clocks in at just over an hour’s total running time. There’s also a longread by Crowley - just search for Death by Rooster.
Disappointing news as just a week after Louder Than a Riot (https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/artsandculture/arid-41097583.html) released the first episode of its second season, NPR announced that it was cancelling the podcast, along with three others: Invisibilia, Rough Translation, and Everyone & Their Mom. NPR said the move was part of a wider effort to cut a “yawning budget gap that stands in excess of $30m”. The team behind Louder Than a Riot said: “Our producers and editor have been laid off, although NPR would like everyone to stay on until June to finish publishing the show. We are taking some time to process what this looks like for our staff.”
They added: “The hardest part is that our [season] is about misogynoir queer, trans, black women face in hip-hop. Yet [within] NPR, the majority impacted in these layoffs were queer, [people of colour] staff and programs.”
Applications are now open for the second-annual Irish Podcast Awards, taking place in November 2023. Presented by PodPod, they’re a companion to the British Podcast Awards, which will be taking place in London in September.
”To be eligible for entry, submissions must be related to podcasts with at least six full episodes published between April 1, 2022, and June 30, 2023 - the organisers says this is so listeners can take note of great Irish series rather than short-run podcasts or one-off projects.
