Blog post and podcast by Salvador Ramirez
Up first is Bloodshed Memoir produced by Sal Ramirez. This super polished historical true crime podcast combines Sal’s talent for meticulous research with gripping storytelling skills. Enjoy!
–Dr. Marissa Rhodes, professor of HST 485: History in the Wild
Inspiration can come from anywhere and from anything. This time it came in the form of a university course. When I signed up for HST 485 – History in the Wild, I thought, “This must be about the wild west or something.” But once the class began and I heard “History Podcasting,” I knew I would be stepping out of my comfort zone.
Our class project required us to study a subject independently and create a podcast to reflect our studies. Then it came to me. I love history, and I enjoy listening to a few true crime podcasts. Why not combine them! Bloodshed Memoir would be a podcast about assassinations that changed the world. Another aspect of this project was that I wanted to tell a story that would grasp the listener’s attention. I want the audience to become attached to my podcast subjects. I want them to feel that they know the person the episode is about and feel they are present during the subject’s assassination.
My biggest fear is that I don’t believe I have the voice for podcasting, but it was for a grade! Whether I think I sound like a frog or not doesn’t matter right now. I have to turn something in, and it has to be good. I did not feel confident about it after I turned in my first podcast. However, it turned into something I’m proud of creating. I recorded and re-recorded several times, added music here and there, and formed two short (hopefully funny) fictitious ads to complement my podcasts. I believe my two episodes could use more work and refining, but the two episodes listed here are the same ones that were turned in for a grade. I hope you enjoy the first two episodes of Bloodshed Memoir. Who knows, maybe I’ll continue making the podcast for fun and teach listeners about the world’s murderous history.
I’ve been both an academic historian and a history podcaster for about six years. I love doing it and I am constantly confronting the inconsistent (and sometimes conflicting) skill sets required for my parallel roles. I chose the topic of history podcasting for my HST 485 History in the Wild course and designed the course to be as collaborative and applicable as possible to their real-world needs. ASU’s humanities students deserve to take courses that harness their passions and natural curiosities so that building a wide variety of skills (our end goal) doesn’t feel like work. The podcasts that resulted from this course exceeded my expectations. –Dr. Marissa Rhodes, professor of HST 485: History in the Wild
Tagline: This is history, and it cannot be changed.
Title: Bloodshed Memoir
Podcast Topic: Assassinations in history that changed the world. 5. Titles and descriptions of your two sample episodes:
Episode 1: Tsar Nicholas II – After becoming highly unpopular in his nation, Tsar Nicholas II was removed from power, and a new political party in Russia felt it better to not only strip him of his rule but his life as well.
Episode 2: Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin – After years of military service fighting off Israel’s enemies, Rabin becomes the new voice of peace in the Middle East, but attempting this peace cost him his life.
Topic Ideas for an additional eight episodes: The following list of people will the next subject/topic for the next eight episodes to complete ten episodes, finalizing season 1 of Bloodshed Memoir.
Benazir Bhutto, Julius Caesar, Lee Harvey Oswald, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, Mohandas ‘Mahatma” Gandhi, President William McKinley, Francisco “Pancho” Villa, Patrice Lumumba
Format & Rationale: These episodes will be approximately 25-35 minutes long in long form. The topics of each episode will be randomly selected and aim to be stand-alone episodes. It will be informational and biographical to some extent, but it will also be intriguing to keep the listener stuck to the story as it progresses.
POV/Approach/Style/Voice & Rationale: This podcast is meant to be informational and historically accurate but felt like a story being told in a serious-minded tone. The entire episode will be described as a story and wholly scripted with some occasional ideas or thoughts from the author.
Episode Frequency & Rationale: These episodes will be set to become available once a week. They are intended to be stand-alone episodes, so a new listener can jump into whatever episode is new that week and jump to other episodes as needed.
About the Host: My name is Salvador “Sal” Ramirez, a lifelong history student that genuinely enjoys learning and talking about history, with a particular interest in American, Russian and war history. Traveling around the world while serving in the Air Force, I noted that some actions in one country could affect policy in other places in the world. Knowing this, plus having an interest in true crime stories, I felt a calling to talk about assassinations that have changed the world. Storytelling is another interest I have had since childhood. I have written many fiction short stories, but telling a true story feels more natural.
Target Audience: The primary target audience is those who enjoy true-crime style storytelling with some biography with the story. The biography aspects are to portray the person who is the subject of the episode. An audience who can visualize the assassination occurring as they hear about it needs to listen to this. People who do not mind a little bit of gore from time to time are part of this audience. Another aspect about my audience is someone who can become connected to the people they hear stories about and feel they are part of the story.
Explain why your podcast topic, format, POV/style, episode frequency, and host identity are attractive to your target audience: Many people like to know about other people’s lives; otherwise, why do we have so much social media today? Telling stories that happened in the past that could affect us today is a form of this. A longer story style gives the listener as much information to decide on the episode’s subject: did they deserve their death, was it unfair, should it have been sooner or later in the person’s life? This podcast is meant to be listened to at the gym, on your commute or at home doing chores. It is engaging enough to keep the person focus on the story without losing focus on the world around them. The length is perfect for the previously mentioned situations, as they are typical timeframes for those activities.
Describe two ways you will reach your target demographic: The best way to connect with this audience is to attach myself to similar podcasts and get advertised at the beginning or end of their podcasts as an ad. The similarities could bring the audience toward my podcast. Another way to promote the podcast would be to engage with high schools implementing podcasts for learning. Some of the subjects could be a part of the school’s curriculum, and the engaging stories could keep students actively involved in the learning process. This could be accomplished by reaching out to schools and their history, and possibly geography departments to get them to see the value the podcast could have in the classroom, even if it is just for one episode
How will you develop a sense of community and belonging among your listeners? Bloodshed Memoir will have a Facebook page, Twitter and an Instagram account for back and forth communication to better connect with listeners. Facebook and Twitter will have sections for thoughts and comments about the stories told. I’ll also have a hashtag on Twitter for listeners to input ideas on any person or assassination they want to hear. This way, listeners will feel they have a voice in the podcast.
What kinds of folks do you anticipate will object to or dislike your podcast? I feel that some people that want complete historical accuracy will find this podcast disappointing. By this, I mean that while by all historical accounts, the information will be as accurate as I can make it. What may stray a little bit is how the storytelling comes in. For example, I may say, “The shooter took a deep breath and looked deep into the eyes of his victim before firing.” This is meant to engage the audience and make them feel present as the events unfold, not to take away from the historical accuracy. Other people may feel some aspects of the podcast are copied from other true-crime podcasts. With so many true crime and mystery podcasts, it would be tough to develop original timing with music and background sounds. One more group that may find this boring are those only wanting to hear the gory details, as in this, I try to build up the person I’m speaking of to understand better why they had to meet their fate in such a manner.
What are some ways you can market your podcast to steer away folks who expect something different and will be disappointed? If I plan to advertise in other podcasts, I’d like listeners to know Bloodshed Memoir is not just about murdered people, but their story and how they fit in history. A good description for every episode will also be essential for listeners to understand what they will dive into that day.
Why is your podcast needed? I believe my podcast will throw listeners into the thick of the action and feel they are not only hearing the story but experiencing every bit of it. People sometimes need to disconnect from their daily lives, so what better way than to dive deep into the lives of people who died for something they believed in or from a tyrannical government, all while learning something along the way. I want people who may know the raw stories of the subject to learn a new perspective or see the assassinations from a different perspective.
How many podcasts currently exist that are similar to yours? Name them. Presently, on Apple Podcasts, there are two similar podcasts, none of which I’ve listened to or heard of before. They are Assassinations and Assasinations Podcast.
Browse some of their reviews on Apple Podcast or another pod platform. What do people like or dislike about podcasts similar to yours? Assassination Podcast has many great reviews, but anytime it is rated two stars or less, the reviews mention politics. It appears that the narrator uses much of his own political beliefs to add to the podcast episodes and turns people away. Assassinations has the main idea that is almost the same as my own for my podcast. While many excellent reviews are mentioned, the low-rated reviews say political reasons for dislike, like Assassination Podcast, and many note that the narrator’s voice is terrible.
How do you anticipate that your podcast would fare if the same folks were reviewing your podcast? I feel that my podcast will see very similar reviews, mostly like those of Assassinations. The reason is that as I took a look at this particular podcast, the main idea is very similar to mine. If I can use the best of what I offer and avoid some of the pitfalls of Assassinations, then my podcast will be much more popular.
Are there any perceived holes or silences within your podcast’s subcategory that seem like they need to be filled? After looking at both of these podcasts, it appears like they fulfill almost everything that this category needs. One thing that may feel like a hole may be to dive deeper into the human side of the people assassinated, as at times we only see them as a victim, not a person who lived a life worth living.
How does your podcast address a silence or hole in the genre OR what does your podcast do differently than others that are similar? The life of the person is what will separate my podcast from the others. I want people to feel like they know the subject talked about in the podcast and even feel
sadness or empathy for their death. I want the audience to understand that the murder was a massive loss to humanity or that it was well deserved, all based on the facts they get from the story.
What auxiliary components would you launch alongside the podcast? I will launch a website, a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and possibly an Instagram account with the podcast. The Instagram account will feature pictures of the podcast episode subjects and photographs of behind-the-scenes during the episodes’ recording. The website, Facebook page, and Twitter will have much information on episodes, listen online options, and comments and topic suggestions. The website will have the previously mentioned options and include all the research information, show notes, and the full transcript of the episodes.
Explore the auxiliary components created by other podcasts. Feel free to use the podcasts you explored in the first two weeks of the course for this part of the assignment. What kinds of add-ons do they have? One of the add-ons I’ve noticed on two podcasts that inspired me, Sword and Scale and Criminal, is that they have a store. They have t-shirts, mugs, and other things that have the logo of their podcast. Another they both have is a spot on their site where listeners can donate to the podcast. They also have a list of online locations where they could be listened to, like Spotify, Stitcher, Amazon, etc. Criminal has a section for pitching an idea to the makers, and one can sign up for a newsletter from the podcast. Transcripts are not available unless requested by email.
Which auxiliary components would best suit your podcast and your target audience? Why? For my podcast, I believe using the idea pitch section would help listeners tell me what they want to hear. This would be very useful to keep my listeners interested in the podcast. By allowing listeners’ input, I suspect more fans of the show will stay with the podcast since their voices and opinions are heard.
How might you made your podcast more accessible for people with disabilities or some other disadvantage that prevents them from accessing your content readily? Keeping a transcript of the shows
available with every episode would help those who have hearing issues to follow along with the podcast if needed. Another option available is to have another version of the episode done without background sounds and music for a more transparent hearing experience.
Describe some of the feedback you received in your peer reviewers and what you did to address these criticisms: A piece of advice I received was to add a commercial break in the middle of the episode to give the listener some time to grasp the information. This is something I will add in the final version of the episode. I also received some feedback on how my script sounded. The reviewer meant that I needed to hear my writing aloud, which made the mistakes apparent. After trying this, I could listen to the script’s errors and noted the holes in the sentences and storyline.
Describe some of the feedback you received from the instructor and what you did to address those criticisms: The feedback from the instructor was very motivational to me. The feedback about writing a good script made me feel I was doing a good job writing. Based on that feedback on episode one, I established my second episode script idea on episode one. One piece of feedback from the bibliography part of my research was the lack of academic sources. The addition of research from academic papers gave my podcast a more detailed view and added a touch of professionalism needed for this podcast.
