The satellite radio giant is gaining some exclusive rights to the flagship SmartLess podcast hosted by Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes as well as a selection of other shows in the SmartLess slate.
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With the arts world “largely in hibernation”, the launch of a major podcast is “as close as we get to a big cultural event these days”, said Robert Jackman in The Spectator. The Apology Line, from Amazon-owned Wondery, was released last week and shot straight to the top of the “most downloaded” charts. It is about a conceptual artist named Allan Bridge, who in the 1980s invited New York’s criminal classes to record anonymous confessions on an unmanned phone line. The idea was to shed voyeuristic light on the city’s darkest corners. It is narrated by Marissa Bridge, Allan’s widow. She has a slightly “wooden” delivery, said Fiona Sturges in the FT, but that doesn’t matter: this is a gripping tale, grippingly told – and the recordings alone make for “remarkable” listening. “Some are tinged with sadness and shame; others carry the sound of a weight being lifted. A handful are downright chilling.”