Floodlines

Floodlines
Genre
LanguageAmerican English
Creative team
Written by
  • Katy Reckdahl
  • Scott Stossel
  • William Brennan
Creative director
  • Paul Spella
  • Ellie Budzinski
  • Erik Winkowski
Cast and voices
Hosted byVann R. Newkirk II
Music
Composed by
  • Christian Scott
  • Atunde Adjuah
  • Anthony Braxton
  • David Herman
Production
Direction
  • Ana Carano
  • Melissa Depuydt
  • Frankie Dintino
  • Tolulope Edionwe
  • Erica Irving
  • Gerald Rich
  • John Thiel
Production
  • Katherine Wells
  • Alvin Melathe
  • Kevin Townsend
  • Emily Gottschalk-Marconi
  • Kaila Philo
  • Myles Poydras
Length30–45 minutes
Publication
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes8
Original releaseMarch 11 –
March 11, 2020
ProviderThe Atlantic
Related
Websitewww.theatlantic.com/podcasts/floodlines/

Floodlines is an eight-part podcast miniseries about Hurricane Katrina hosted by Vann R. Newkirk II and produced by The Atlantic.

Background

The podcast explores how the New Orleans Police Department, the Federal government of the United States, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and the news media in the United States were all responsible for exacerbating the crisis. The first episode focuses on the story of Le-Ann Williams who was a fourteen-year-old girl living in the Sixth Ward of New Orleans during Hurricane Katrina. In one of the episodes Newkirk interviews Michael Brown from the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Comparisons were made by Time magazine between how the George W. Bush administration handled the hurricane to how the Donald Trump administration handled the COVID-19 pandemic.

Production

Vann R. Newkirk II, Katherine Wells, and Alvin Melathe spent a year researching, writing, and producing the eight-part miniseries. The podcast is the first long-form narrative podcast produced by The Atlantic. The whole miniseries was released on March 11, 2020. Each episode is between 22 and 53 minutes long. The podcast used a mix of interviews and archival content.

Reception

During an interview on Fresh Air, Nicholas Quah—a writer for Vulture and the creator of The Verge's podcast newsletter Hot Pods—commented on the show saying that "It's fantastically written, tightly composed and it sounds like a million bucks."

Wesley Morris of The New York Times commented on Newkirk's role in the audio documentary stating that he "narrates and interviews with a warm inquisitiveness and sly skepticism. People seem incapable of being anything less than honest with him." Vince Mancini—the senior film and culture writer for Uproxx—also commented on Newkirk's role, stating that he "does a wonderful job of not just telling stories from in and around Hurricane Katrina ... [but] synthesize[s] them into a fuller understanding of what actually happened".

Awards

Award Year Category Result Ref.
British Podcast Awards 2021 The International Award Nominated
Discover Pods Awards 2020 True Crime Podcast Finalist
Peabody Awards 2020 Podcast / Radio Won

See also

References

  1. ↑ Serrano, Jody (October 17, 2020). "Here Are the Top 10 Climate Change Podcasts Out Right Now: There Hasn't Been a Better Time to Learn About Climate Change Through the Wonderful Medium of Podcasting". Gizmodo. G/O Media. Archived from the original on March 31, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  2. ↑ Brooke, Zach (July 6, 2020). "The Best Podcasts of 2020 So Far: Most Significant Correction to the Record". The A.V. Club. G/O Media. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  3. ↑ Lohr, Nikki (April 13, 2020). "Floodlines Is a Superb, Visceral History of Hurricane Katrina". Podcast Review. Los Angeles Review of Books. Archived from the original on November 28, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  4. 1 2 Morris, Wesley (December 21, 2020). "The Best New Podcasts of 2020: Some of This Tumultuous Year's Most Absorbing Programming — Whether Escapist or Heartbreaking — Could Be Found in These Shows". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 7, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  5. ↑ Dockterman, Eliana (November 22, 2020). "The 10 Best Podcasts of 2020". Time. Archived from the original on February 9, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  6. ↑ Greene, Steve (March 26, 2020). "'Floodlines': The Podcast With the Lessons From Katrina We Can Heed Right Now—Writer for the Atlantic and Podcast Host Vann R. Newkirk II Shares What His Year of Research and Interviews Taught Him About Bridging 2005 and Today". IndieWire. Penske Media Corporation. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  7. ↑ Sturges, Fiona (April 26, 2020). "Floodlines Revisits Hurricane Katrina in a Timely Podcast About Crisis Response: The Expansive and Powerful Series Reflects on Failures of Leadership and Misinformation". Financial Times. Nikkei, Inc. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  8. ↑ Quah, Nicholas (April 13, 2020). "Floodlines is the Right Podcast for This Moment". Vulture. New York Media, LLC. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  9. ↑ Price, Neroli (August 30, 2020). "Podcast Review: Racism and Environmental Disaster Collide in 'Floodlines'—As Hurricane Laura Makes Landfall in the US, We Turn to a Story About Another Storm. the Podcast Series 'Floodlines' Revisits Hurricane Katrina and Its Devastating Aftermath". Daily Maverick. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  10. ↑ Sawyer, Miranda (May 2, 2020). "The Week in Radio and Podcasts: True Spies; Floodlines; Iain Lee; Slow Radio – Review. A Real-Life Mossad Operation to Rescue Ethiopian Jews is Gripping, While a Series on Hurricane Katrina Gets to the Heart of the Tragedy". The Guardian. Archived from the original on April 1, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  11. ↑ Gross, Terry; Quah, Nicholas (December 24, 2020). "'Floodlines,' the Story of Hurricane Katrina, Tops the List of 2020's Best Podcasts". Fresh Air. NPR. Archived from the original on March 27, 2022. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  12. ↑ Mancini, Vince (December 29, 2020). "The Best Non-Fiction Podcasts of 2020". Uproxx. Warner Music Group. Archived from the original on July 11, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  13. ↑ "British Podcast Awards Nominations List: Nominations 2021". British Podcast Awards. 2021. Archived from the original on July 15, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  14. ↑ Goldberg, Kevin (October 23, 2020). "Vote for the 2020 Discover Pods Awards Finalists". Discover Pods Awards. Elite Cafe Media. Archived from the original on December 17, 2021. Retrieved March 31, 2022.
  15. ↑ "Award Profile: Floodlines from The Atlantic". The Peabody Awards. Archived from the original on March 14, 2022. Retrieved March 31, 2022.