MCLEAN, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--USA TODAY, part of Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI), today launched the longform podcast The City featuring an augmented reality (AR) experience as part of the company’s continued commitment to innovative storytelling and investigative reporting. The City tells true stories of how power really works in urban America and is created, hosted and executive produced by award-winning journalist Robin Amer.
Season one of The City begins in Chicago in 1990. It examines how a waste hauler with ties to the Chicago mob built a massive illegal construction debris dump in the black, working-class neighborhood of North Lawndale — and looks at the politics, power plays and corruption that allowed it to grow for nearly a decade. The story reveals how this dump sparked an undercover FBI investigation and features audio tapes that were made during the probe but withheld until Gannett’s successful litigation against the FBI for their release earlier this year. Over the course of 10 episodes, The City also exposes how illegal dumping and other forms of environmental racism continue to plague Chicago and other cities across the country.
The podcast is accompanied by a narrated AR experience that includes animation, archival photographs, and ambient sound, allowing listeners to explore the dump site as it existed in 1992. The experience immerses users in North Lawndale as the dump grows, allowing them to experience first-hand the scale of the site—which eventually rose to six stories and sprawled over a vacant lot the size of 13 football fields.
The City beat out hundreds of applicants to win WNYC’s 2015 Podcast Accelerator competition to fund the pilot. Amer leads the podcast’s team of investigative journalists and public radio veterans, including reporter Wilson Sayre, producers Jenny Casas and Taylor Maycan, editor Sam Greenspan, story consultant Ben Austen, and composer and audio engineer Hannis Brown.
“We hope that listeners will be drawn to this remarkable true story, with all its twists and turns,” Amer said, “but that they will ultimately be moved by the underlying themes of power and inequality.”
“The City packs a punch, delivering on its mission of revealing hidden power structures and conveying the strength of podcasts as a compelling storytelling platform,” said Maribel Perez Wadsworth, president, USA TODAY NETWORK, and publisher, USA TODAY. “We currently produce a range of podcasts for local, national and niche audiences, and we remain dedicated to investing in the platform.”
To learn more about The City, visit thecitypodcast.com.
About USA TODAY
Founded in 1982, USA TODAY reflects the pulse of the nation, serving as host of the American conversation by delivering high-quality, engaging content through unique visual storytelling across all platforms. A media innovator, USA TODAY reaches nearly 77.7 million unique visitors each month across digital platforms, with more than 24 million downloads of our award-winning app. USA TODAY also remains the nation’s number one newspaper and is owned by Gannett Co., Inc. (NYSE: GCI).
