A Murder on Orchard Street is a nonfiction podcast about the unsolved murder of Burke O’Brien in the winter of 2003. The narrator, Kristina Kylie is a news anchor who reported on the original case and the podcast follows her as she, the victim’s family, and the detectives of precinct 7 reflect on the murder. So far, the first two episodes of A Murder on Orchard Street has focused on setting the stage for the remaining five episodes by summarizing the original murder case; Burke O’Brien’s friend, Forest Bloede, was accused and arrested for shooting O’Brien. However, the lead detective, Kenny Silvia, believes that Forest was not the murderer.
A Murder on Orchard Street is presented in a similar fashion to Serial. The narrator provides a monologue that is interwoven with audio clips from interviews that Kylie conducted with the people connected to the murder case, such as Bloede and Detective Silvia. Similarly to Koenig, Kylie also provides insight into her own thoughts while monologuing. However, where the two differ is that Kylie also had first hand experience in her case because she had reported on the original case in 2003, unlike Koenig who is investigating her cases long after the fact. Koenig and Kylie both are forming their own opinions based on the information from the interviews that they conduct, but Kylie also has the additional element of her own personal experiences, which provides a unique lens for the audience that Serial does not have. Additionally, as the audience of A Murder on Orchard Street is being introduced to the case for the first time, Kylie herself is also refreshing the case in her memory through her monologues and interviews. Another way A Murder on Orchard Street differs is that it also utilizes audio clips from the original news reports of O’Brien’s murder; Episode 1 even opens in this manner. Additionally, unlike Serial, A Murder on Orchard Street does not use any music.
These additional characteristics; Kylie’s unique perspective, the use of audio from news reports, and the absence of music give the podcast characteristics of a news report. Thus despite being an audio only podcast, A Murder on Orchard Street has the feel and flow of a regular investigative news article. With the proper accompanying visuals, the audio would not feel out of place airing on the news.
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