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Pulse: The Untold Story wins a Peabody Award!

An amazing honor — our show Pulse: The Untold Story just won a Peabody Award!

When I started Western Sound, one of my big goals was to get a load of incredibly smart and talented people in a room together and see what could happen. This year’s TWO Peabody nominations for Pulse and Ripple — shows run on shoestring budgets I might add — are a testament to how well that worked. Beyond my wildest dreams.

I’ll be forever grateful to all the amazing producers / editors / sound designers / APs & PAs that have come through my doors over the years. It really is an incredible feat to have accomplished so much with you.

But especially singling out Trevor Aaronson for his fearless reporting, and Colin McNulty for his vision and stewardship of the story, and Alex MacInnis for his beautifully designed soundscape and score. It really is an amazing listen.

Two 2025 Peabody Nominations!

Not one but TWO Western Sound shows are 2025 Peabody Award nominees!

Pulse: The Untold Story, reported, written and hosted by Trevor Aaronson, and Ripple, reported, written and hosted by Dan Leone. Both these shows are incredible works of audio journalism that push the boundaries of what our medium can do. And both shows are the result of incredible reporting efforts that never would have happened without our wonderfully supportive partners at Audible and APM Studios.

If you haven’t listened to these shows, now’s a great time. Ripple is free on all platforms. Pulse: The Untold Story is “Only on Audible” and if you don’t have an account, hit me up for a code to listen for free.

Keep your fingers crossed — Peabody winners are announced on May 1.

April 23rd, 2025

Ripple wins the 2025 Ambie for Best Original Score and Sound Design!

We’re very excited that our podcast Ripple has brought home the 2025 Ambie award for Best Original Music and Sound Design! The Ambies are sort of like the Oscars for podcasting, so this is a huge honor for Western Sound and Dan Leone — creator, host, and composer / sound designer for Ripple.

March 31st, 2025

Into the Madness is a nationwide Best-Seller

Our podcast slash audiobook Into the Madness — out now on Audible — reached number 8 on this week’s best-selling audiobooks chart! If you haven’t listened, hit us up for a code so you can listen for free (even without an Audible subscription).

March 4th, 2025

Ripple is New York Times 2024 Top Ten Podcast

Our podcast Ripple, a coproduction with APM Studios, has made a number of year end “Best Of” lists, but none more prestigious than the New York Times Top Ten list. Unlike most outlets, which have very long lists in multiple categories, the New York Times chooses just ten to highlight. We’re very honored to be selected!

December 20th, 2024

Alphabet Boys makes it to Congress: Senator Wyden urged the FBI to explain tactics we exposed in Season 1

We’re excited that our new original show Alphabet Boys is having an impact. The Guardian reported that Senator Ron Wyden urged the FBI to explain the tactics reminiscent of those from Hoover’s COINTELPRO that we uncovered in Alphabet Boys.

Here’s an excerpt from The Guardian article:

Ron Wyden, the Democratic senator from Oregon, is calling for the FBI to explain how it came to recruit a violent felon as an informant who then went on to gain prominence among Denver racial justice activists. The informant is alleged to have encouraged protesters to engage in increasingly violent demonstrations while trying to entrap them in criminal misdeeds.

“If the allegations are true, the FBI’s use of an informant to spy on first amendment-protected activity and stoke violence at peaceful protests is an outrageous abuse of law-enforcement resources and authority,” Wyden told the Guardian…

March 17th, 2023

Strangeland Season 2 is a Top 5 Podcast!

We’re thrilled that the second season of Strangeland: Murder in Maple Shade made it to the top 5 shows on Apple Podcasts.

Thanks to our partner audiochuck, and thank you to everyone for listening.