Tegna’s Vault Studios Sets Two New Podcasts

Tegna on Thursday launched two new podcast projects by Vault Studios, Tegna’s in-house digital content studio offering storytelling from the company’s archive of investigative reports. Vault projects pull from real-life cases investigated by Tegna’s stable of award-winning reporters across 41 markets.

Vault Studios also announced that its team will be appearing at CrimeCon, the world’s largest convention for true crime fans, on June 7-9 in New Orleans. Attendees are encouraged to take part in Vault’s “Every City Has its Secrets” pitch-fest and pitch new podcast ideas for consideration. During CrimeCon, true crime aficionados and the press will be treated to a preview of Vault’s two new podcasts, True Crime Chronicles and Bardstown, and have an opportunity to interact with the podcasts’ hosts and creators.

These latest projects build on the success of Bomber, Vault’s March 2019 debut offering, which was co-produced with Tegna station KVUE Austin, Texas, and chronicles the 2018 Austin serial bombings. Bomber reached No. 12 on Apple’s News & Politics podcasts, remaining in the top 50 for three weeks.

“We saw with Bomber that there is a tremendous market for bringing together our world-class journalism with innovative storytelling formats,” said Adam Ostrow, Tegna’s chief digital officer. “Our latest projects tap into our archive of solved and unsolved cases to tell engaging stories that will inform and entertain a wide audience of listeners, from news junkies to true crime superfans.”

True Crime Chronicles, launching on June 24, is a weekly true crime podcast hosted by Emmy Award-winning Tegna investigative journalist Jessica Noll and Vault executive producer Will Johnson. Noll and Johnson will bring audiences a new case each week, spotlighting underreported cases and offering a new perspective on bigger, more well-known stories.

In upcoming episodes of True Crime Chronicles , the hosts explore investigations previously reported by Tegna journalists, including uncovering the dark secrets of a cult leader who set up an Egyptian-themed city in rural Georgia, following the trail of two men on a drug-fueled killing spree in California, and examining the case of an innocent couple kidnapped by a drug cartel on the streets of Dallas. True Crime Chronicles will be available on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Play, Tegna-owned digital sites and all major listening platforms.

“We believe it’s vital to talk to all the people involved in the case,” said True Crime Chronicles co-host Jessica Noll. “Our audience will hear from reporters who broke the story, the police on the inside, victims and their families, and whenever possible the people who committed the crime.”

In addition, Vault also announced the release of a new episodic podcast. Titled Bardstown, this podcast dives deep into a spate of five unsolved murders in three years that occurred in and around the small Kentucky town for which the series is named. Produced in partnership with WHAS, Tegna’s ABC affiliate in Louisville, Ky., that originally reported the murders, Bardstown investigates whether the murders are connected and why a killer is still on the loose in this community of 13,000. Premiering this summer, a new Bardstown episode will be released each week over its 8-12 week run.

“The people of Bardstown deserve answers, and they deserve to have their story told,” said Will Johnson. “Podcasts like Bardstown offer a platform for our journalists to explore a topic as deeply as necessary to get the full story, share additional perspectives and introduce new information.”