Fact: everyone's obsessed with true crime right now, probably because obsessing over the digestible evil of serial killers is emotionally easier to deal with than confronting the looming horror of global warming, or something. Another fact: everything's better when it takes place somewhere you recognize. Enter Upstate Unsolved, a slickly-produced new true crime podcast created right here in Albany by WGY and iHeartRADIO, in cooperation with Saint Rose's new Cold Case Analysis Center.
Season One of Upstate Unsolved is all about the case of Suzanne Lyall, a young woman who vanished from the UAlbany campus in 1998. The podcast takes a serious, investigative approach to the case and has been made with the full participation of Suzanne's mom, which keeps it from edging into the more exploitative terrain that you sometimes encounter with true crime stuff. Think of it as Albany's answer to Someone Knows Something. There are some bumps still (the host, who comes across as very warm and likable when you hear her talking to interview subjects, defaults to reading her narration in a often stilted-sounding news anchor voice), but overall it's more than worth a listen. Check it out Upstate Unsolved on Apple Podcasts or wherever you normally get your daily podcast fix.