We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Anngelle Wood a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Anngelle thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

I spent years as a radio host on the Boston rock radio dial at stations like WFNX and WBCN. I came up during a time when radio was “live without a net”, where what you said was said, set free into the universe, and there was no taking it back, no edits, no re-releases. It’s the kind of education that cannot be taught, only learned by doing.

That media training gave me a leg up in podcasting. First, I was a consumer. I listened to everything from This American Life and The Moth to Dateline and Serial (some of the OGs in the podcast game). I still have a few favorites from those early days.

Going back the seven or so years now since podcasting was introduced, I can distinctly remember the jokes radio DJs would make (“Why don’t you go start a podcast”, was a real burn then). Fast-forward to modern day, and countless radio hosts have component podcasts (the radio companies are about “data” and “content”). Former on-air presenters have segued into podcasting in their post-FM lives. Podcasting is what radio used to be – a place for creativity, a place for community and connection.

The “back-then” was a time when radio DJs interacted with listeners and people sought out a connection with broadcasters. The events of your morning were recited back to you when you ran into a listener. It was a great time, and with all the perceived glamor being a radio host might portray – and it sure did have its perks! – podcasting surpasses the reward aspect. What I mean by that is, radio was about being “the star”, cracking jokes, jokes often at the expense of someone’s suffering. I don’t need to point out any of the hosts who capitalized on schadenfreude, the nature of our epicaricacy – how we’ve taken pleasure from the misfortunes of others.

Over the few years that I have been at the game, podcasting has become about how I can use the powers of storytelling and true crime for good. In those radio years, I was a part of people’s day-to-day lives. Outside a live morning radio show, when we interact directly with listeners in real time, podcasting has by and large replaced that relationship for countless listeners.

People walk up to me in some of the most unexpected places and tell me how much they enjoy that show, Crime of the Truest Kind. It’s stunning and incredibly rewarding. Because I’m based in Massachusetts and focus on New England stories, history, and advocacy, people find a connection to the subject, whether they are big true crime fans or not.

Anngelle, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I am a dreamer, always thinking up ideas for projects. In my radio life, I was a talker, a joker, a writer and entertainer. I’d be at the venue to meet the artists. I’d do the interview with a band, edit down the pieces and have it ready to air on the radio that morning.

Podcasting opened up an entirely new set of interests and passions for me starting with writing. I dig into stories, uncovering details, and what’s important to tell the story.

Through this experience, I have become a creator focused on advocacy for victims and families who’ve been affected by crime, whether it is a missing loved one, a murdered loved one, and an unsolved case. I tell the stories of what’s happened here, in Massachusetts and New England. I share them with care and kindness, empathy is the driving force. I can talk to anyone about anything, and seeing and understanding what these families have gone through has made me better at what I do.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

This has been a rewarding experience. I had no idea what twists and turns would come along with this podcast project when I first set out in 2020. Three years on (there was an almost-yearlong hiatus that put me on pause), I have a plan for what’s next:

Keep making good shows
Continue to build visibility in true crime and advocacy space
Be an active player in the ethics and advocacy in true crime “movement” (no, not all “true crime” is the same)
Build Massachusetts Missing and Murdered Advocacy Coalition to offer support to families
Work on advocacy training and education

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I didn’t know what I was in for. My knowledge was like most people’s who casually listen to crime stories, read the books, or watch the documentaries. I wasn’t completely tuned into the seriousness of exploitation in this medium. These are the worst experiences of people’s lives. There are those who’ll push you out of the way to make a name for themselves with the energy of a Black Friday shopper fighting over a cheap television.

I saw it when Gabby Petitio went missing in 2021, with the case of Abby Williams and Libby German, who disappeared from Delphi, Indiana and were found murdered in 2017. We saw a rush to be first when four students were killed in Moscow, Idaho in 2022. “Creators” fall over themselves to get a lock on the eyes and ears of the curious and morbid.

Some didn’t bother to get their names right: Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://crimeofthetruestkind.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/crimeofthetruestkind
• Facebook: https://facebook.com/crimeofthetruestkind
• Twitter: https://twitter.com/truestkind
• Youtube: https://youtube.com/crimeofthetruestkind
• Other: All Platforms: https://crimeofthetruestkind.buzzsprout.comApple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/crime-of-the-truest-kind/id1526251051

  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2WiUzqiJ54ERiBvbeKMNUa

  Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/395d4be0-7aa5-4548-9607-0747786d18af/crime-of-the-truest-kind

Image Credits

Most are credited Anngelle Wood/Crime of the Truest Kind

Photo of Anngelle at computer is by Coleman Rogers