Apple has named Slate’s Slow Burn podcast as the recipient of its inaugural Apple Podcasts Show of the Year award, celebrating the latest season on Roe v. Wade for its outstanding quality, innovation, and impact.
This seventh season of the popular narrative history podcast was hosted by Slate executive editor Susan Matthews and published as four episodes throughout June 2022. It delves into the timely topic of abortion rights and reveals the events that led up to the 1973 US Supreme Court ruling of Roe v. Wade which established a legal precedent for abortion.
“Podcasting plays an important role in our lives — helping us stay informed, keep entertained, and get inspired — and we’re pleased to honour the Slate team with this recognition,” said Oliver Schusser, Apple’s vice president of Apple Music and Beats.
Following on from the show’s six previous seasons - which cover topics such as the Watergate and Clinton-Lewinsky scandals, as well as the lives and deaths of the Notorious B.I.G. and Tupac Shakur - this award-winning season investigates one of the key points in modern American, and world, history.
“I had been interested in doing a season on Roe v. Wade since the very beginning of Slow Burn,” Matthews told Apple in an interview discussing the award. “I thought it had all of the hallmarks of a good season: A story that most people know the broad sketches of but maybe not the specifics.”
“With Amy Coney Barrett starting her first full term and Dobbs vs. Whole Women’s Health on the docket, we knew that June of 2022 was likely when the court would issue a decision that could effectively overturn Roe and decided it was the perfect time to produce our Roe season.”
As of today, Apple Podcasts users have free exclusive access to six brand new Slow Burn Extras episodes. These include details on the making of the series, extended follow-up interviews from the series as well as conversations about the evolution of the Supreme Court with legal experts.
“I wanted to make this series because I was really discouraged by how polarized and stuck the conversation around abortion was, and it seemed incredibly timely and important,” Matthews said in a statement. “I am so honored that Apple Podcasts saw something special in this season. I hope people come to it with an open and curious mind, and appreciate listening to it as much as I did making it.”
