Two English major nerds walk into a podcast studio…One is a true-crime aficionado and the other is an obituary expert. Welcome to The Dead Beat! In this unofficial first episode, you’ll get to know a little bit about your hosts, Solana Quistorff and Mary Kate Gorman, how we got here, and our overlapping death-genre interests. You’ll also learn how this podcast got its name.

EPISODE 0: Brief Histories

In the Summer of 2021, friends and colleagues Mary Kate and Solana were on a walk talking about what young ladies usually talk about: obituaries and murder. 

Well, in fact, many young women ages 18-35 are deeply interested in stories of death and murder. These women make up the dominant demographic listening to true crime podcasts. And these podcasts are a big deal, scoring millions of downloads a week.

Other popular and creepy genres are also important to consider, like the obituary. 

Why are these genres such a big deal? Why aren't all kinds of people included?

Join us as we consider genres about death and dying, and how some storytelling leaves certain kinds of bodies out.