ABSTRACT
Crime fiction is often more about the process of detection than the crime itself, and the same is true of the podcast Serial. Each episode of Serial is a compilation of previously recorded conversations, interrogations, and other audio clips, all crafted into a coherent narrative by a host, Sarah Koenig, who presents these recordings and speaks directly to the audience about her efforts to get to the bottom of the 1999 murder. Huwiler's approach to German radio plays is related to the basic tenets of media-conscious narratology insofar as Huwiler moves beyond forms of analysis that see radio plays primarily as a literary genre and that privilege language over other acoustic elements. Serial is not fiction. A defining trait of the podcast is that it is a purely auditory medium and therefore shares many properties with oral storytelling. The podcast's most notable difference, however, is its lack of live interaction.
