WDIV-Local 4 (NBC Detroit) and Graham Media Group announce the new, five-episode season of “Shattered” that will chronicle the rise and fall of the iconic labor leader, Jimmy Hoffa. Season 4 of this original true-crime podcast series will be hosted by veteran WDIV-Local 4 journalist Steve Garagiola.
“Once you start looking into Hoffa, you find yourself down a rabbit hole of dark tunnels. You look at the Teamsters Union and end up at Richard Nixon, Bobby Kennedy and the JFK assassination. All of these roads lead us back to Hoffa’s obsession with power,” said Garagiola.
Hoffa’s disappearance is one of the most notorious unsolved crimes of the 20th century. He lived most of his life in Detroit and was last seen 20 miles north of the city. Interest in what happened to Hoffa has never waned, and the mystery only deepens as the decades pass. Recent projects, including a Martin Scorsese film on the subject, are sparking a new wave of theories, investigation, and excitement about what seems to be the ultimate cold case.
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“We are uniquely positioned to tell the stories like the disappearance of Jimmy Hoffa because of our extensive reporting and archival footage on the topic. We have reported on this story since day one and few media outlets have the library of material, and institutional knowledge of this historical event,” said News Director Kim Voet.
Also see: Would you like to be invited to a ’Shattered: Hoffa’ Podcast Party?
WDIV-Local 4 has told the Hoffa story in pieces since 1975 and has an archive full of raw interviews and news reports over the last four decades.
“Producing a serialized podcast enables us to tell a much more complicated, nuanced story that’s relevant to both our local broadcast audience and an international “Shattered” podcast audience,” said Vice President and General Manager Marla Drutz.
The first three seasons of “Shattered” have garnered nearly 3.5 million downloads with audiences from 170 countries. Season 1 investigates the 2010 disappearance of three brothers in Morenci, Michigan. Their father said he gave the brothers to an underground organization. Seven years later, the boys’ whereabouts is not known. Season 2 takes listeners through the life of Richard Wershe, Jr., aka “White Boy Rick,” the youngest ever FBI informant turned drug dealer. Season 3 investigates the heartbreaking and riveting story about Michigan’s Oakland County Child Killer case that is still unsolved 40 years later.
“Shattered: Hoffa” premieres on December 3, 2019. The five-episode season will release a new episode every Tuesday. The entire series will be available for free on Apple Podcasts, or your preferred podcast listening platform.
Listen to the trailer for “Shattered: Hoffa” here.
For more information, visit shatteredpodcast.com.
About WDIV-Local 4
Local 4 News is currently the No. 1 newscast at 4 p.m., 5 p.m., 6 p.m., and 11 p.m. in Nielsen ratings for the Detroit television market. WDIV is the No. 1 NBC affiliate in the top 20 LPM markets. In addition, Local 4's ClickOnDetroit.com is a top breaking news and weather website and the No. 1 news website in Metro Detroit according to comScore.
About Graham Media Group
Graham Media Group, a subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company (NYSE: GHC), owns seven local television stations - each in a top-70 market and all recognized as news leaders: KPRC–Houston, WDIV–Detroit and WSLS–Roanoke (NBC); KSAT–San Antonio (ABC); WKMG–Orlando(CBS); WJXT–Jacksonville (fully local), and WCWJ–Jacksonville (CW), as well as Social News Desk, a leading provider of social media management tools designed to connect newsrooms with their users.
The stations also broadcast digital channels focusing on classic television and lifestyle programming, in addition to operating market-leading websites, mobile sites and mobile apps delivering breaking news, weather and community news, reaching millions of users across each platform. All are deeply involved in local initiatives and public service projects designed to serve, inform and improve their respective communities.