ABC Audio Announces New Podcast ‘Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery’ on Nuclear Power Whistleblower, Premiering Tuesday, Nov. 12

Today, ABC Audio announced a gripping new podcast series that reexamines the mysterious death of the whistleblower Karen Silkwood, a 28-year-old plutonium plant worker who died in a fatal crash. She was reportedly on her way to meet an investigative reporter with The New York Times to hand over documents she’d secretly been collecting at her job. The details surrounding her death, 50 years ago this November and made famous by the movie “Silkwood,” continue to be a mystery that haunts Oklahomans and the nation. “Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery,” hosted by veteran journalists Mike Boettcher and Bob Sands, premieres on Tuesday, Nov. 12.

The four-part podcast, produced in collaboration with the ABC News Investigative Unit, unearths newly discovered and never-before-heard audio tapes recorded by two investigators decades apart. The podcast includes rare interviews with Karen’s son, Michael Meadows, who was 5 years old when she died, and Karen’s sisters, Rosemary Silkwood Smith and Linda Silkwood Vincent. The podcast will also feature Steve Wodka, who worked for Karen’s union and launched her on the risky mission to gather evidence about problems at the plant, and David Burnham, The New York Times reporter Karen was driving to meet the night she died.

Boettcher and Sands, both from Oklahoma, covered the Silkwood case in 1974 and have spent years trying to piece together what many in Oklahoma speculate: Karen Silkwood may have died for what she knew.

“Karen Silkwood’s story remains one of the most haunting mysteries in American history,” said Laura Mayer, executive producer of Podcast Programming at ABC Audio. “With new revelations and key interviews, we hope to provide fresh insight into this decades-old case and its lasting impact.”

“Silkwood,” starring Meryl Streep, Cher and Kurt Russell, is now available to stream on Hulu for the first time ever.

EPISODE SYNOPSES

Episode 1: “The Tapes” (Nov. 12)
Who was Karen Silkwood, and why was her death so explosive it spawned a Hollywood movie? We’ll meet two Oklahoma reporters determined to run down the facts. An investigator’s tapes rediscovered in a storage vault raise the voices of the dead.

Episode 2: “A Powerful Company” (Nov. 19)
Karen Silkwood worked for Kerr-McGee, an oil and gas behemoth that was expanding into the nuclear power industry. Escalating production quotas led to more accidents at the plant, and Karen quietly traveled to Washington, D.C., to report safety concerns to her union and regulators. She volunteers for a risky assignment: gathering evidence.

Episode 3: “Contaminated” (Dec. 3)
We retrace the final days of Karen’s life. She’s been so badly contaminated by radioactive material that men in hazmat suits show up to inspect her apartment, strip much of it down to the studs, and seal her possessions into 55-gallon drums for disposal. Karen grows fearful she’s being watched and followed. Years after her death, Karen’s family sues Kerr-McGee for the contamination, and for the first time, her allegations against the company are tested in court.

Episode 4: “The Bumper” (Dec. 10)
Official reports said Karen fell asleep at the wheel while taking a prescription sedative and drove herself into a ditch. What can new technology tell us about the cause of Karen’s accident? Meanwhile, decades-old investigative tapes piece together a theory: Was Karen under surveillance by forces she didn’t even know? We examine the mystery and the legacy of America’s first nuclear whistleblower.

“Radioactive: The Karen Silkwood Mystery,” produced with Standing Bear Entertainment, will be available on all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, Pandora, SiriusXM, the iHeartRadio app, Audacy, TuneIn and others.

Laura Mayer is executive producer of Podcast Programming. Josh Cohan is director of Podcast Programming.

About ABC Audio
ABC Audio is America’s premiere source for radio news, entertainment content, and podcasts. ABC News Radio reaches more Americans than any other commercial broadcaster through its network of more than 1,600 radio stations and digital distributors. ABC Audio offers affiliates on-demand access to original audio, video and social media content, as well as news, entertainment and lifestyle digital text stories. ABC Audio is part of the top ranked Walt Disney Company podcasting network. The growing podcast portfolio includes ABC News’ flagship daily news podcast, “Start Here,” chart-topping hits like “The Dropout,” “20/20,” and “538: Politics,” and Edward R. Murrow Award winner “Reclaimed: The Story of Mamie Till-Mobley” as well as “The King Road Killings,” “The View: Behind the Table,” and “In Plain Sight: Lady Bird Johnson.”

Media Relations
Bridgette Maney
bridgette@bridgepr.net

Alison Bridgman
alison@bridgepr.net