EXCLUSIVE: the podcast company behind series like Living and dying in Los Angeles It is It went up and disappearedand Campside Media, the company behind Chameleon podcast franchise, struck a multi-show deal and announced their first slate. Its first two series, Radical It is Police City, are focused on stories from Atlanta, GA, and intersect social justice, true crime and journalism.
Investigative Documentary Podcast Radical, distributed by iHeartPodcasts, premieres December 5th. It tells the story of Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, a Muslim leader who was convicted of shooting two sheriff’s deputies – one of them fatally – in 2000 outside a mosque in one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods. Before converting to Islam, Al-Amin was known as Black Power activist H. Rap Brown and was one of the movement’s most polarizing figures, earning a reputation as a charismatic speaker and passionate revolutionary. H. Rap Brown was an honorary officer of the Black Panther Party and, like his colleagues Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., and Stokely Carmichael, was a target of the FBI’s COINTELPRO surveillance program.
The trial for the shootings took place just months after the 9/11 attacks – a time of unprecedented anti-Muslim fervor in the United States – and Jamil Al-Amin was convicted of murder and sentenced to life in prison. However, the evidence turned out to be dubious and Al-Amin, who remains in prison, maintained his innocence. In 2020, a “conviction integrity unit” began re-examining the case.
Radical is presented by Mosi Secret, former reporter for The New York Times It is ProPública Who grew up in Atlanta’s African-American Muslim community. Secret takes listeners through the odyssey that spans the Jim Crow South, the Civil Rights Movement, the War on Drugs, and post-9/11 America.
“Jamil Al-Amin was a pivotal figure in Black history and a vibrant leader who played a pivotal role in establishing a religious community in one of Atlanta’s oldest neighborhoods, but many people don’t know his story,” said Secret. “This podcast is not just the story of a brutal murder and manhunt, but a complex historical and political story that shows the consequences of violence for a small community of African-American Muslims in the South.
Listen to Radical trailer here.
As previously announced, Tenderfoot TV and Campside Media have teamed up with Ventureland on the documentary police city, along with an eight-episode investigative podcast about the controversial proposed police training center in Atlanta. The independent podcast will cover the protests, violence, arrests and accusations of domestic terrorism that erupted last year in response to the proposed $90 million, 85-acre ‘Cop City’, which is expected to become one of the largest centers of militarized police training in the United States. The narrative will specifically focus on the death of Manuel Esteban Paez Terán, a young activist killed by police in January 2023.
“Atlanta’s cultural and political influence is unmatched both nationally and globally. The stories and figures that shaped Atlanta – both historical and current – are as complex as the city itself,” said Donald Albright, CEO of Tenderfoot TV. “We are proud to partner with Campside Media to delve deeper into the events happening in our own backyard and told through the voices of our neighbors.”
“Tenderfoot is a leader in the podcast space for a reason: this is a company with tremendous reach, a huge audience, and a bold, aggressive approach to the market,” says Matthew Shaer, co-founder of Campside Media. “I have wanted to work with Donald and his team for a long time – this is a dream come true for us.”
