We're a Peabody Nominee (!!?)

And a couple other (non-sports) announcements.

First: I’m just gonna quote from Meadowlark Media’s official press release here.

Because this is pretty extraordinary, surreal news for us to receive:

NEW YORK — April 15, 2025 — The Peabody Awards Board of Jurors announced on Tuesday that Meadowlark Media’s Pablo Torre Finds Out has received a 2024 Peabody Award nomination for its feature, “Watching the Dallas Cowboys on Death Row.”

The nomination, by unanimous vote, places the influential video podcast among an elite group of 68 honorees selected from more than 1,100 entries across broadcasting and digital media.

“Watching the Dallas Cowboys on Death Row,” reported by correspondent David Fleming, explores the previously unexamined phenomenon of death row prisoners using their last words to express loyalty to their favorite sports teams. In a rare interview conducted inside a Texas supermax prison, Fleming sits down with Charles Flores, an inmate—and lifelong Cowboys fan—who has spent more than 25 years fighting his death sentence. Flores reveals a community of sports fans who have created fantasy football leagues and game-day traditions, helping inmates maintain their humanity behind bars.

The exclusive reporting reflects the mission of Pablo Torre Finds Out—which has been honored by the Edward R. Murrow Awards, Signal Awards, Webby Awards, Sports Podcast Awards, Ambies, and was recently named one of New York magazine’s Best Podcasts of 2025—to examine stories that mainstream outlets often overlook.

“Our show uses journalism to solve mysteries,” Torre said. “We strive to investigate stories that are smart, surprising, and funny—shining a light on places otherwise forgotten.”

For more than 80 years, the Peabody Awards have championed the creativity and achievements of storytellers across television, streaming, radio, and digital media. The final winners from all categories will be announced on May 1, and the awards presentation ceremony will take place on June 1 in Los Angeles.

Pablo Torre Finds Out is a production of Meadowlark Media, an independent content studio founded by leading on-air host Dan Le Batard and former ESPN president John Skipper.

Journalism, as you well know, is not the business anyone gets into in order to optimize for the modern creator economy. And we weren’t nominated in any sort of particular Sports category (there isn’t one). So thank you, sincerely, to the Peabody Board of Jurors for making a big deal out of stories that matter.

The PTFO staff could not be more excited about continuing to do work like this:

Second: a special shoutout to New York Magazine.

Which recently named us one of:

And here’s what Vulture’s podcast critic, Nick Quah, wrote, separately, in his esteemed newsletter. Which was a total surprise to receive:

I briefly wrote about this episode a few weeks ago, but since I’m adding it to my running Best Podcast list, I wanted to reiterate: Pablo Torre’s interview with Ezra Edelman on Pablo Torre Finds Out is such a cathartic listen for anyone frustrated about the inglorious state of the celebrity bio-doc. These are rough times for anyone who wants to make serious, ambitious, and well-funded documentaries about prominent individuals. Not even Edelman, who won an Oscar for the 2016 magnum opus OJ: Made in America, is immune. The documentarian and his team spent the past several years of their lives producing a nine-hour project about Prince that featured unparalleled access to the late musician’s materials; the few who’ve seen a cut deemed it a masterpiece.

The project was initially developed with support from the Prince estate, but then the estate changed hands, and the new owners balked at the notion of a challenging work about a complicated icon. So, against all good sense and reason, they shelved the doc. In his conversation with Torre, Edelman roughly walks listeners through his experience of what happened, and why it bites to live in a broader culture that appears to be content with being served hagiographic slop.

You should also check out Pablo Torre Finds Out more generally, of course, especially if you’re hungry for smart, interesting, and unexpected ways into thinking and talking about sports. Consider an episode in March about the centrality that fax machines once occupied in professional sports, or an installment featuring our very own Jerry Saltz assessing athlete statues, or this piece from last year exploring how a remarkably large number of death-row inmates dedicate their final words to their favorite sports teams. One of the great things about the show is how it’s literally a vessel for the Torre’s curiosity, so you’ll also find episodes constructed around people like, say, a mentalist (who’s also a New York Times puzzle constructor) or Deyra Barrera, who went from being an obscure mariachi singer to being featured on Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, GNX.

It’s also worth paying attention to the shape of the podcast: fundamentally operating as a high-volume publisher, Torre and his team find a nice balance between delivering of-the-moment coverage and more ambitious stories, all packaged in a way that feels effortlessly contiguous. And hilariously-involved: a recent episode tackling the whole “Stephen A. Smith for President” narrative (threat?) saw Torre commissioning Rasmussen to conduct an actual survey on the matter and presenting it to the political strategist Tim Miller and comedian Wyatt Cenac for commentary.

So thank you, Nick, for getting the show.

None of the other programs on the New York list or the list of Peabody nominees, for the record, publish anywhere close to three episodes a week.

High-volume publishing!

Third: the most overused comp in the niche we’re in is The John Oliver of ______.

I rejected that framework when launching PTFO, and I continue to reject it. And I say all of that as a real fan of what Oliver keeps doing on Sunday nights.

So what a damn delight when I saw this, last week:

Our original episode — which remains disturbingly relevant — is here:

Fourth: I apologize for all the self-promotion in this e-mail.

But as O.G. YouTuber John Green recently advised me, on the very program I’ve been gasbagging about: I do need to keep telling people to subscribe.

PTFO is less than two years old. So please help us spread the word.

Thanks so much,

Pablo