Check Out Aaron Habel’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Aaron Habel.

Hi Aaron, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I received a call one day back in 2012 from my good friend Justin who wanted to tell me about his time as a juror on a first-degree murder trial that had just ended. He had learned a lot of surprising things about our justice system and thought everyone should hear about his experience. I asked him if he wanted to start a podcast, and it sounded good. Our first episode was on trial he was a part of, and the second was on the Staircase documentary I had watched. This is how our podcast began. It was a weird start as the only other podcast covering crime was an interview podcast titled, True Murder. Ten years later, we’re no longer in a small genre as there are probably hundreds if not thousands of true crime podcasts available.

We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
What we faced early on was mostly on the technical side of things. Not having a studio meant that we recorded in my house and didn’t know enough about microphones and recording methods. Over time, we became more knowledgeable about which types of microphones worked best in certain spaces. We have also improved at editing because you don’t want to cut everything down. It would help if you got good at leaving spaces and knowing what to cut out. These days, good podcast audio is easier to achieve because podcasting is popular. There is so much more information available today, so there isn’t any excuse for having poor audio. We also have learned a lot from the audience. Constructive feedback is vital to our podcast, and we’re fortunate to have the listeners we do.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Our podcast, The Generation Why, is hosted by Aaron and my good friend, Justin. We focus on true crime and discuss cases that are unresolved, questionable, or need more attention. Getting more eyes on cases can help resolve them or get them re-opened. We also get to the why of these cases and determine what went right or wrong with the investigations. We’ve been great friends for many years, and we do what we do because we are passionate about it. I’m proud of how we have stuck with it and worked to improve over all the years. What sets our podcast apart from others is that we were the first to discuss crime and aren’t scripted.

What does success mean to you?
Success isn’t just numbers. It’s getting emails, messages, or letters from people who contacted us because we moved them to. They appreciate our approach to the cases and our commentaries regarding the justice system and society.
On the other hand, we have been successful because of who wants to work with us. For the last few years, we have worked with Wondery, one of, if not the biggest, podcast companies in the space today. They have been amazing partners, and we’re excited about the future.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://genwhypod.com/
• Instagram: @generationwhypodcast
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheGenerationWhyPodcast
• Twitter: twitter.com/genwhypod
• Other: @genwhypod (tiktok)