Phoebe Valentine Judge is an American journalist, best known as the host and co-creator of the podcasts ''
Criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
'' and ''
This Is Love.''
Early life and education
Judge was born to parents Valentine and Tony Judge,
and named after her aunt,
Phoebe Legere.
She grew up in
Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will
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with her three siblings,
[ and attended university at ]Bennington College
Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...
,[ graduating in 2005. She eventually started interning at a public radio station in ]Cape Cod, Massachusetts
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mon ...
, which led her to enroll at the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies
The Salt Institute for Documentary Studies (or simply Salt) is a non-profit graduate institution located in Portland, Maine, dedicated to the study of Nonfiction, nonfiction storytelling, particularly documentary film and podcast, podcasting. Orig ...
.
Career
After graduating, Judge worked for several years as a journalist for public radio, beginning with a two-and-a-half-year stint working as a reporter for Mississippi Public Broadcasting. She left to go to India to report and produce for a documentary on the country.
After returning from India, Judge landed a job with ''The Story with Dick Gordon
''The Story with Dick Gordon'' was a weekday interview program hosted by Dick Gordon, former host of WBUR's '' The Connection'' and, before that, fill-in host for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's national radio program '' This Morning''. ...
''. While planning to do an interview on wrongful imprisonment with her colleagues at North Carolina Public Radio
WUNC (91.5 MHz) is a listener-supported public radio station, serving the Research Triangle area of North Carolina. It is licensed to Chapel Hill and is operated by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. On weekdays, WUNC carries Nat ...
, Judge said, "Very quickly, once we started reading about the number of exonerees, about the number of potentially innocent people in jail ... it was clear that this was going to be more than one show, that this deserved to become a series.” Their investigation became “After Innocence: Exoneration in America,” a series that aired June 10–13, 2013 on the program ''The Story'' for American Public Media
American Public Media (APM) is an American company that produces and distributes public radio programs in the United States, the second largest company of its type after NPR. Its non-profit parent, American Public Media Group, also owns and oper ...
.
When ''The Story'' ended in 2013, Judge and two colleagues, Lauren Spohrer and Eric Mennel, decided to create their own program. Spohrer came up with the idea for the show while they were brainstorming on Judge's back porch. They released the first episode of ''Criminal
In ordinary language, a crime is an unlawful act punishable by a state or other authority. The term ''crime'' does not, in modern criminal law, have any simple and universally accepted definition,Farmer, Lindsay: "Crime, definitions of", in C ...
'' in January 2014. She continued to conduct interviews for and anchor WUNC's program of ''Here & Now'' until 2015, when she transitioned into filling in for vacant shifts. The change came with Criminal's increased production schedule to one episode every two weeks.
Judge has been invited for guest interviews on other podcasts including ''The Murder Squad''. She also continued to guest host ''The State of Things''.
During the coronavirus pandemic of 2020, Judge started a limited series podcast called ''Phoebe Reads a Mystery'', in which she reads a chapter of a novel each day. The first was Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English writer known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving around fictiona ...
's first novel ''The Mysterious Affair at Styles
''The Mysterious Affair at Styles'' is a detective novel by British writer Agatha Christie. It was written in the middle of the First World War, in 1916, and first published by John Lane in the United States in October 1920 and in the United ...
''.
Public image
Judge's voice has drawn commentary in the media. Alexis Soloski, theater critic at ''The New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'', wrote that "no matter how strange or ghastly the crime, the voice of the host Phoebe Judge somehow remains implacable
Three ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Implacable'':
* The first , launched in 1795 as the French ship ''Duguay-Trouin'', was a 74-gun third-rate ship of the line. Captured by the British on 3 November 1805, she was renamed ''Implacab ...
and oddly soothing." ''The Star Tribune
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...
'' said, "Judge's sweetly modulated voice serves as a calm foil to the blood-soaked stories." Judge herself has said, "I hope my voice shows reverence, to not only the topic and subject, but also the guest."
Personal life
Judge says that she is "rigid" because she tends to be inflexible about certain habits, such as running 50 miles a month, preferring to eat scheduled meals, and maintaining a regular sleep schedule. She is fond of long walks "for the fun of it," and will sometimes walk for miles, then call someone to pick her up. Each year, she takes a two-week trip to northernmost Maine, where she vacations Internet-free.
Her sister Chloe, 13 months her junior, died in 2015.[ Judge's namesake aunt, Phoebe Legere, is a singer, painter, and musician who is the maestro of the Lower East Side Children's Chorus of the ]Theater for the New City
Theater for the New City, founded in 1971 and known familiarly as "TNC", is one of New York City's leading off-off-Broadway theaters, known for radical political plays and community commitment. Productions at TNC have won 43 Obie Awards and the P ...
. Judge lives with her partner, Sara, in Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
.
References
External links
Judge's work with Blue Ridge Public Radio
for Western North Carolina
{{DEFAULTSORT:Judge, Phoebe
American women journalists
American women podcasters
American podcasters
Living people
American radio producers
Bennington College alumni
1983 births
People associated with true crime
Salt Institute for Documentary Studies alumni
21st-century American women
Women radio producers