April 17, 2024, SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — What do the secrets we keep say about us? And what do they do to us? A new podcast from New England Public Media uses a mix of storytelling, psychological insight, and societal commentary to examine the stories we don’t tell, what they say about our world, and what they do to our minds. “The Secrets We Keep,” a five-part limited series, premieres Wednesday, April 24.
Hosted by veteran NEPM reporter Karen Brown, “The Secrets We Keep” uses the lens of secrets to explore societal taboos and stigmas around sexual orientation, abortion, genetic origins, family scandals, and money – through the voices of secret-keepers, and those kept in the dark.
“As a journalist, my job is often to get at the secrets and stories that people in power prefer to keep hidden. But this is a more personal and psychological project,” said Brown. “I really wanted to understand how secrets both reflect our world and affect those caught inside them. And a podcast felt like a great way to let these issues unspool with the time and depth they deserve.”
The podcast takes a deep-dive into understanding secrecy, including why people choose to keep secrets, what toll it takes to keep a big one, what happens when the truth is revealed, and the ultimate costs of secrets. While the themes are universal, Brown focused on a number of western Massachusetts characters sharing first-person accounts of keeping and learning secrets.
Throughout the series, Brown also talks with history and social science experts including Andrea Johnson, director of state policy for the National Women’s Law Center, who talks about how pay secrecy has contributed to the gender wage gap in episode five, “Don’t Talk About Money.,” She talks to and Carrie Baker, an expert on feminist and abortion history at Smith College in Northampton, Massachusetts, who explains how secrecy has been weaponized by abortion opponents in episode three, “Hidden Abortions.” And she interviews Michael Slepian, a Columbia University psychologist who studies the physical burden of holding onto secrets.
“We all have stories to tell and we all have secrets we don’t tell,” said Matt Abramovitz, president of NEPM. “Through Karen’s reporting, you’ll get a window into a hidden world that would otherwise remain invisible. I have so much admiration for her work and the courage of the people from right here in western Massachusetts who shared these riveting stories.”
A familiar voice on 88.5 NEPM, Brown brings a wealth of experience to the podcast, as both host and producer. She’s covered science and mental health for NEPM for over 25 years, and has contributed to NPR, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Harvard Public Health Magazine, and other national outlets. Prior to producing “The Secrets We Keep,” she co-produced a narrative podcast for PRX’s Radiotopia called “The Great God of Depression,” which won the 2019 Webby Award for best series. Her other awards include the National Edward R. Murrow Award, the Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI) Award, and the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media. The podcast is edited by NEPM news director, Sam Hudzik, and scored by Katie Semro.
“The Secrets We Keep” is available free on-demand across all major podcast platforms, including Apple Podcasts and Spotify, as well as at nepm.org and the NEPM YouTube Channel. After the first two episodes premiere on April 24, subsequent episodes will be released weekly on Wednesday mornings.
April 24 (a special dual episode release)
- Episode 1: Anatomy of a Secret – podcast creator, Karen Brown shares a personal family secret, and introduces the idea of distinguishing between privacy and secrecy which is explored throughout the series.
- Episode 2: Secrets of the Closet – an exploration of how those in the LGBTQ community have been forced to keep secrets about their sexual orientation or gender identity, even from themselves.
May 1 – Episode 3: Hidden Abortions – a look into how the changing political winds around abortion have led women to keep their abortions secret, and – for the same reason – speak out about them.
May 8 – Episode 4: Our Secrets, Ourselves – a look at the personal fallout of the genetic testing explosion, which has resulted in a phenomenon of secret-busting.
May 15 – Episode 5 : Don’t Talk About Money – an examination of pay secrecy and its role in gender and race inequality.
The Secrets We Keep is distributed by NEPM. Listen at nepm.org/secrets or subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
ABOUT NEW ENGLAND PUBLIC MEDIA
New England Public Media enriches people’s lives in western Massachusetts and beyond by nurturing curiosity, inspiring community engagement, and reflecting the unique joys of living here. NEPM is the region’s source for PBS and NPR programs and for locally produced news, video and music content.
For more information, visit nepm.org or follow NEPM on Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn.
ABOUT KAREN BROWN
Karen Brown is a public radio science reporter, essayist, and audio documentarian, with a special focus on mental health. In addition to 25 years reporting for New England Public Media in western Massachusetts, Karen has contributed to NPR, The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Harvard Public Health Magazine, and other national outlets. Prior to producing The Secrets We Keep, she co-produced the narrative podcast for PRX’s Radiotopia called “The Great God of Depression.” Her awards include the National Edward R. Murrow Award, The Daniel Schorr Journalism Prize, Public Radio News Directors Inc. (PRNDI) Award, and the Erikson Prize for Mental Health Media. She was an MIT-Knight Science journalism fellow and a Rosalynn Carter Mental Health Journalism fellow.
THE SECRETS WE KEEP SYNOPSIS OF EPISODES
Episode 1: Anatomy of a Secret — In the pilot episode, host Karen Brown explores a personal family secret — a sister she didn’t know was her father’s daughter until they were all in their 20s — to understand the shame and stigma involved in keeping a family scandal under wraps, and how that can affect people’s world view and relationships. This is also where the host explains her original interest in the potential harms of secrecy — and why, as a journalist, she has always been a fan of openness. She introduces the idea of distinguishing between privacy and secrecy – which is explored throughout this series.
Episode 2: Secrets of the Closet — How those in the LGBTQ community have been forced to keep secrets about their sexual orientation or gender identity, partly because of stigma and discrimination, and partly because of internalized shame. We meet a transgender woman who transitioned in her early 50s; a once-Catholic gay man who had to hide his relationship and children for years until it all exploded in public; a psychologist who grew up in the 1980s with a single mom who was gay but never talked about it; and two queer Black women who talk about confronting society’s prejudices and refusing to live in secrecy — albeit at a cost.
Episode 3: Hidden Abortions — How the changing political winds around abortion have led women to keep their abortions secret, and for the same reason, speak out about them. We meet a Greenfield, Massachusetts, woman who had an illegal abortion in the 1960s and only spoke about it after joining the women’s movement of the 70s, and a younger western Mass. woman who had abortions in the 80s but, despite their legality, felt so ashamed she couldn’t talk about it until the Dobbs decision turned her into an activist. And we talk to a Smith professor who is an expert on feminist and abortion history, including how secrecy has been weaponized by abortion opponents.
Episode 4: Our Secrets, Ourselves — When a biological discovery reveals that the big secret in your life is actually YOU. This episode looks at the personal fallout of the genetic testing explosion, and why so many families of the past kept fertility treatment a secret. We meet an Amherst, Massachusetts, woman who discovers her parents used a sperm donor — leading her to a huge new family (and we also meet one of her newly discovered sisters). And, we meet a well-known writer who has become a social commentator on genetic revelations, after learning that her beloved father was not her bio father — one in a long list of secrets that destabilized her life. We also meet a Columbia University researcher on secrets who himself found out his genetic origins were not what he thought. And the episode calls back to the host’s own father’s story, who in addition to having a secret daughter, never knew his own biological dad.
Episode 5: Don’t Talk About Money — Who benefits from society’s pressure to keep one’s salary a secret — and who gets harmed? We explore pay secrecy and its role in gender and race inequality. We meet a young woman who, after discovering she was getting underpaid as a data analyst, started a Tik Tok channel interviewing people on video about their salaries. We talk to a policy advocate at the National Women’s Law Center about campaigns to increase pay transparency. And we meet a Black science fiction author who started a Twitter campaign in which white and Black writers admitted how much they got for book advances in order to call out the publishing industry for its race-based pay discrepancy. Karen Brown wraps up the series with some discussion over what she learned about secrets — and a great song by an Amherst, Massachusetts, musician about secrets.
MEDIA CONTACT
Vanessa Cerillo
Senior Director, Marketing, Communications and Events
New England Public Media
413-735-6605
vanessa_cerillo@nepm.org