MOST INNOVATIVE: Blake Pfeil on Turning Ruins into Genre-Bending Sound

Welcome to the very first episode of Craft, Content & Creators, a new show from the New York City Podcast Awards. Each episode, host Cory Choy sits down with award-winning creators, documentarians, and sound artists who took home top prizes at last year's awards, digging into their creative journeys, the artistic and business decisions behind their work, and what it really takes to make exceptional audio storytelling.

To kick things off: Blake Pfeil, the creative mind behind abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast. An award-winning multidisciplinary artist based in the Hudson Valley, Blake is the creator, host, writer, executive producer, and sound designer of the series, which transforms his explorations of abandoned spaces across the U.S. into what he calls a "fantastical multimedia travelog." The show took home the jury prize for Breaking Conventions — Most Innovative at the 2026 NYC Podcast Awards.

In this conversation, Blake and Cory dig into:

• How a pandemic-era dream led Blake back to a lifelong practice of ruin-exploring and, eventually, into podcasting
• Why he cites Dolly Parton's America (and Radiolab's Jad Abumrad) as a defining influence on his approach to pacing and sound
• His process, start to finish: field recording on-site, handwritten drafts, scripting, voiceover, and full sound design
• Bringing in guest hosts and outside voices for the first time this season, after years of doing everything solo
• Balancing the show with a full-time nonprofit job and a part-time radio gig

Listen to abandoned: The All-American Ruins Podcast.

Submissions for the 2027 New York City Podcast Awards are now open. Find out more at podcastawards.nyc.

Additional links and resources from the conversation:

• 'Neon Moss' from Dolly Parton's America
• Blake's favorite Epidemic Sounds artists: By Lotus, Hanna Lindgren, and Lama House

Craft, Content & Creators is a production of the New York City Podcast Awards. This episode was produced by Emily Reeves and mixed by Christian Cucinello, with support from Ivan Bronson, Lauren Molina, and Zach Treanor. Theme music by Santiago Aramburu.