When the Philadelphia Police Department dropped a bomb on the West Philadelphia headquarters of MOVE, a Black liberation and environmentalist organization, in 1985, 11 people were killed and 61 homes were destroyed. In recognition of the bombing’s 40th anniversary, Temple University Klein College of Media and Communication’s Logan Center for Investigative Reporting and The Philadelphia Inquirer partnered to produce a podcast about the historic incident, MOVE: Untangling the Tragedy.
Now, the podcast series has been named a winner of the fourth annual Signal Awards, an annual recognition that honors the organizations, artists, mavericks and brands who are shaping the podcast industry and the storytelling medium.
The podcast won two Signal Awards, including Gold for Best Writing and Silver for Best History Podcast. This work was selected as a winner by the Signal Awards Judging Academy after reviewing thousands of hours of audio submitted by podcast creators from around the world.
“The MOVE podcast produced by Klein College faculty and students, working with The Philadelphia Inquirer, was truly a remarkable piece of journalism,” said David Boardman, interim provost and dean and professor at Klein. “This award is a wonderful recognition of that.”
The six-part series was written by Yvonne Latty, director of the Logan Center, and hosted by Linn Washington Jr., professor of journalism at Klein who spent 50 years covering MOVE as a reporter at the Philadelphia Tribune and the Philadelphia Daily News.
“One of the reasons we did this is that so much of the conversation on MOVE has been related to the 1985 bombing and rightfully so, given the enormity of the destruction, the devastation and the deaths, but that incident didn’t pop up like a mushroom after the rain,” he explained. “There was a backstory and too often that backstory just gets overlooked and or mangled.
“So that’s why we called it Untangling the Tragedy, so folks can see what happened leading up to that and what had happened subsequently.”
During the podcast, Washington highlights MOVE’s beginnings, the 1978 conflict between MOVE and police, rising tensions between MOVE and their neighbors, the standoff that occurred when police attempted to evict MOVE, the bombing and the aftermath.
The podcast features firsthand accounts from community members who witnessed the bombing, MOVE leaders, journalists and news anchors who covered MOVE, former Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode and others.
“The podcast was a profound experience for me, working with Linn Washington and telling the full story of MOVE and the bombing,” Latty said. “I am really honored that it has been recognized.”
The Logan Center’s team worked with a multidisciplinary group of Temple students on the project, including Layla Jenkins, a 2025 Tyler School of Art and Architecture graduate with a bachelor of fine arts who created the podcast’s artwork, and Royce Hearn, a 2025 Klein College of Media and Communication graduate with a bachelor’s degree in audio and live entertainment who produced the podcast’s score. Natalie Reitz, a 2025 graduate of the Klein College of Media and Communication, served as the podcast’s associate producer, lead researcher and tape assembler. The team also collaborated with Daniel Rubin, The Inquirer’s senior editor for investigations, and obtained archival material from the Charles Library.
Latty addressed the importance of ensuring that MOVE’s story is being preserved at a time when efforts are underway to undermine Black history. “You understand so much about this city, where the city was and where the city is now by listening to the podcast,” she said. “I think it’s an important job as a journalist to make sure that this history is preserved in our stories.”
Latty is motivated to do journalism that speaks to stories of Black people and others from underserved communities. “I think that work is more important now than ever. I’m proud to be the director of the Logan Center and be leading such an important effort in our city,” she said.
- Ayana Jones