The Fronczak Files

This is an incredible saga but the podcast is a cautionary tale of the dangers of telling your own story. Not all the information is as fascinating to the listener as it is to the person whose story is being told. The podcast has some great content but would benefit hugely from being edited and in places condensed. There were times when I got so frustrated by rambling side stories. We don’t need to know that the genealogist was once a model. I found myself skipping sections to get to the point of the narrative. An editor would streamline the narrative and move along some of the irrelevant back and forth between the hosts.

Thank you Jack for sharing your story and your amazing positive attitude. Cece posted about this podcast and I immediately binged the episodes out there. I am a genealogist (not professional) and as my job ends after 16 years and I contemplate a possible career change this reinforces & reignites my genealogy obsession.

The story is crazy and very interesting. However, every episode is a lot of retelling of the same information we’ve heard in previous episodes. I feel like by the end of every episode, I’ve learned very little new information.

Truly amazing story but the third season of the podcast is a lot of speculation and theory. It’s unnecessary to put more drama on a story that doesn’t need it especially when not factual. Also feels judgmental. Paul talks about the story as if it’s not his. I’m unsure of his relationship with his adoptive family but at times seems disrespectful to them.

I respect that the host is telling his own story, and I was interested. I just couldn’t make it through. Awkward dialogue and rambling interviews. Imagine listening to phone conversations between someone’s grandpa and people in his small town where they just chit chat and catch up for hours. Also, the cohost seemed unsure why she was even on the podcast. I don’t believe there was much discussion or alignment on what her role was. Some structure and editing could have made this a much shorter and better podcast.

The storyline alone is fantastic and the early seasons tell a good story- if I would have stopped listening after season 1, I would have given a 5star review. Now the but…Season 3 and 4 show cracks in how the hosts judge the individuals that they are discussing. Lorraine, the woman who raised Kevin is judged pretty harshly for wearing “skimpy clothes”, having multiple boyfriends, being a sex worker!!!!, being married 4 times!! Wow. By not adding the perspective of the influence that the time period, lack of education, lack of financial stability, family of origin background- all factors that erode a females ability to have autonomy and her own self created financial security- led to our host to trash this woman and her integrity. Maybe she wasn’t a good person- but would any of us survived if we were in her shoes? Meanwhile the adjectives used to describe Jacks father or the FBI person, Marlin Johnson are totally different. And I’d bet my right arm Mr. Johnson frequented sex workers himself and probably had a few gf’s along the way. The hypocritical biases of the podcast hosts has been such a downer, I’m no longer following the story. Do better guys. Until you walk in someone else’s shoes, you have no idea what’s going to trip you up. - signed, someone else who has been married for 4 times and YET raised lovely, responsible humans. 🩷