THE APOLOGY LINE
The New York City Crime Report with Pat Dixon
Pat Dixon
4.2 • 831 Ratings
🗓️ 19 January 2021
⏱️ 8 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you could call a number and say you’re sorry, and no one would know…what would you apologize for? For fifteen years, you could call a number in Manhattan and do just that. This is the story of the line, and the man at the other end who became consumed by his own creation. He was known as “Mr. Apology.” As thousands of callers flooded the line, confessing to everything from shoplifting to infidelity, drug dealing to murder, Mr. Apology realized he couldn’t just listen. He had to do something, even if it meant risking everything. From Wondery the makers of Dr. Death and The Shrink Next Door, comes a story about empathy, deception and obsession. Marissa Bridge, who knew Mr. Apology better than anyone, hosts this six episode series.
Listen today at wondery.fm/NYCCrimeReport
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to the New York City Crime Report with Pat Dixon. |
| 0:02.6 | I'm your host. |
| 0:04.1 | Pat Dixon. |
| 0:05.3 | There was a fame mystery writer. |
| 0:06.8 | I don't want to mention her name because it's embarrassing, but it's a good quote. |
| 0:10.4 | It's ridiculous to set a detective story in New York City. |
| 0:13.7 | She said. |
| 0:14.4 | New York City is itself a detective story. |
| 0:17.4 | All right. |
| 0:17.9 | You know, it's really more of a defective story. |
| 0:20.2 | We know that. I mean, I know weird things happen in every city. Bizarre situations and incredible coincidences, you know, just strange chance encounters and everything happens everywhere, really. But if unusual has a capital, I still think it might be New York City, at least in the Western Hemisphere. |
| 0:38.5 | And if you listen regularly to this show, you've heard quite a bit of evidence to support that. |
| 0:43.9 | But I recently came across an interesting story that illustrates a few aspects of the city I have |
| 0:50.5 | yet to touch on, and I'm not going to talk much about it because there's a new podcast |
| 0:54.8 | coming out that pretty much will handle that. |
| 0:57.2 | And given the nature of what it's about, I thought it tied in pretty well, I figured I'd |
| 1:00.9 | let you know about it. |
| 1:02.1 | Chances are you'd be into it. |
| 1:03.6 | Wondry's new True Crime Podcast, The Apology Line. |
| 1:07.4 | It begins with Allen Bridge posting flyers around New York City here, asking people to |
| 1:13.5 | anonymously apologize for their crimes. And not to God or the police, but to his answering machine. |
| 1:21.8 | So within hours, the calls start coming in, people apologizing for stealing, infidelity, lying, even murder. Alan got dozens of calls |
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