Just as he has been the first former president in Spain to create a Foundation with his name as happens in most countries of the European and Anglo-Saxon environment, and whose fundamental mission is to make his personal archive available to all citizens, Felipe González has also been a pioneer in launching a podcast, "Sintonías infrecuentes," which is exclusively available on our platform, becoming the first former president of Spain and Latin America to use this innovative communication format where dialogue and honesty are the protagonists. 

After a sensational debut of the first season where we were able to enjoy conversations with prominent figures of Spanish politics and culture such as Manuela Carmena, Alberto Núñez Feijoo, and Julia Navarro, among others, the podcast ‘Sintonías Infrecuentes’ kicks off its second season on September 30 and is conceived as a space for reflection on current political, social, and economic issues through serene and calm conversations where dialogue is the protagonist. 

The first episode of the second season is a conversation between Felipe González and Juan Manuel Santos, former president of Colombia, which will revolve around the fifth anniversary of the Peace Agreement between his government and the FARC-EP. 

“Latin America is, for us, a very important brotherly place that is too absent in our conversation. Therefore, we wanted it to have its space in this podcast, where an analysis of the current situation of various Latin American countries will be done,” says Rocío Martínez-Sampere, director of the Felipe González Foundation. 

Today, September 23, at the 80th edition of the Madrid Book Fair -with Colombia as the guest country-, Felipe González will chat with writer and journalist Héctor Abad Faciolince in the framework of the meeting program organized by Publishers Weekly, the leading magazine in the publishing sector, to discuss culture, books, and podcasts. This talk will take place at 18:30 in the Publishers Weekly Pavilion, central area F isleta 7.

The use of this format, increasingly consumed by more people in our country, aims to become a link of communication with citizens. The goal of this podcast is to learn from the past by establishing a dialogue with various experts that allows us to try to better understand the society of the 21st century that we have to live in and face the challenges of the future.

Listen for free to all episodes of the first season

Throughout the various episodes, the former Secretary General of the PSOE and President of the Government of Spain for nearly 14 years will address different topics such as leadership, consensus management, or the crisis of representative democracy, and will be accompanied by various political personalities to debate all of these from plural and transversal points of view. 

“This podcast consists of conversations with people from different fields who will exchange reflections on various topics from diverse, transversal, generational, and ideological points of view; a shared public space where the great issues that concern us all will be discussed,” points out Martínez-Sampere.

The podcast is one of the formats that is growing the most in Latin America: “Unlike Spain, where we mainly listen to entertainment podcasts, podcasts in Latin America are being heavily utilized by a younger audience aged between 25 and 45 years who primarily listen to non-fiction content such as podcasts related to current political, social, and economic issues, as well as history podcasts or podcasts about personal development. In other words, podcast listeners in Latin America want to access knowledge, while in Spain, they mainly seek entertainment,” says Javier Celaya, director of Podimo for the Spanish and Latin American market. 

The podcast attracts the public sector

Several former government presidents, as well as relevant leaders in the United States, have published their podcasts in recent years. This includes Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, among others, and relevant political figures like Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton, who have also spoken about their legacy and lives by choosing this format as their loudspeaker to show it to the world. 

“A trend has arrived in Spain that we had already detected in Anglo-Saxon markets, where personalities like Barack and Michelle Obama or Bill Clinton and Hillary Clinton have bet on podcasts as a way to contextualize their entire legacy. In Spain, we now see it with the arrival of the first podcast from a former president, Felipe González, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see other former presidents, as well as active politicians, using this tool since it allows them to reach a younger audience directly,” declares Celaya.