In the same way that he has been the first Spanish former president to create a foundation with his name –whose fundamental mission is to make his personal documentary archive available to citizens–, Felipe González premieres his own podcast that will be available exclusively on Podimo. Thus, he becomes the first former president outside the Anglo-Saxon market to have a space in this format.

Starting Thursday, April 15, listeners will be able to hear on Podimo the introduction to the podcast ‘Sintonías Infrecuentes’ where Felipe González and Rocío Martínez-Sampere will discuss the approach and contents of the first season of the podcast, which will consist of 5 episodes of about 45-50 minutes each.

In this first episode, the former president explains that he opts for this format -which implies the closeness and empathy inherent in voice as a communication instrument- because it allows him to “overcome the barrier of mediation: a communication in which what I say is what I think, and I do it with responsibility and freedom. (…) What interests me is not what has already been done, but what needs to be done.”

After this first season, which will end in July, the Felipe González Foundation is already preparing a second season, which will have another 5 episodes and will premiere in October, where the former president will speak directly with politicians, former presidents, and experts from Latin America to analyze both the current situation in this region and its future challenges. 

“Latin America is, for us, a very important brotherly place that is too absent from our conversation. For this reason, we wanted it to also have its space in this podcast, where there will be an analysis of the current affairs of various Latin American countries,” says Martínez-Sampere. 

‘Sintonías infrecuentes’ is conceived as a space for reflection on current political, economic, and social issues. The use of this format, consumed by more and more people in our country, aims to become a link of direct communication with the citizenry. 

The goal of this podcast is to establish a dialogue with personalities and experts from different fields who exchange reflections on various topics from diverse viewpoints, in a cross-cutting, generational, and ideological manner. Ultimately, to learn from the past with the intention of understanding and better facing the challenges of the future. 

The podcasting in Spanish

Spanish is one of the languages that grows the most every year in the world of podcasting. In Latin America and Spain, we have an extremely high level of commitment from podcast listeners who are dedicating an average of 15 hours per month to listening to content in this format, according to the study “Retrato Robot del Oyente de Podcasts en Español”, which we have recently published on Podimo.  

Likewise, podcasts are undoubtedly one of the formats that interests youth the most: “At Podimo, we have detected that podcasts are reaching an audience between 25 and 45 years old very effectively. This audience –which primarily uses their cell phones– wants to hear stories. In this case, current issues are told in a much more entertaining way, thanks to the closeness and intimacy generated by conversations in podcast format. The podcast listener does not want to hear a monologue or listen to a senseless five-voice debate. They want to be immersed in a story,” says Javier Celaya, director of Podimo for the Spanish and Latin American market.

The podcast attracts the political sector

Several former presidents and relevant leaders in the United States have published their podcasts in recent years. This includes Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, and relevant figures in politics such as Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton who have also talked about their legacy and life by choosing this format to share it.

“A trend has emerged, where former presidents are betting on podcasts as a way to contextualize all their legacy. In Spain, we now see this with the arrival of Felipe González's podcast, but I would not be surprised to see other former presidents, as well as active politicians, using this tool since it allows them to reach a predominantly younger audience directly,” declares Celaya.

‘The voice of Felipe González’: a podcast by a former president, a new experience in Spain 

González, who was General Secretary of the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party (PSOE) and President of the Government of Spain for nearly 14 years (1982-1996), will address topics such as leadership, consensus management, or the crisis of representative democracy, accompanied by different political personalities to debate all of this from plural viewpoints:

“This podcast consists of conversations with people from different fields who will exchange reflections on different topics from diverse viewpoints, in a cross-cutting, generational, and ideological manner; a shared public space where the big issues that concern us all will be discussed,” points out Rocío Martínez-Sampere, director of the Felipe González Foundation.

Podimo is a podcast and audiobook platform that offers personal recommendations to users while supporting creators through a new income-sharing model centered on the user. It is currently operational in Denmark, Germany, Spain, and 20 countries in Latin America.

Users and subscribers have access to more than 50,000 open podcasts in Spanish, as well as completely new and unique programs that cannot be found anywhere else. Paying users of Podimo will be able to access over 100 original programs in Spanish, which represents a catalog of 1,000 exclusive podcast episodes that cannot be heard anywhere else, as well as another 1,000 audiobooks in Spanish. Podimo has more than 80 employees spread across Copenhagen, Berlin, Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Mexico City, London, Amsterdam, and Vilnius.