Just like he has been the first former president in Spain to create a Foundation with his name, as happens in most countries in 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, "Rare Harmonies," 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 have enjoyed conversations with prominent figures from Spanish politics and culture such as Manuela Carmena, Alberto Núñez Feijoo, and Julia Navarro, among others, the podcast ‘Rare Harmonies’ kicks off its second season on September 30 and is conceived as a space for reflection on current political, social, and economic issues through calm and serene 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, an extremely important brother place that is too absent in our conversation. Therefore, we wanted it to also have its space in this podcast, where there will be an analysis of the current situation in various Latin American countries,” states 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 within the framework of the meeting program organized by Publishers Weekly, the main magazine in the publishing sector, to discuss culture, books, and podcasts. This talk will take place at 18:30 in the Publishers Weekly Pavilion, area F central islet 7.

The use of this format, consumed by more and more people in our country, aims to become a communication link with the public. The objective of this podcast is to learn from the past by establishing a dialogue with different experts that allows us to try to understand better 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 different episodes, the former secretary general of the PSOE and president of the government of Spain for almost 14 years will address different topics such as leadership, management of consensus, or the crisis of representative democracy, and will be accompanied by different political personalities to debate on all of this, from plural and transversal viewpoints. 

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

The podcast is one of the formats that is growing the most in Latin America: “Unlike Spain, where we primarily listen to entertainment podcasts, podcasts in Latin America are being widely used by a younger audience between 25 and 45 years old, who mainly listen to non-fiction content such as podcasts related to political, social, and economic current events, 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 want entertainment,” states 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 already published their podcasts in recent years. This is the case of Barack Obama or Bill Clinton, among others, and relevant political figures like Michelle Obama or Hillary Clinton who have also talked about their legacy and life choosing this format as their loudspeaker to show it to the world. 

“A trend has reached 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 see it now with the arrival of the first podcast from a former president, Felipe González, but it wouldn't surprise me if we see other former presidents, as well as active politicians, use this tool as it allows them to reach directly to a public, especially younger,” declares Celaya.