Bonding over podcasts

I was in the office the other day and picked up a telephone call. The first part of this conversation was in Italian.

“Good morning, I would like to talk to Mr. XXX for an interview, please.”

“I am sorry, Mr. XXX is not in the office right now, can I ask what it is about and have him call you back?”

“Of course”, the gentleman replies, and he tells me everything I need to know. I notice his American accent and switch to English saying “We can speak English if you prefer.” He has been in living in Italy for a very long time, he tells me, but we stick with English. We chat a little and exchange contact information for Mr. XXX. Then he asks where I am from.

“I’m from Milan, but I lived in NY for a couple of years.”

“Oh, and when was that?”

“Fifteen years ago, I went to high-school there.”

“Wow, fifteen years ago! Your English is still very good,” he says.

“That’s probably because I listen to a lot on American radio.”

“Really? How do you listen to American radio in Milan?”

“Well, not exactly radio,” I reply, and then I say the magic word: “Podcasts.”

“Podcasts! I listen to poadcasts too,” he says. “What do you listen to?”

“Oh well, you know, This American Life, Freakonomics, Ted Radio Hours, Serial of course, and I love the new shows by Gilmet media.”

“That’s the guy from…”

“Alex Blumberg, yes. I love him, he is great.”

“Yes, StartUp is really good. Do you like the second series?”

“Yes. Not AS much as the first one probably, but I like it. The firs season was just over the top!”

“Yes, same with me. And did you listen to the new show?”

“The Mystery Show? Yes, I listened to the first episode. I didn’t really like it. But I’ll listen to the next ones and see where it goes.”

“I still have to listen to it, I’ll let you know. What else do you like?”

“Snap Judgment, do you know it?”

“No.”

“It’s really good, I think you’d like it. Really well produced stories. And Death Sex and Money. It’s one of my favorites.”

“Yes, I have listened to a couple of episodes. Same with Invisibilia.”

“Yes! I loved that one too!” I want to go on and talk about The Longest Shortest Time, The Moth, Radio Diaries…oh! I haven’t even mentioned RadioLab! But I remember this phone call wasn’t even for me, so I resume a more formal tone and add: “Anyway, about that interview, I will have Mr. XXX call you back. Sorry I got carried away but I don’t meet many podcast fans here in Italy. It was fun talking to you.”

He says it was fun for him to, and we say goodbye exchanging twitter accounts.

He tweeted me a couple of days later saying he hadn’t like the first episode on The Mystery Show either, but that the second one was very good. I listened to it and we was right.

I am so happy to have a new podcast-friend!