Here are five productions to enjoy, refresh and even learn something this summer.
Radio and driving are one of the best mixes to liven up road trips on wheels. With the advent of podcasts, we can enjoy the content of great radio programmes without having to listen to them live. It’s what many call “radio on demand”.
In this special pre-holiday edition of our newsletter we want to propose 5 podcasts of different styles and themes to make those summer trips more interesting. It is not a ranking and we have tried to select them for all tastes, from football classics that cannot be separated from sports programmes to history, passing through cinema and 80s rock. Here is our selection:
Philip’s daughters
If you like history, but you’re bored to tears by the academicism and serious forms usually associated with this subject, we suggest this podcast. It analyses the female figures of the Spanish Baroque from a light-hearted and amusing perspective without losing an ounce of rigorousness. This project was started during the pandemic by Ana Garriga (Salamanca, 1989) and Carmen Urbita (Madrid, 1989) from Brown University in the USA, where they are both finishing their doctorates.
Knowing and matching
For those who miss the times when football is talked about on the radio, we propose this podcast that comes from the book of the same name edited by the classics of men’s football in social networks such as La libreta de Van Gaal and Antonio Pacheco.
With chapters with titles such as Fichajes decepcionantes, Futbolistas que no parecen futbolistas or Laterales peores que Secretário (Disappointing signings, Footballers who don’t look like footballers or Sides worse than Secretário), it delivers what it promises: entertainment, humour and fun.
Blum
A thriller written by the brilliant Carmen Pacheco and Manuel Bartual. Journalist Emma Castillo travels through different Swiss cities following the footsteps of Clara, an Art History student who disappeared while researching the Swiss artist Ursula Blum. The nine chapters of this story will leave you longing for this beautiful story to go on.
Todopoderosos
A classic Spanish-language podcast, launched in 2014. Directed by Arturo González-Campos, creator of La Parroquia together with El Monaguillo and promoter of Club de la Comedia; and accompanied by Juan Gómez-Jurado, best-selling writer with the ‘Red Queen’ trilogy; Rodrigo Cortés, film director of films such as the chilling ‘Buried’ and writer, and Javier Cansado, a myth of humour, half of Faemino y Cansado; they form a luxury quartet.
This cultural podcast reviews the work of film directors, comic artists and writers, connecting the lives and influences of each one, as well as delving into the typical brushstrokes we all know about each film legend.
Wind of Change
Wind of Change’ is a podcast that asks the question: “Was it the CIA that composed the most famous ballad of the heavy metal band ‘Scorpions’ in their strategy to undermine the USSR from Western culture?
Investigative journalist Patrick Radden Keefe follows a number of threads that come close to this theory, and while it now seems that the fall of the USSR was a consequence, after the Berlin Wall came down in Germany the CIA was not so sure.
This English-language podcast is light-hearted and rather crazy content. However, in a second twist, it reflects on armoured diplomacy, the power of culture to change things, the power of rumours and fake news.
If podcasts are not your thing and what you are looking for is a soundtrack, you can find the songs of the summer according to Spotify at this link.
We hope that our selection will at least give you some new content to put in your ears and entertain you on your minibus journeys. Enjoy.