Headphones – Podcasts to listen to during the holidays

Trains, cars, airplanes, buses: from the point of view of the kilometers traveled, the Christmas period is in effect a mass marathon, a motorcycle to place to reunite with someone we care about or to whom we remain in some way connected. , net of intolerance, quarrels, grudges, and those faults that the years open between people who once shared the same bed and the same glass.

This episode of Headphones, which returns after a period of inaction (obviously justified), recommends 12 audio products that will keep you company. Not only that: they will open worlds to you, they will stimulate ideas and reflections. Because – and there is no TV series that holds – few things fascinate more than a voice that knows how to tell a story

But first, read on this interview with Mario Calabresi, CEO and editor-in-chief of Chora Media, the publishing company that deals with audio that, in 2021, topped all the charts (with products such as Proprio a me, La città dei vivi, Romanzo Quirinale), stood out above the others and which currently has a stronger identity. We talked with him about the past, present and future.

Calabresi, a balance sheet of 2021.
“Exactly one year ago we went out with the first podcast, Oxygen by Paolo Giordano. I admit it: I never imagined that in a year the world of podcasts would grow so much. Podcasts were rarely talked about then, now all the time. As for Chora, the greatest satisfaction is to have been able to experiment a lot, even with very different things. In terms of numbers, the biggest hit was Just me by Selvaggia Lucarelli, which has also become a book (Crepacuore, just out for Rizzoli, ed) and which will also become a film produced by Fandango. The great thing was seeing how a well-made podcast can have other forms. Conversely, the other really interesting experiment was getting an already successful book, The city of the living by Nicola Lagioia, and transform it into an audio product completely different from an audiobook. Reconstructing a book through the voices that made it up and making an audio series of it was our most innovative experiment ».

Why did you choose Lagioia’s book?
“Not all books can become podcasts, you need a text that already has an excavation work and a plurality of voices inside”.

After the podcast, it also became a theatrical show …
“This too is something that a year ago we could not have imagined. That story could have the potential to become a live came to mind this summer, at the Camogli Communication Festival, when interviewing Nicola on his podcast we realized that he also had a whole series of other stories to tell around his book. . Only by building a good narrative and investing in it can this narrative have many other lives. Additionally, since podcast listeners seek strong intimacy, those who do so must be willing to get involved personally. As, for example, Pablo Trincia does God’s finger, on the tragedy of the Costa Concordia, and as do Lucarelli, Gamberale, Lagioia and even myself in my podcasts ».

You put a lot of emphasis on sound quality.
“We have invested a lot in it since minute one. Listening to the American products, I realized that the biggest difference with the Italian ones was precisely in the superior quality of their sound design ».

Let’s go back to basics: how did your passion for podcasts start?
«The first meeting was in 2017 when Pablo Trincia came to my room in Republic, of which I was the director at the time, proposing to make a podcast, Poison. At the time, I’m honest, I had no idea of ​​the potential of such a product. Poison made me realize how a podcast can grab attention. As for the effectiveness of the story, the audio product I fell in love with was The Daily of New York Times, that extraordinary way of being able to give another life to the same news that we also gave ».

Why are the audios working so well?
«Today the battle for attention is all for people’s eyes: on smartphones, Netflix, news, we constantly watch things. But in our days there is a lot of time during which we cannot “look”, but listen yes. Podcasts are becoming increasingly popular because they are listened to in “other” moments ».

What more skills does being a journalist give you to do this job?
“For example, being able to understand the potential of a good story quickly enough. Then, the attention to detail: I always break the boxes so that a story has all the feedback and can stand up. After all, The city of the living it was first and foremost a cover of the Friday: we understood that history was walking there with the director Attilio Giordano and Nicola before the book was born ».

2022: what is the direction?
“Continue with the series, but also include weekly. Not only closed series, therefore, but less structured products that have to do with current events, even if not strictly news because that is not our job, and that could also last throughout the year. We have seen that the things that work the most are the recurring ones, those products that people end up becoming attached to ».