OK, I’ll do a podcast

Why not?

Note to self: practice the seafood flambé before trying to do one on a podcast

Ever since I heard the word “podcast” I’ve been fleeing from that irritating word. Who’s in the pod? Why cast it? And who are these people living in this ever growing nation which I’ve decided to call Podcastistan.

What was weird, though, is how much space podcasts were taking up among the lives of my friends. Not all friends, mind you. But certain friends. I love them all but I do have to say that my podcast friends were just kind of, I dunno, podcasty. They lived in Podcastistan and they all spoke versions of Podcastistani. An interlocking web of gobbledy gook that I just didn’t get.

I also have to admit that I just really couldn’t even figure out how to listen to a podcast. I know many of them have their own apps. I know there are many apps that can corral all the podcasts for you onto one app and you can toggle from podcast to podcast all the livelong day.

I just didn’t want to do it. The only time I can ever imagine wanting to listen un-live people talking is when I’m driving. And actually, come to think of it, I hate driving. Whoops, sorry, I forgot, one other time I like to listen to people talking at me: when I’m cleaning the bathroom.

And yet, Podcastistan kept reaching out to me. This year I published two books: Goodbye Phone, Hello World and The Climate Diet. In normal times I would have gone on NPR talked with Terry, maybe hit the road and tried to make what I’d written somehow seem relevant to folks in Oshkosh or Port Angeles. Of course none of that happened. Where was I going to go to talk about my books? The answer ended up being podcasts. And, you know what, the podcast q & a’s were actually pretty darn good. Instead of trying to be a generalist on Big Radio, I became a specifist and was able to do much deeper dives with hosts than ever had before. Was I beginning to speak Podcastistani.

Then out of nowhere, earlier this spring, a small community supported fishery that’d had a good year selling fish (everyone wants mail order food these days) came to me. Would I, Paul Greenberg, like to make a podcast? For what, I wondered? For cleaning the bathroom?

Nope. For money, actually. And for the hell of it. And for once, to go on at length down weird alleys that editors in the past had clipped from the final version.

Now 4 weeks into production of the podcast “Fish Talk” I can say with a little bit of assurance that I kind of like living in Podcastistan. I like the banter. I like the open-endedness of it all. I even liked lighting my kitchen on fire as I cooked through a seafood flambé with a chef I know and like and haven’t had opportunity to see in over five years.

So, ok, I am not ready to be a citizen of Podcastistan. But I might just apply to be a resident alien.

Fish Talk will premier in August of 2021. Stay “tuned” for “links” “apps” and other podcast bullshit information so you can “listen in”