I’ve been told that men of my age are supposed to have a podcast, preferably an obscure one which nobody listens to.

Who am I to go against the prevailing social norms?

Listening to podcasts

I’ve been listening to history podcasts for ages.

Like so many others, I started with Mike Duncan’s History of Rome podcast, but I have also listened to his Revolutions, and to the British History Podcast, the French History podcast, the History of Byzantium, and many others about the history of Italy, of Christianity, of ideas, of philosophy, and so on.

I like history podcasts.

Many of these podcasts are Herculean efforts. Some are detailed chronological narratives, where the podcasters after hundreds of weekly episodes have only covered a fraction of the time span needed to finish.

Some will likely never get to the finishing line, simply because a normal human lifespan is not enough to cover periods that long in such details. They will need to teach their kids how to finish the podcast.

Researching historical material in that kind of detail takes a lot of time. Producing a weekly episode of half an hour will be a full-time job.

That could never work for me.

I must earn a living from what I do. I own no property, and I have no generational wealth, so it is impossible for me to do such a podcast. It would simply not be possible to dedicate the necessary time, and still put food on the table.

Storytelling

On the other hand, the history tours I do in Venice are also spoken historical storytelling, which is not that distant from the podcasting format.

My tours are not chronological because the guiding principle is what we see on the streets of Venice. We jump between periods, and talk about many different aspects of Venetian history and culture.

The Venetian Stories newsletter was an attempt at converting part of what I do on the walking tours in Venice to a written format. The newsletter is episodic, where each newsletter is a self-contained story, just as my tours are collections of small stories.

However, I have noticed that when I sign up for newsletters, I end up reading fewer of them, and less of them, compared to the podcasts I follow.

Part of the reason, is that I can listen to podcasts when I walk the dogs, and in the dark if I cannot fall asleep. I know many people who have a daily commute, listen to podcasts then, in the car, on the bus or on the train.

Venetian Stories, podcast shaped

I have therefore decided to make a podcast based on the Venetian Stories concept of individual stories, rather than a chronological narrative.

Nevertheless, the first few episodes will be a fast-paced chronological narrative of the two thousand years of Venetian history.

The chronological part is made up of one episode with a very cursory overview of the two millennia from the Romans until today, and then another seven episodes, most of which cover roughly two centuries.

The name of the podcast is the same as the newsletter, and I hope that there can be some kind of synergy between the two projects. Many of the arguments discussed will likely be the same, only treated differently, for different media.

I’m aiming for episodes of 25–30 minutes, on a fortnightly schedule initially.

There’s a website — venetianstories.com — where the first few episodes are already online.

There’s also a blog post discussing the reasons behind the form and structure of the podcast in more detail.

At least for now, there are no paid options and no advertising, except for the occasional pitches of my walking tours.

Since there are also, at least for now, no listeners, that won’t make any practical difference 🙂

Subscribing

The simplest way to subscribe is directly from the website, though the direct podcast feed.

The podcast is also on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

It is also possible to follow the podcast on the Fediverse / Mastodon, where the podcast is federated. The audio player is there directly in the social media feed. The full Fediverse handle is “@venetianstories”.

Feedback

Recording and editing audio is a new experience for me, and so is hearing my own voice recorded.

Given I’m a total newbie to podcast production, I will be delighted with any kind of feedback, especially if it’s constructive, so I can learn and get better.

Comments are open on this post, and on most posts and all episodes on venetianstories.com.

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