Since July 2022, the magazine 'Galvanotechnik' (GT) has been offering a podcast, ingeniously recorded by Robert Piterek (editor-in-chief) and Sven Gramatke (electroplating expert). They succeed in arousing interest in electroplating technology in an entertaining way. Along the way, listeners are surprised with linguistic criticism, learn about Düsseldorf-based Piterek's passion for the Upper Swabian winter and Gramatke's drink preferences. We interviewed the two podcast influencers from Leuze Verlag.
What is the actual intention of your podcast?
Piterek: 'Galvanotalk' gives us an acoustic face and is a lively summary of the contents of our magazine. We can use it to take up articles thematically in a different way than is possible in the magazine format.
Gramatke: I've experienced it myself - as a reader, I don't have the time for long, in-depth articles in many magazines. With a podcast, you stumble across articles that you wouldn't have noticed otherwise. Anyone who spends many hours on the road in the field, for example, simply can't manage to read a magazine and drive a car at the same time. We therefore prevent accidents of a traffic-related nature. And we offer further information via reports, impressions from trade fairs, conversations, smells, anecdotes - everything that is not in the articles.
Is it important to accompany them with hip online media in times of declining print products?
Piterek: I think so. Podcasts are springing up like mushrooms. Now we have one too. Potential subscribers can use it to find out whether GT is something for them, and ultimately we are an innovation magazine - we look at coating and surface technology from the propeller's point of view. Galvanotalk shows the breadth of our topics. And yes: we have a media crisis. The podcast is a building block for attracting attention. We are more likely to be talked about if we talk ourselves and are not just a silent print medium.
Gramatke: The written word works differently in the mind than the spoken word. We cultivate a certain style in the magazine. But you shouldn't think that we are completely uptight writing robots. In the podcast, we can let off steam - the focus is not on the facts, but on the people. Because even a specialist magazine has an entertainment mission.
The most successful German podcasts in 2022 included 'Gemischtes Hack' (Felix Lobrecht / Tommi Schmitt), 'Lanz & Precht', 'Fest & Flauschig' (Jan Böhmermann / Oli Schulz), 'Feelings' (Kurt Krömer), 'Life is felicious' (Daniela Merkel) and 'Lena liebt's' (the sex podcast from the BILD newspaper). How can Galvanotalk reach this Olympus?
Gramatke: We are now at an age where we have given up all plans for world domination. Of course, topics such as 'sex and minced meat' are popular with the masses. Electroplating is more like a beer mat in the Olympic stadium of the podcast scene. So the audience is limited ... in comparison.
Piterek: I can only underline that. I myself listen to one of the podcasts mentioned - but we also have a casual chat about the many innovations we come across. We take them further in conversation. Who knows what else will come out of Galvanontalk for us?
