Podcasts are so simple. In a world of complex technology and rapid innovation, podcasts are incredibly basic. Podcasts simply involve listening to one person, two people, or a small group discuss topics they are passionate about. Podcasts are only limited by human interests and imagination. Podcasts can be as simple as a monologue about a person’s individual interest, or as big as many of those well-produced podcasts with corporate jingles, etc. They can be produced by massive media companies and by individuals in their homes. Podcasts are limitless.
#22b Ag Ullmhú don Bhliain Nua 2026 – Preparing for 2026 (GA-EN) – Gaeilge Thar Lear
Early Podcasts and Drifting Away
I used to listen to podcasts regularly when I had an iPod Classic back in the late 2000s, but after that iPod was corrupted (long story), I lost access to my podcasts. I recall having Mike Duncan’s classic “The History of Rome” podcast and The Guardian newspaper’s “Football Weekly” as my regulars. I certainly did not listen to them to the extent that I do now. My iPod was primarily for my enormous music collection… Podcasts in the late 2000s were not as huge as they are now. 2008/09 was before the “Golden Age of Podcasts”.
So, after my iPod became corrupted, I drifted away from the medium, and I was absent from it for around a decade. Perhaps I had connected podcasts to my iPod, and after my own iPod stopped working, I didn’t want to invest in Apple products again for a long time. Maybe I just didn’t know where to start with podcasts… They just weren’t something I thought a lot about. I remember enjoying podcasts on my iPod back then, but after that, they weren’t a significant part of my life.
Returning to Podcasts – COVID-19 Lockdown
I returned to podcasts in 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdowns. I don’t know why I didn’t check them out before then… I really don’t know, but I got back into “Football Weekly” – that really helped me through the pandemic… Perhaps I didn’t get into podcasts because the landscape is so vast. I didn’t really know where to begin, and I wasn’t sure how to navigate this area – I didn’t know what to look for, and it felt so vast and overwhelming. Essentially, that choice fatigue you can get when you want to watch something on Netflix, but you are not sure exactly what. Maybe I didn’t think I had the time, and when the Pandemic and lockdowns started, all we had was time. We had the time to find something new … I quickly found my way to the “Blindboy Podcast”, and, well, the “Blindboy Podcast” is amongst the very best of the art form… if it is an art form.
Blindboy essentially opens your mind to what a podcast can be and illustrates the differences between podcasting and traditional radio. “The Blindboy Podcast” takes you on a weekly journey that makes connections across ideas you may have never considered before. Blindboy has a unique perspective on the world, and the podcast allows you to hear him describe how his brain functions. If you are interested in history, art, music, politics, psychology, and just the world of ideas, Blindboy has plenty to offer you. If you have never listened to Blindboy, I highly recommend it.
Upon rediscovering podcasts, I also took up running. When I was younger, I thought I was a decent runner. I was fitter than most of my classmates, and I ran a 51-minute 10km when I was 17, but I had never really dedicated much time to running. I did a good bit of gym work and swimming in my local gym, but I couldn’t get myself to go running regularly. Podcasts were the answer. I connected running with podcasts (and with recording and writing down each run), and then I found what I had always been missing.
Podcasts really helped me to take up running – and that improved my life exponentially. Instead of running being a workout that required getting hyped for it with specific playlists – repetitive playlists and songs I had heard many times before – it became simply part of my routine. I run when I feel good, I run when I feel bad. I run when I am on holiday and I run before work. I run in the middle of summer and in the depths of winter. Podcasts helped me turn running into a habit by providing an endless supply of input while my body covered endless kilometres.
Podcasts, Language Learning, Irish, and Gaeilge Weekly
Podcasts are not only great entertainment, but they can be wonderfully educational. I cannot remember the first non-English podcast I listened to, but I eventually drifted into listening to ones in German… maybe they were football-related. Football is always a relatively easy topic to dive into… well, it was back then anyway. I moved on to history podcasts in German, as well as ones related to the news and other subjects. Upon realising that it was a good way to get quality German on issues I was interested in, I started looking around for Irish-language podcasts as well.
I discovered “Gaeilge Anois” by a young fella from Limerick, Seán Ó Maolciarán – and it was nice. It was nice to connect to Gaeilge in this manner… it felt quite modern. It felt great as I was in Germany, listening to Gaeilge while out on my run in the forests of Bonn. It is a great way to connect to home. From listening to his podcast, I realised there were several other Irish-language podcasts, such as “Beo ar Éigin”, “Nóisin”, and “Sílim That”. “Gaeilge Weekly” by Liam in Seville – a podcast by Learn Irish Online – is a podcast I pretty much listen to every week when it comes out. Some podcasts I like more than others, but overall, podcasts are a great way to connect with a language – a great way to build a community with Gaeilge.
“Gaeilge Weekly” is a special podcast in many ways, as it typically features the speaker, Liam, describing his life, work, and weekends living in Seville. He talks about his company, Learn Irish Online, playing GAA in Seville, going for runs, teaching Irish online, and the differences between life in Spain and Ireland. He regularly discusses his hobbies and the bands he enjoys. It is not very revolutionary, but it is a nice comfort listen to in Irish. After listening to many of his podcasts, I had that voice in the back of my head telling myself I could do something pretty similar… Obviously, not exactly modeled on his own, I create my own in my own style… but nothing is holding me back from trying it. He is a regular young fella in Seville doing it and enjoying it… Why not!
Other Inspirations: The Inline G Podcast, Cluiche as Baile, The Irish Embassy
It was not just listening to Gaeilge Weekly that led to it; there were some other steps on the road. In 2022, I was the chairperson of the GAA club here in Cologne – the Cologne Celtics – and we were chosen by two young filmmakers to star in a documentary they were making at the time called “Cluiche as Baile” (“The Away Game”) about the GAA scene on mainland Europe. We were chosen because the German Cup was one of the central set pieces of the documentary, and we were hosting the tournament that year.
The two filmmakers behind the piece, Jack and Cian Desmond, were seeking individuals to interview and engage with – essentially to serve as main characters in the piece. I felt comfortable representing the club as chairperson and having some Gaeilge, so I put my hand up in case no one else wanted it. I was one of three people who represented the Cologne Celtics in the documentary.
I met the lads in Bonn City centre, and we found a lovely location to film. They had some questions ready and asked if I was comfortable speaking as Gaeilge, and not to feel pressure, etc., etc. I felt absolutely comfortable with it – ar mo shaimhín só – and I realised that I had so many stories to share with them. I could have chatted for hours with them about everything we were up to as a club and as Irish people in Germany. Maybe that was the original seed for the podcast.
Another fantastic boost that pushed me in that direction was seeing a friend of mine, Gareth Houston, launch his own flute and classical music podcast called “The Inline G Podcast”. I have no genuine interest in classical music or the flute, but Gareth is a brilliant host – and I am not just saying that because I know him, he is a one-of-a-kind fella – and it is so easily listenable. I could never do a pod in Gareth’s style but seeing him do it and knowing he’s just a regular person doing it – that adds to the idea of just doing it. He even gave the advice to just do it (like the Nike ad) – decide the details later, but do it anyway. do it now!
The final push came around this time last year, as I attended the Irish Embassy in Berlin to represent the Cologne Celtics at the Annual Meeting of German-Irish Clubs and Societies. It was my third consecutive year at this meeting, representing the Cologne Celtics, and in comparison to the previous years, I felt a bit… I did not think I was the best person to represent us… Essentially, life with two very young children has meant essentially ending my Cologne Celtics life for the moment. I simply cannot attend training and other activities that I would like to. I do not have the necessary headspace for it or the time – at the moment – hopefully in the future that will change again! However, it was important to go and represent us there – it also helped us with some projects we were involved in.
Anyway, going there and hearing about what everyone else was doing and all their activities made me feel like a bit of a fraud. Of course, raising small children has many great aspects, and I will look back on it with pride and joy when I am older. However, you also miss out on a lot. Time is no longer yours in the way it was before kids. You cannot really get as heavily involved with groups as you would like… You cannot commit to regularly attending anything. It can be frustrating. So, I knew I needed something.
I met some incredible people during that weekend, doing so much good around the place. I realised that something I could do is to help them to tell their stories. After that weekend, I knew I was going to start my own podcast – that was going to be one of my central projects in 2025.
2025 and Goal Setting
Every year, I set out my goals and aims for the year. I have a notebook, and I physically write down many of my goals. Some of those goals are pretty easy to achieve – 10,000 steps a day, for example… spending less than €35 a day on non-essentials, etc… but there is a priority of goals, and near the top of my goals in 2025 was to start podcasting. So, during Black Friday in 2024, I bought a microphone – I’m not sure if it was really any cheaper to buy it then, but it led me to buy it anyway – and then I had it on my notebook, “start a podcast”. I looked at that notebook every day for weeks on end… and then I decided to write 10 scripts to see if I had enough material. I wrote those scripts pretty easily, but I never really used them in that way. In April, finally, I decided to do it.
Recording the Podcast
Recording that first episode was a strange experience. It is a bit weird to do it at first… If you listen back to many of your favourite podcasts, check out the first-ever episode… they can be awkward. It can often take a bit of time for a podcaster/YouTuber etc. to find out what works. I now open all my podcasts with the same phrase… “Dia daoibh mo chairde, agus fáilte romhaibh go dtí an eagrán seo de Gaeilge Thar Lear…” and it puts me into that podcasting mindset… Many of my favourite podcasts have an intro-style they use each time… Blindboy has a welcoming message that changes but is in the same format, The Rest is History involves Dominic or Tom reading out a passage from a book or somewhere else relating to the topic, The Cycling Podcast has Daniel Friebe read out some news pertaining to the world of cycling, Football Weekly outlines what they will discuss in this week’s episode, etc. I now realise that it just prepares you – as soon as that recording screen starts, it is game time!
I usually do my podcast in one take. I sit down and chat with the microphone… I chat with myself. Usually, I have a plan, but not always. I like to do it a bit free-flowing at times – with an idea of what I will talk about, but I join the dots as I chat to the microphone. I have used complete scripts, scripts with numerous bullet points, scripts with a few bullet points, and blank pages with no notes. I enjoy all manners of doing it. I do it in this style because I know that if I were to spend hours editing the audio, it would remove much of the enjoyment I get from it. Podcasting is a hobby for me, not a job.
I also refrain from editing it much because I want to show listeners that they can do something similar… it is not perfect, far from it. Many of my listeners likely have better stories than I do and speak better Irish. My podcast shows that if I can do it, they can most definitely do it too… and we should try to get more Gaeilge productions out into the world! I want to encourage people to get out and do it. What do they have to lose?
Topics of Conversation
My podcast primarily discusses my own experiences as an Irish man abroad in Germany… So far, I have discussed parenting abroad, playing GAA in Germany, and several stories relating to it, going to football matches in Germany, traveling around the country, doing an Erasmus here, teaching English, and much more. I occasionally release bonus episodes on random subjects – so far only cycling and running, but there will be more, I hope!
I have also had some friends on the podcast, and I hope to increase the number of people I get to chat to. Those pods are the most difficult to organise in terms of finding people and time, but they are the easiest ones to put out there – and the most enjoyable… I hope in 2026 to get a lot more people on the podcast… that is one of my big aims!
However, having the podcast and opening it up to people to chat has given me an excuse to get in touch with old friends and to meet people I would never have met without it. In 2026 I plan to make a “hitlist” of people I would like to chat with for the pod so that I can hear some good stories.
So, I am looking forward to what will happen in 2026 with “Gaeilge Thar Lear”.
Has it been a Good Decision?
It has not been a very cheap hobby, but I am absolutely enjoying it. I really enjoy that I can talk into a microphone in Bonn, Germany, and there are people in Vancouver and Auckland listening to it… People on all continents have tuned in. The number of downloads creeps up bit by bit every day. Some days, the number of downloads is not that impressive, but then you check back and see it as the all-time number, and honestly, I am very happy with it. I also make it because I want to, so even if no one were listening, I would probably still do it for the fun of it.
It has also been great because, as a father with two young children and no major “village” around me (digitally, absolutely, but in-person, not so much) it is a nice excuse to talk to other people and get news from outside my own small world. Podcasting has been a wonderful creative outlet as a way to tell and share stories in a completely new way for me. I have always loved writing and using that as a way to tell stories, so doing so in an audio format – voice work, cadence, speed and tone of voice etc. – is a new experience for me. I might have no idea for a podcast, but then something starts cooking in the back of my mind, and I need to scratch that itch… I feel the need to take that idea and go with it… How can I structure these thoughts into a coherent podcast? Sometimes I will write out the entire episode, sometimes I will try and create something on the spot. It has been brilliant for me.
The early stages of parenting are probably not designed for me. It is a lot of presence but without much intellectual return. I think a lot of the value is gained afterwards – when you see the people your children will become – but during this time, when they are very young… it is tough. I run a lot and I do my podcasts, and they really help me to be a better parent because if I did not have an active hobby or something outside of it, I think I would have some form of resentment somewhere in the back of my mind… For this reason alone, it has been fantastic for me.
Conclusion
Well, this essay has been an incredible long ramble about podcasts and the process of creating podcasts and the meaning behind them. I have written this piece in chunks over a few weeks so it may not be the most coherent piece of writing I have ever written but it is still fun to get out there.
If you are a Gaeilge-speaker, why not check out “Gaeilge Thar Lear” on Spotify and other platforms. Connect with me on LinkedIn and let’s get chatting!
Sin é le haghaidh inniu.
Go dtí an chéad ceann eile… slán go fóill.
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