We have so many great podcasts participating in the 5th annual Philadelphia Podcast Festival, so we're highlighting some of them in this Q&A series. You can find the full schedule of live shows here, and purchase tickets for Call Your Girlfriend's live recording on July 16 at 5:00pm at the Trocodero here.
How did your show come about? How did you meet your co-hosts?
Aminatou and Ann have been besties since 2009, when they met through a friend (HI, DAYO!) at a Gossip Girl viewing party in Washington, D.C. Ann met Gina through mutual friends after she moved to LA in 2011. We get confused sometimes about who first planted the seed for the podcast (Gina, probably?) but in 2013, Ann and Amina decided that Call Your Girlfriend was the perfect podcast name. Amina promptly bought the domain name, they got in touch with Gina, and the rest is history.
Are there episodes you consider your “greatest hits?” Which ones are good “entry” points for new listeners?
We're proud of our interview with Huma Abedin, and got a lot of positive feedback about our episode immediately after the election—which was definitely not the easiest to record, given how we were all feeling at the time. We also recommend some of our interview-heavy episodes, like our episode on guns in America from last year, and our recent episode about women running for office.
What do you appreciate most about this medium?
The intimacy and realness of podcasting are really what draw us to the medium. Writing is often edited. Video has a lot of production to it. Radio is very rigid but with podcasts you often feel like you get to know the hosts on a very authentic level. The fact that we can publish on our own schedule and focus on topics that would otherwise be deemed too niche is pretty compelling too.
What do you most look forward to when doing live shows? How does the show change?
There are lots of news stories and funny memes we don't get into on the podcast because they rely on a great video, gif or photograph. If you've seen Amina on social media, you know she is an unparalleled internet investigator. One of Ann's secret talents is putting together delightful graphics and slide decks, so the live format lets us get into visual media we're excited to share with our fans. In a past live show, we delved into the friend-web of Wendi Deng, Rupert Murdoch's pie-slaying ex and sometime Putin paramour. We also love the energy of sitting in the room with our listeners, not simply chatting into their earbuds.
What are you hoping to do in Philly other than record a live podcast?
Our listeners are truly the best in all of podcasting. They’ve sent us an extensive list of bars, restaurants and sights to check out. Zahav and Bok Bar seem to be favorites. Amina was in Philly a few weeks ago and is looking forward to returning to the Colored Girl Museum
Where can people find your podcast and hosts?
Our audio archive and show notes are at callyourgirlfriend.com, the domain that started it all. We have fun on instagram @callyrgf. Aminatou is everywhere @aminatou and opining elsewhere online. Ann is @annfriedman and has a jam-packed newsletter. The third member of our triumvirate, podcast witch Gina Delvac is @gdelvac. (Gina, get a website).