POLcast
POLcast is the FIRST EVER English-language podcast about Poland and Poles around the world. It is a colourful audio magazine delivered directly to your smartphone, computer or tablet.
POLcast’s awards
POLcast is created for people interested in all things Polish. Each episode introduces you to interesting people, places, music, and much more. Its unique and exciting content will broaden your horizons and enrich your relationships with your Polish colleagues, clients, partners and family members!
Poland is a fascinating country with rich and fascinating history, stunning landscapes, and, most of all, people who shine in many areas, contributing their own unique perspective to world’s art, culture, and science.
Apart from Poland itself, there is albo Polish diaspora – millions of Poles living all over the world, doing exciting things and creating fascinating links with Poland. The Polish diaspora is another rich resource and theme explored on POLcast.
And there are also non-Poles and their often amazing connections to Poland.
Information about all these exciting faces of Poland and Poles around the world is scattered and often available only in Polish. POLcast makes it accessible to those who are interested in Poland, but do not speak Polish.
POLcast is a hub, a focal point, from which you will be able to travel further into any of its numerous avenues. It is not be a static encyclopedic database, but a living, dynamic forum, an always expanding and evolving source of information about Poland’s past and present for those who travel to Poland, have business or personal relations with Poland, wish to establish professional or other links there, for young people who want to learn about Poland and things Polish.
We want YOU to present what you do around the world and learn about others. The only common denominator is Poland and polishness. Contact us with your ideas and suggestions
WHO’S BEHIND IT?
POLcast is created and hosted by Małgorzata (Margaret) P. Bonikowska. Until 2019 she worked on it with Tomek Kniat.
Margaret P. Bonikowska is the Editor-in-Chief of “Gazeta” www.gazetagazeta.com, the leading Polish language daily newspaper in Canada, with extensive experience in media and broadcasting. Margaret Bonikowska’s Bio
Margaret P. Bonikowska – mbonikowska@gazetagazeta.com
WHY IN ENGLISH?
● There are 20 million people of Polish descent in the world, including 12 mln in the US, Canada, Great Britain, and Australia
● Merely 6 per cent have a communicative command of Polish
● Most Polish media outside Poland are in Polish and are aimed at those who are actively interested in Poland and Polish issues
● There is a need for media geared towards English-speaking second/third-generation emigrants, their partners, families, friends, co-workers, who have some interest in Poland.
We talk about things that are of interest to our listeners and show how these issues relate to Poland.
POLcast presents:
● interesting, valuable initiatives we engage in and stand for as Poles – in Poland and around the world
● modern, contemporary Poland as an attractive country
● connections of Poland and things Polish to the countries and phenomena which non-Poles are familiar with.
POLcast’s no-no’s:
● boring “lecturing”
● overemphasis on martyrdom and suffering
● stereotypes
● divisive politics
POLcast PACKAGE
POLcast, the final product, is a multimedia package consisting of:
● podcast episodes released once a month
● mypolcast.com website with:
– additional materials (photo, more extensive interviews, video, links), and
– invaluable archive of materials about Poland which can be used for many purposes (e.g. in education, tourism)
● newsletter
● Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/myPOLcast/
We recommend lots of interesting English language articles about Poland on our POLcast Facebook page.
•••
POLcast’s producer is “Gazeta”, the leading Polish language daily newspaper in Canada.
Gazeta in print (1988-2019)
In its printed version “Gazeta” existed for 31 years until 2019. First a daily, then a weekly, it reached Ontario and Montreal in Quebec and by subsription was available all over Canada.
You can see what the printed Gazeta looked like HERE.
Gazeta online (2003-present)
Gazeta online – www.gazetagazeta.com was launched in 2003. In 2019 “Gazeta” gave up print and became a daily online publication.
It is read all over the world – it has readers from 123 countries.
Polonium
Before POLcast, there was Polonium…
“Gazeta” is in Polish, but on many occasions we heard complaints that it is not accessible to those who are interested in Poland, but do not speak Polish. These are second or third generation Poles in various countries, our non-Polish friends, spouses and their families, who would like to learn more about our fascinating country of origin.
And this is how we came up with the idea of Polonium.GazetaGazeta.com. It provided links to Internet news and articles written in English about Poland. It also provided an insight for English speaking Poles into the way Poland is presented in world’s media.
More about Polonium and about its name
When the idea of POLcast was born, Polonium was converted into this format.