Recommendation: Dial-A-Stranger

December 17, 2008

By Kiren Valjee

Hello. Nobody seems to be around except tough_love. Well, I’ve decided to rejoin society by trying to get famous. I won’t tell you where I’ve been, because you’ve never been and you just wouldn’t understand.

Dial-A-Stranger is a podcast/site run by Mercedes and Zachary. Every week they tape and broadcast phone calls to strangers. They pose one question to each stranger and you, the listener, get to play audio voyeur and listen to the true story of everyday people’s lives. On the webpage, you can submit your phone number to be called by Mercedes and Zachary, and they will ask you a question. Or you can submit a question of your own and then tune in each week to see if your question was asked.

Mercedes and Zachary have two of the most soothing voices I’ve ever heard, the kind of stuff that you could listen to for hours, or fall asleep to if need be. The music in the background is original music by Mercedes’s husband. The calls you will hear are funny, sad, uplifting, and humbling. You really never know what you’re going to get. It’s ah.maze.ing. How amazing? Amazing enough to be nominated for The People’s Choice Podcast Awards in the Cultural/Arts category. They just *barely* lost out to This American Life (I wasn’t going to link to TAL, because I mean, do they really need another, but then realized it might be good trackback traffic for nonpretentious)

So what does this have to do with me being famous? I got called by Dial-A-Stranger! It is Episode 54, currently located on the homepage. It was a fun experience. I’m kinda bummed that I didn’t get asked a more contemplative question. Or life-consequential question. But I had fun nonetheless. Things I learned: my voice sounds nothing like what it sounds like in my head; I mumble; and my volume fluctuates a disturbing amount; I don’t say ‘uh’ or ‘like’ as much as I thought I did. But my shining moment comes at the very, very end of the episode, after the second caller and after the answering machine stuff. Listen to the whole thing otherwise you’ll miss it.

Enjoy me. And Dial-A-Stranger.

I know. Now you know my real name. But you can call me Dragon.