In what might be one of the most self-sabotaging projects of the podcast age, Reply All hosts Alex Goldman and P.J. Vogt would like you to call them, please. For the next 48 hours, until 10 a.m. Wednesday, you can get in touch with the podcasters via this number: 646-490-1847. It will forward the call to either Goldman’s or Vogt’s cellphones, with the hosts promising they’ll answer, day or night, provided they’re not in the shower or in the purgatory of the New York subway system’s serviceless bowels.
“We want to see what happens when you open a line to the internet and invite anyone to use it,” Goldman told The A.V. Club. But what about sleeping? And how on earth will they keep their phones charged, when most of us run out of battery by running two apps at once? “I’ll probably try to get as much sleep as I can the night it begins,” said Goldman. “I don’t know about P.J.—he’ll probably buy a pallet of Coke Zero or something. As for charging my phone, I keep an iPhone charging cable on me at all times—so I’ll be sure to stay plugged in as much as possible. I’m more worried about the fact that to get good fidelity we’re going to be walking around with lavalier mics on to mic ourselves. I think those are going to die much more frequently than our phones will!”
We’ve covered Reply All quite a few times on Podmass, our weekly podcast roundup. It’s one of the most consistently entertaining and interesting podcasts, so this 48-hour experiment will surely result in another fascinating episode. We just hope Goldman and Vogt survive with their spirits and faith in humanity intact.