From another point of view, the connection capacity of podcasting is analysed in Swiatek’s studies (2018) by highlighting the relational potential of the medium, which is capable of closing socio-cultural and knowledge-related gaps. Berry (2015) focuses on the first decade of podcasting evolution by examining the case of Serial, the most successful podcast in terms of download volume in the short history of the medium. From its inception, a key element of podcasting has been the low level of importance that creators and listeners have given to the technical quality of the programs in comparison to radio. According to Berry, the example of Serial, which is a program with a large number of technical resources, may have helped to raise the quality standards of the medium in order to reach new listeners (Hancock and McMurtry, 2018). Serial’s success led to a renewed focus on podcasting and was able to attract new consumers (Sellas and Solá, 2019). Wrather (2016) analyses the way in which users of this medium are directed toward online spaces that are different from the main text of the podcast in order to strengthen their relationship, commitment and participation within the programmes. His work provides a type of map of the different interactive strategies between podcasters and listeners by analyzing the activity of both in the sound spaces of the programmes, Internet forums and social networks in a medium considered to be clearly user-centered where the listener must decide how to carry out his or her consumption and interaction, because unlike other media, there is not just one single way to do this in a podcast (Llinares, 2018).

As we can see, in spite of the amount of research and theoretical production related to the medium, there is a clear deficit of views on the counter-culture possibilities of the podcast and its potential for true communicative empowerment of citizens. Therefore, the objective of this theoretical study is to establish connections between alternative analogue media, especially the zines that proliferated at the end of the 20th century, as well as podcasting, in order to establish a map of the elements, which by the process of remediation (Bolter and Grusin, 2000) connects the old media with the new on the basis of their participatory, alternative and disruptive features, in line with the theories of participation and citizen empowerment that have arisen in the context of Web 2.0.

3. The alternative media

In his book entitled, Why study the media?, Roger Silverstone (1999) defines alternative media as that which is capable of creating new spaces for different voices that put specific community interests at the heart of their activities, as well as subversive aspects with regard to the dominant culture, highlighting the use of mass media techniques to pursue a critical or disruptive agenda from the fringes. However, this definition seems insufficient, since the media that develop counter-culture dynamics or seek to introduce aspects that are not addressed on the commercial circuit do not entirely exhaust the list of candidates to be named as alternative media. The editors of Alternatives in Print (1980), which is considered one of the best bibliographic works in the field of alternative communication, set out three basic criteria for the definition of this type of media: projects must necessarily be non-commercial in nature; they must therefore have a fundamental concern for ideas, not profit; and the subject matter of their publication should focus on social responsibility, creative expression, or a combination of both. Again, this definition leads us toward conflicting conceptions. The second issue poses difficulties because of the practical impossibility of demonstrating the prevalence