Podcast Corner: Sex and other subjects for older listeners
Fergus Finlay and Terry Prone. In a podcast — and media — landscape that skews young, Grey Matters stands out.
is a podcast that “confronts the realities of growing older in Ireland”, hosted by columnists Terry Prone and Fergus Finlay.
With 13 episodes clocked up so far, ranging from 22 to 35 minutes in length, they look to tackle what they call the overlooked challenges, persistent stereotypes, and triumphs of the older generation.
“We have the distinction of being friends for decades while never agreeing on anything — probably including the whole issue of getting old,” says Prone, introducing the first episode. “We weren’t grey when it started, Terry,” adds Finlay.
“And also,” continues Prone, “when we started, I didn’t agree with anything you said and you didn’t agree with anything I said — and this has not changed.”
Their long-running friendship means that unlike so many ‘odd couple’ podcasts or when influencers du jour get thrown together on a new bantercast, Prone and Finlay have an instant rapport that comes across to the first-time listener.
We often hear that the younger age profile of podcast listeners is part of the appeal for advertisers, while US research in 2023 found listening drops to 42% among 50-64-year-olds and 28% among Americans 65 and older.
feels like a deliberate attempt to reverse that trend — a podcast not about ageing as a niche topic, but one that actively targets older listeners rather than treating them as an afterthought, and gives their concerns, humour, and lived experience the same conversational space usually reserved for younger voices.
In the baker’s dozen of episodes so far, the pair have discussed retirement and how it’s a con job, tracing the history of the pension along the way; memory loss, privacy, and cognitive decline; grandparents; the growing crisis of older homelessness; and much more besides.
Miriam Stoppard was interviewed on episode 11 about her book . The episode title: ‘Vibrators and Vitality’.
“He wants this entire edition of this podcast to be about sex and older people,” prods Prone. Finlay demurs: “Little do [the listeners] know that I am absolutely completely terrified of this subject.”
On last week’s episode, ‘Watch Your Language’, they had an interesting discussion about the label ‘the elderly’, arguing that lazy language can fuel stereotypes.
Prone compares it to a campaign she worked on a decade ago about the impact of language on people with disabilities. She recalls giving a tour of her Martello tower a few years ago and reading an online review that was overall glowing but as an aside called her “old and frail”. It stung.
“It was as if a boom had lowered on me and I was suddenly old. I never, ever thought of myself as either small and frail.”
In a podcast — and media — landscape that skews young, stands out.
