ECHOES OF EUROPE IN PODCASTS. DRACULA AND OTHER STORIES AND THEIR CULTURAL MESSAGE.

A strong bond between the cultures and the communities along the Carpathian Arc were the myths and the legends, along with their similar habits and beliefs that travelled through the centuries together with the populations and their different interactions and exchanges. These stories were inherited by us and lately the public learns about them through a very popular new media genre: the podcast. There are more and more podcasts that approach the mythology and old fables of the Carpathian area, podcasts that developed within and outside the Carpathian countries such as Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, and Ukraine. The present material would like to analyze the most accessible and famous podcasts in the field, transmitted mainly in English language, that have as a topic mythology and common beliefs of these communities, such as Baba Yaga's Magic, werewolves and vampires or water monsters. We are interested to discover why the public is attracted and interested in these old stories that have a great impact upon them. The article is meant to explore and understand the importance of the mythological podcasts for their audience. It is structured into three parts - a short, introductory part regarding the nem media genre-the podcast, then a second part, the case study, that brings innovation regarding the topic and in the end, the conclusions with the results of the study. The purpose of our article is to show that folklore still transmits nowadays wisdom and so much information about our ancestors and continues to be an inspiration for media and its listeners and/or viewers because through such universal genres as the podcasts it can connect different types of followers, speakers of different languages and from far distances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]