Podcasts

[dxg]

NaePasaran said:

Is the podcast game up for those that just do interviews? They're seemed to be a massive increase of these types during covid with some weird, wonderful and interesting guests. Now it just seems to be the same people doing the circuit and its now at the stage i've seen podcast hosts interviewing other podcast hosts and vice-versa. Some now seem that desperate they're getting Instagram models and youtubers to offer their views on the environmental crisis, mental health and investment - despite not being an expert in absolutely any of that.

For now i'll go back to BBC Sounds for a month of two I think.

Although I do like Huberman and Peter Attaria's podcasts that have been mentioned above.

The problem I'm finding with podcasts these days - having been a very early adopter (anyone remember Diggnation?) - is their sheer length.

An hour is typical; with many getting up to an hour and half. No one's got that amount of time to properly listen and, as a result they become background noise.

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

[SpeckledJim]

dxg said:

NaePasaran said:

Is the podcast game up for those that just do interviews? They're seemed to be a massive increase of these types during covid with some weird, wonderful and interesting guests. Now it just seems to be the same people doing the circuit and its now at the stage i've seen podcast hosts interviewing other podcast hosts and vice-versa. Some now seem that desperate they're getting Instagram models and youtubers to offer their views on the environmental crisis, mental health and investment - despite not being an expert in absolutely any of that.

For now i'll go back to BBC Sounds for a month of two I think.

Although I do like Huberman and Peter Attaria's podcasts that have been mentioned above.

The problem I'm finding with podcasts these days - having been a very early adopter (anyone remember Diggnation?) - is their sheer length.

An hour is typical; with many getting up to an hour and half. No one's got that amount of time to properly listen and, as a result they become background noise.

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

I agree. 30-40 minutes is optimal.

Split it into two episodes if need be.

[FiF]

urquattroGus said:

The Autocar Steve Cropley and Matt Prior one is not bad, it's calm and chilled out, not trying too hard.

I enjoy the Collecting Cars/Collecting addicts one in a different way, it's like being with your mates down at the pub and the last few episodes have been very entertaining I think.

Also re the intercooler, sometimes I think it should have been renamed "The 911 Golf Podcast"

Thanks for the positive comment on the Autocar Steve Cropley and Matt Prior podcast.

Listened to every one now and completely caught up.

Nice easy listening, varied content, several times comments made that makes you think "These guys are just like us really when it comes down to it. Same passions, same concerns, same uncertainties." All despite the fact that they get to drive and borrow many types of vehicles.

[nsa]

FiF said:

Thanks for the positive comment on the Autocar Steve Cropley and Matt Prior podcast.

Listened to every one now and completely caught up.

Nice easy listening, varied content, several times comments made that makes you think "These guys are just like us really when it comes down to it. Same passions, same concerns, same uncertainties." All despite the fact that they get to drive and borrow many types of vehicles.

I just found this podcast and came here to say how much I enjoyed it. Just talking seriously about cars. Perfect.

[Bungleaio]

dxg said:

The problem I'm finding with podcasts these days - having been a very early adopter (anyone remember Diggnation?) - is their sheer length.

An hour is typical; with many getting up to an hour and half. No one's got that amount of time to properly listen and, as a result they become background noise.

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

I drive a lot a lot so listen in the car, 1.5 hour podcasts are great for me.

[Bungleaio]

Breaking bread with Adam (beard meats food you tube) and his mate josh is good. The latest one would be better with visuals but the others work well with audio only

https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/breaking-bre...

[rigga]

Bungleaio said:

dxg said:

The problem I'm finding with podcasts these days - having been a very early adopter (anyone remember Diggnation?) - is their sheer length.

An hour is typical; with many getting up to an hour and half. No one's got that amount of time to properly listen and, as a result they become background noise.

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

I drive a lot a lot so listen in the car, 1.5 hour podcasts are great for me.

I find an hour to two ideal for when I'm out with the dogs, any less and it's stop start for the next day.

[Teddy Lop]

rigga said:

Bungleaio said:

dxg said:

The problem I'm finding with podcasts these days - having been a very early adopter (anyone remember Diggnation?) - is their sheer length.

An hour is typical; with many getting up to an hour and half. No one's got that amount of time to properly listen and, as a result they become background noise.

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

I drive a lot a lot so listen in the car, 1.5 hour podcasts are great for me.

I find an hour to two ideal for when I'm out with the dogs, any less and it's stop start for the next day.

Probably depends on what the subject is but making a blunt rule is a little odd. I listen to a lot of conversational stuff and the beauty of the podcast is that the interview can take as long as it takes, rather than be subject to editors 5 second concentration span idea that conventional media boxes the great unwashed as. It's notable how many of those pilloried by much of the conventional media are quite happy to spend such time expressing and opening themselves up too, and have an angle to express that requires more than the few seconds they otherwise get afforded, that can paint a very different picture of where they're coming from.

[coppice]

We live in a world where brevity is king - complex policies reduced to a slogan , sophisticated arguments crowbarred into a tweet and car features - online or print - mainly composed of pictures with 250 words max of tired cliche . TLDR , goes the cry from this with short attentions spans who think nuance is a mis-spelt sex offender.

And that is why I love podcasts - the longer the better. I don't restrict talking to my friends for 30 minutes or an hour and see no reason why I'd want to truncate a podcast. Much as I enjoy the Cropley/ Prior pods (two car blokes not obsessed with their own egos ) they are a bit short. I have my enthusiasm for Chris Harris well in check , but his pods are often 75-90minutes and that really gives time for a subject to breathe. I also enjoy the Rockenteurs pods and they are not short !

[AstonZagato]

Teddy Lop said:

rigga said:

Bungleaio said:

dxg said:

The problem I'm finding with podcasts these days - having been a very early adopter (anyone remember Diggnation?) - is their sheer length.

An hour is typical; with many getting up to an hour and half. No one's got that amount of time to properly listen and, as a result they become background noise.

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

I drive a lot a lot so listen in the car, 1.5 hour podcasts are great for me.

I find an hour to two ideal for when I'm out with the dogs, any less and it's stop start for the next day.

Probably depends on what the subject is but making a blunt rule is a little odd. I listen to a lot of conversational stuff and the beauty of the podcast is that the interview can take as long as it takes, rather than be subject to editors 5 second concentration span idea that conventional media boxes the great unwashed as. It's notable how many of those pilloried by much of the conventional media are quite happy to spend such time expressing and opening themselves up too, and have an angle to express that requires more than the few seconds they otherwise get afforded, that can paint a very different picture of where they're coming from.

I'd like something that filters the intros and jingles out - so you could listen to multiple episodes as a single piece. There is an excellent BBC series called 'The History of the World in 100 Objects'. Each one is about 10mins with 3mins of added "fluff" of intros, outros and jingles. It's the sort of thing that one could binge but it is too annoying to listen to more than a couple in one sitting.

[Teddy Lop]

AstonZagato said:

I'd like something that filters the intros and jingles out - so you could listen to multiple episodes as a single piece. There is an excellent BBC series called 'The History of the World in 100 Objects'. Each one is about 10mins with 3mins of added "fluff" of intros, outros and jingles. It's the sort of thing that one could binge but it is too annoying to listen to more than a couple in one sitting.

I listened to one or two from the beeb, they epitomise the short attention span moron, appeal to the lowest common denominator that trad media has of the punters. All broken down into little "easily digestible" slices, an episode of 20 mins of content then silly sound effects and breakaways, endless filler of reminders of what we've covered and what's coming up next, which if you listen to 4 or 5 back to back does my melon in. I mean how hard would it be to at least make it available as both their silly episodes if they must and a complete 3 or 4 hour no interruptions broadcast? Editorially it's just a bit of splice'n'chop. That's the issue - they've blundered into podcast land with their narrow worldview and done their schtick without looking around at what's being done besides the technicals.

[FiF]

I don't really have any issue about podcast length except if it's still got 15 minutes to go, still interesting, and I've got to the end of a journey with little prospect of being able to listen to the rest of it for some time. But that's solely my problem.

Agree that I abhor the TL:DR attitude, especially TV news where soundbites rule and a 3 minute slot is extreme.

Reckon thinking a podcast is too short generally is the sign of a good one, leaves you wanting more.

Annoying ones are where egos tend to blossom, and that can lend to overlengthy casts, but also irritate when that interrupts the flow from a really good guest. As an example I'll nominate James Holland on We Have Ways for that crime, when he crowbars a comment into a conversation and gabbles on about some detail that's been mentioned on many previous episodes. Even worse when his attempt to display his knowledge, which turns out to be not at all encyclopeadic, has only a very tenuous connection to the subject.

[egomeister]

AstonZagato said:

I'd like something that filters the intros and jingles out - so you could listen to multiple episodes as a single piece. There is an excellent BBC series called 'The History of the World in 100 Objects'. Each one is about 10mins with 3mins of added "fluff" of intros, outros and jingles. It's the sort of thing that one could binge but it is too annoying to listen to more than a couple in one sitting.

This is something I've commented on before. They might be telling a good story but it's presented in an old media way which jarrs with the podcast format. Why should it need to be a 30min episode? It's not like there is a broadcast limitation you have to work around - split episodes when the story you are telling lends itself to it. It's not just the BBC that does this, its most podcast networks and it really turns me off the content.

I'm very much in the long format camp - expansive conversations to really talk around a subject matter. If I have to pause and come back to something later then so be it. I'm an adult, I don't need a podcast network parent to cut my food up for me any more!

[Olivera]

dxg said:

Keep them under 30 minutes, I say...

Please no, the long discussion format is one of the great strengths of podcasts.

Teddy Lop said:

I listened to one or two from the beeb, they epitomise the short attention span moron, appeal to the lowest common denominator that trad media has of the punters. All broken down into little "easily digestible" slices, an episode of 20 mins of content then silly sound effects and breakaways, endless filler of reminders of what we've covered and what's coming up next, which if you listen to 4 or 5 back to back does my melon in. I mean how hard would it be to at least make it available as both their silly episodes if they must and a complete 3 or 4 hour no interruptions broadcast? Editorially it's just a bit of splice'n'chop. That's the issue - they've blundered into podcast land with their narrow worldview and done their schtick without looking around at what's being done besides the technicals.

+1, I really dislike radio shows being turned into 'podcasts', where they follow the traditional media format of intro/out/filler and the 'meat' being about 20 minutes where they just skim over a few topics. This format perhaps suits radio, but for podcasts it needs to die.

[RizzoTheRat]

After hearing an advert for it on The Infinite Monkey Cage, I downloaded a few episodes of Naturebang to try. Silly name but the one I listened to so far was an interesting 20 minutes or so on the perception of rhythm, how music can help Parkinson's sufferers, and how few animals can sense it. I'll be giving a few more a go, but I agree with Teddy Lop above about these kind of things being broken down in to bite sized pieces with constant recaps for the short of attention span.

The lack of that kind of crap is one of the reasons I love The Infinite Monkey Cage and The Life Scientific.

Edited by RizzoTheRat on Monday 15th May 10:18

[coppice]

I find it a hard listen . Why does everyone seem to think a serious , fascinating subject need to be leavened with lame post grad humour ?

[Motoring12345]

The Diary of a CEO has to be one of the cringest popular podcasts. No idea why it's so popular in the charts.

I generally avoid anything that has Steven Bartlett in it and he's been proven to be a fraud but I've listened to a few when he's had an interesting guest and they're all just a massive wkfest over himself and his "achievements".

Edited by Motoring12345 on Tuesday 16th May 10:30

[entropy]

Olivera said:

+1, I really dislike radio shows being turned into 'podcasts', where they follow the traditional media format of intro/out/filler and the 'meat' being about 20 minutes where they just skim over a few topics. This format perhaps suits radio, but for podcasts it needs to die.

A lot of the BBC stuff are originally made for radio, particularly Radio 4.

Someone complained about History of the World in 100 objects. That was originally a R4 series and so is Infinite Monkey Cage - one of the first BBC programmes that did well post-transmission as a podcast.

BBC are just moving with the times with listeners by making their shows available as podcasts and more shows being on BBC Sounds first.

[RizzoTheRat]

The adverts on BBC podcasts are doing my head in. I don't object to a few adverts, I've even found some interesting podcasts to listen to though adverts on other podcasts, but every single podcast I've listened to recently seems to have a couple of minutes advert for the "Believe in Magic" podcast.

[Zarco]

I've enjoyed some of the Gangster BBC podcasts.

Do agree the adverts are tedious at the start of each one.