I had a chance to catch up on some podcast listening with Ro and Ben while out of digital phone and Internet access crossing Nebraska on I-80 yesterday. Airplanes and the boondocks are two places where there are few enough distractions in my life to sit through podcasts. We had some great discussions archived, and had a great time listening to them. Here are a few reviews:
Tech Talk: Interview with Steve Wozniak as Apple Turns 30 Matthew Yi of the San Francisco Chronicle asks common questions but gets some great content out of Wozniak on the history of Apple. Yi stuck to his script rather than asking for follow-ups on particularly interesting revelations for Wozniak. Production-wise, the show has professional introduction setting up the interview. The interview in a public space was a bit distracting at times, but not the end of the world.
Mike Grehan Interviews Matt Cutts Search engine marketer Mike Grehan did a 2-part interview with Google's Matt Cutts covering a plethora of Google related topics from Google Sandbox theories to Sitemaps. Grehan was well-prepared for his rare chance to interview Cutts, and Cutts seemed to appreciate the quality of questioning from Grehan. Production-wise, we liked Grehan's bumpers, introduction, and closing comments in addition to his interview style. Very well done.
Dr. Moira Gunn Interviews Guy Kawasaki NPR Technation's Moira Gunn has a casual conversation with Guy Kawasaki about his book Art of the Start. Not a recent interview by any means, but really well done between two interesting people. Production-wise, Gunn does a good job setting up the interview and adds breaks to reintroduce herself and Kawasaki to listeners.
The Gillmor Gang - Hughtrain Gang The Gillmor Gang was joined by
GapingVoid.com's Hugh MacLoed to discuss Hugh's business blogging strategies and other things . . . I think. I'm not really sure because this is the only podcast we couldn't finish. It's really a shame because there seems to be a lot of potential for a great podcast considering the great thinkers participating, but it just didn't come together. We gave it at least 20 minutes, which was only possible due to the fact that we were passing through North Platte, Nebraska at the time. We were not learning anything or laughing at the disorganized comments from the large group of participants. Production-wise, things got off to a sloooow start with advertiser pitches. Nothing wrong with taking ads, but keep things moving. The disorganized phone-in process where members of the gang slowly joined the podcast reminded me of a bad Web-Ex meeting rather than a meeting of the minds. To me, this either needs an editor, a moderator, or both to turn into something great.
The Economist - Survey: New Media Andreas Kluth interviews a series of "Tech Prophets" as part of his survey of new media for the print edition of The Economist. The interviews with David Sifry, Chris Anderson, Jerry Michalski, and Paul Saffo are all worth a listen. Kluth was very prepared for his interviews, asked great questions, let the guests talk, and followed up with appropriate questions when needed. Production-wise, the podcasts start out with short (10-second) teaser clips from the interviews, but this isn't clear since there is no queue such as background music for listeners. Once past that, the interviews are wellset up and concluded.
I guess we prefer podcasts with at least some production. A little editing, an introduction setting up the interview, and some prepared questions can go a long way toward making a podcast enjoyable for us. What do you like in a tech podcast?
