Something I've been meaning to say about the Tech Show

Wally Balljacker · Post by **Wally Balljacker** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 7:24 am

While Pat usually gets some great guests on the show, I'd almost prefer it if you had guests on every other week, or short 20 minute interviews weekly, so we could get some quality Tech Show time. I won't name names, but when a guest comes on the show and rants on and on for 45 minutes, it can really kill the show, depending on the guest, and sound quality. I miss the old days where you guys just bantered back and forth, and got really in depth about certain topics. Some weeks it almost feels as if you're there solely to interview someone, and the tech banter gets pushed aside.

snarkout · Post by **snarkout** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 2:55 pm

I know what you're talking about -- a few times recently I just fast forwarded through the interview, but I'd say this is the exception rather than the rule. I also assume that different people find different things interesting, so what I found dull, someone else really wanted to hear. OTOH, sometimes the interviewee just clicks, and you can hardly call it an interview - it's more of a discussion with an extra person in the room taking part in the "banter." Dan Dennedy comes to mind here, but so do a lot of other guests. It would suck to cut those interviews short just meet a self-imposed criteria. On the other hand, if the interview gets to the point where there are 30+ seconds of dead air in between questions, and no one really has much to say, it might be a good idea to wrap things up.

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:17 pm

The 70 minute, or something like that, interview with Greg Mancusi-Ungaro from Novell was awesome, and as Snarkout points out, it was great because it felt like a lot more than an interview, more like an open discussion about topics in open source and free software.

I think the show is already very good, I don't see any reason to change much, long very in-depth interviews are very good.

Wally Balljacker · Post by **Wally Balljacker** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:28 pm

Tsuroerusu wrote:The 70 minute, or something like that, interview with Greg Mancusi-Ungaro from Novell was awesome, and as Snarkout points out, it was great because it felt like a lot more than an interview, more like an open discussion about topics in open source and free software.

I think the show is already very good, I don't see any reason to change much, long very in-depth interviews are very good.

The majority of the interviews are great, I don't have a problem with them. It just seems like the interview is the focal point of the whole show, and the intelligent, witty discussion we all came to know and love doesn't really get a chance to take off, due to the interview being smack dab in the middle of the show. Maybe you could save the guest for the end?

Post by **Patrick** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 3:35 pm

You know a certain part of me sometimes want to cut people off. But think about this, the guests are not paid, they're coming on and doing US a favor. Who the hell are we? We're just a bunch of geeks from eastern PA looking to have some fun and entertain our audience. No doubt some interviews are better than others. They're not all going to be exceptional. I don't think our guests deserve to be treated poorly. If host/hosts from other shows want to act like a bunch of dicks that's their perogative.

shopRatt · Post by **shopRatt** » Sun Mar 19, 2006 9:36 pm

I kinda agree with Pat on this one. If a guest is willing to come on (sometimes in very late hours) and talk for an hour, let them. I like to hear what the guests have to say other than the product/service they want to pitch. I don't find every guest interesting, but I can download and fast forward parts that I find uninteresting. (not very often)

Post by **dann** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:56 am

This is a toughie. Everyone so far has had a very valid point. I sometimes get frustrated that topics I wanted to discuss on the show get pushed off two or three episodes or never come up when we try to squeeze everything into that first 30 minutes and maybe last 10 or so. On the other hand, I don't want to short change any guests because I have found each one personally fascinating.

It's a hard call. Perhaps after LWE we can start arranging the calendar so that we have on show a month or every six weeks that's just us. That, plus allocating some more time for our "witty banter."

johnnywtllts · Post by **johnnywtllts** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:14 am

I've only listened for a few months now, but I like the present set-up. I've got to think that the unhurried, relaxed pace of the interviews makes for more thoughtful (and unguarded) stuff you might not otherwise get.

Post by **Patrick** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 9:40 am

I like Dan's idea of leaving 1 episode open every 6 weeks for us to just bullshit. We could also have a listener call-in segment on those shows. Gotta setup a caller queue in Asterisk for that. That could be fun or just a complete mess! While the idea of having a gong show like mechanism to yank a guest might be amusing it's probably not in our best interests! It would be funny though. The listeners could vote in real time and an alert would go off once it hit a certain negative threshold.

Linc · Post by **Linc** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 10:06 am

johnnywtllts wrote:I've only listened for a few months now, but I like the present set-up. I've got to think that the unhurried, relaxed pace of the interviews makes for more thoughtful (and unguarded) stuff you might not otherwise get.

I was going to say something along those lines as well. My thoguhts are that we need the extended interview time in some cases to get past the canned PR crap. There have been a number of interviews where I feel the best portion came at the end where were were really trying to flesh out the interviewee. take, for instance, RMS. I found the personal portion of the interview at the end fascinating. Sure, it's good to hear the PR stuff, but it's quite different to get a feel for the person behind the ideas, and that's something *only* our show does.

Gomer_X · Post by **Gomer_X** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:00 pm

Patrick wrote:You know a certain part of me sometimes want to cut people off. But think about this, the guests are not paid, they're coming on and doing US a favor. Who the hell are we? We're just a bunch of geeks from eastern PA looking to have some fun and entertain our audience.

You guys are the only reason I listen to the show. Period.

You've had excellent interviews, and some amazing guests. I like that you stretch out the interview to the point where it gets personal and we get to know the guests. You get deeper than most shows.

I believe in Dave Slusher's philosphy, though, that the value in podcasting is that it connects people. It's not about information or marketing or even entertainment, really. It's about bringing people together.

I don't have the time to go to a local LUG. I don't have a lot of techy friends. The only way I can connect with people like me is through podcasts, and TLLTS is the one that best meets those needs.

I'm not suggesting any big changes, I'm just making the point that you guys are the stars of the show. Interviews are just topics.

Tsuroerusu · Post by **Tsuroerusu** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 2:53 pm

Gomer_X wrote:I'm not suggesting any big changes, I'm just making the point that you guys are the stars of the show. Interviews are just topics.

No kidding, Dann should get an award for the hoagie-guy story and his little story about shitting in the dug-out!

Judah · Post by **Judah** » Mon Mar 20, 2006 8:21 pm

Well, I do have to admit that I like the techshow when it's just the guys bantering about
whatever. Sometimes the interviews are to long and my eyes start to glaze over..
but that's what IRC is for, right?!

Don't get me wrong, some of the interviews are cool. Sometimes I think they need to
be reigned in a bit, because some of the guests just don't stop talking for input from the hosts.
It should be more of a discussion type interview. I agree with Linc though, when the interviews
get more personal they seem more interesting and enjoyable..

But I agree with Gomer, I listen to the Techshow because of Dann, Linc, Pat and Allan..
not the guests..

thelinuxlink.net

Something I've been meaning to say about the Tech Show

More banter, or more interviews?

Something I've been meaning to say about the Tech Show