Podcasts: A Humble Request

[Thropplenoggin]

Much of my listening is via podcasts on a -- -- audiophiles, look away now -- -- Pure One Flow WiFi radio. There is no better way to destroy Dr. Thropplenoggin's good mood as he ablutes himself () next to his radio and prepares to set foot in some audible landscape (yesterday, Beethoven's Variations on 'Bein Männern, welche Liebe fühlen from Mozart's 'The Magic Flute', WoO46) than to have some newsreader's monotone voice reel off headlines concerning murder and mayhem, or George Osborne's soi-disant economic policy.

Why, O why, can they not excise the news (and weather) from podcasts? Surely it's a simple enough process!

[mangerton]

Yes, but it's money, innit? The podcast and listen again systems are automatic, computer controlled. To stop and restart before and after the news would require human intervention - always assuming they remembered, of course.

[Hitch]

Yes, but it's money, innit? The podcast and listen again systems are automatic, computer controlled. To stop and restart before and after the news would require human intervention - always assuming they remembered, of course.

It would be the work of a moment to bung the recording in an audio editor and trim both ends of it. Why not train the presenters to do it if the Beeb can't afford to employ a sound engineer?

[Nick Armstrong]

Why, O why, can they not excise the news (and weather) from podcasts? Surely it's a simple enough process!

Which podcasts are you thinking of here, T? The ones I listen to are Music Matters, BAL, EMS (sometimes even the Tuesday morning 'charts' extracts ) - they are always bookended by the presenter's recorded 'This is a podcast... hope you enjoyed the programme' etc etc... and edited neatly to exclude news etc. It's always struck me as neatly done, though I could do without the pre-recorded standard greeting/goodbye...

[Thropplenoggin]

Which podcasts are you thinking of here, T? The ones I listen to are Music Matters, BAL, EMS (sometimes even the Tuesday morning 'charts' extracts ) - they are always bookended by the presenter's recorded 'This is a podcast... hope you enjoyed the programme' etc etc... and edited neatly to exclude news etc. It's always struck me as neatly done, though I could do without the pre-recorded standard greeting/goodbye...

The Lunchtime Concert.

[Nick Armstrong]

The Lunchtime Concert.

Ah! Didn't know there was a podcast of that!

In general, though, I agree and have said several times hereabouts that the piddling little news summaries are worse than pointless (which they also are), but downright intrusive and absurd.

[teamsaint]

what I do is talk over it, and make up my own, much better news.
" Mr Kipling has announced a doubling of Creme filling in his cakes with immediate effect".
" Stockport county won their 23rd consective away game last night".
"Everything is 80% off at amazon today and all the takings are going to the taxman".

That sort of thing.

[mercia]

is the lunchtime concert really a podcast ? or am I nitpicking ?

[Nick Armstrong]

or am I nitpicking ?

It's certainly the case that sometimes iPlayer delivers programmes with very rough edges, sometimes with 4 or 5 minutes of the previous programme...

[Bryn]

It's certainly the case that sometimes iPlayer delivers programmes with very rough edges, sometimes with 4 or 5 minutes of the previous programme...

That is certainly how they are first uploaded to the iPlayer's Listen Again facility, but they are quite often replaced by edited versions the following day or later. I have found that if I want to hear the fill-up items which tend to follow Live in Concert, I have to get in quick on the iPlayer or such items will be lost in the later edit.

[Nick Armstrong]

That is certainly how they are first uploaded to the iPlayer's Listen Again facility, but they are quite often replaced by edited versions the following day or later. I have found that if I want to hear the fill-up items which tend to follow Live in Concert, I have to get in quick on the iPlayer or such items will be lost in the later edit.

Yes I've noticed that too...

[antongould]

On/off topic this morning I downloaded the COTW Ethyl Smyth podcast to listen to as I wandered along the streets of Newcastle.......imagine my surprise to find it was Edward Elgar!!!

[Thropplenoggin]

On/off topic this morning I downloaded the COTW Ethyl Smyth podcast to listen to as I wandered along the streets of Newcastle.......imagine my surprise to find it was Edward Elgar!!!

Nice to see you back, sir.

Every time I watch Whatever Happened To The Likely Lads? (Monday nights, BBC 4, 8pm), I think of wor antongould suppin' a pint of Noo'astle Broon.

[Sir Velo]

It's certainly the case that sometimes iPlayer delivers programmes with very rough edges, sometimes with 4 or 5 minutes of the previous programme...

4 or 5 minutes...?????

Make that 35 minutes, as in the case of the Discovering Music on the Sinfonia Antartica the other day.

Frankly, it beats me that no one at the BBC couldn't make a better stab at estimating the time a Mozart PC takes to play out. It makes one wonder what technology they use; by contrast, if I want to watch something on the TV iplayer, I don't expect to have to fast forward through 35 minutes of sport, say, to get to the programme I have selected to watch, so why does Radio 3 think it acceptable to do this for their radio programmes? Is it not possible to code items when they begin and end so that the technology only picks up the programme itself? By the same token, Radio 4 programmes rarely contain more than about 30 seconds of the previous item, so what the hell are Steve Bowbrick and his boys playing at?

[Dave2002]

It makes one wonder what technology they use; by contrast, if I want to watch something on the TV iplayer, I don't expect to have to fast forward through 35 minutes of sport, say, to get to the programme I have selected to watch ...

But what about Live? You mentioned sport. Last night's tennis was a complete waste of an hour's broadcast time on BBC3, with rather pointless interviews and commentary because no one really seemed to know or care what time Djokovic and Nadal would come out to play. We gave up and watched University Challenge, and when we switched back we still managed to get the very start of the match. Keeps Andrew Castle and Tim Henman, and maybe even Sue Barker in a job, though!