I have been watching and listening to a lot of podcasts lately, many of them are of the homemade type, hosted and created by amateur broadcasters. I think it’s pretty cool that people are doing this, but it has made me notice the difference between a professionally trained host and a DIY host. If you listen to professional newscasters, they have a certain way of talking, which, while annoying at times, is so formulaic and generic that it isn’t so grating. I guess it’s predictable and comfortable. They don’t have any extreme quirks or mannerisms that “get old” after a while.

A couple of the amateur podcasts I have watched/listened to have become so annoying that I have unsubscribed from them, or cannot listen to for more than 10 minutes. One podcast that I initially enjoyed, but eventually couldn’t take anymore, is Geekbrief TV, hosted by, Cali Lewis. I like her, but her style is overly cute and bouncy. I mean, her giggling and smiling are just too much to take for very long. Sometimes it almost seems ingenuine, but I am probably wrong about that. Maybe I am too conditioned to the robot-like demeanors of the big-name reporters. and the genuine personalities just seem innappropriate for the tv/radio format? That may be it.

Another thing that I can’t stand is when the hosts are constantly laughing and goofing off. When I listen to the Gamers With Jobs podcast, I sometimes skip the first segment because there is just too much laughing and not enough substance. It wouldn’t be so bad if the laugh was a quick chuckle, but it is usually a drawn-out, high-pitched type that makes me wish my iPod had a 5-second skip feature. Sure, they are having fun, but it’s like you are a stranger listening into a conversation between friends, which is filled with inside jokes and backstory that you just aren’t privy to. Thankfully, the Gamers With Jobs podcast is structured so that they keep that free-form, just-between-friends conversation limited for the most part to the first segment, and subsequently get to the meat of the program, which is gaming. From then on, the podcast is excellent, one of my favorites. Very smart show!

I guess this post has gone from it’s original intent of comparing professional and amateur broadcasts, to podcast reviews… So let’s just continue with the reviews in future posts, being that I am such a lame writer and can’t structure a simple blog post and stick to topic! 🙂 Let me just finish this post by saying that even though I can’t stand certain parts of the podcasts I mentioned, I think it is great that people are actually putting the effort in to make them and that they are an awesome form of communication and entertainment. My tastes are just… well… particular.