Brooklyn Sewer System Treasure Hunt would have been a great podcast.

Can't Podcasting just be fun (and affordable) without the AI Slop Jerks ruining things for maniacs like me?

My mission for June is to run every morning. So far for 3 for 3.

I just got back and was listening to a podcast which inspires today’s first topic: Audio Quality. I do want to say that when I bring up these topics please understand I am not walking around all day mumbling to myself and being angry about them. They are just topics.

On the show I was listening to the guest sounded way better than the host. That bugs me. I think it is because I came out of radio where everyone things, you know, soudned good. Eevryome was in the same room, on the same mics, with the same processing, same audio chain etc. Even into the pandemic era of podcasting, my tech guy Sean (he probably had a better title than Tech Guy, something like SVP Operations) would send people proper microphones via FedEx so that shows, you know, sounded good.

On the show I was listening to, where the guest sounded better than the host, the expert host than talked about how AI won’t be able to keep up with the good audio from humans. Excuse me? A well produced Eleven Labs voiced show sounds way better than the episode I ran to. Which reminds me…this is out today….

…written by me (a human), produced by Mark Francis (a human), voiced by Eleven Labs. If you have spent any time with me professionally you will hear me explain resources include Time, Money, Humans. Inthis case, we didn’t have beough humasm and I think the AI sounds better than if I had read it.

One last comment on the show I listened to while running…the host kept talking about those of us “watching.” And that is the real issue, isn’t it?

One thing The AI Slop Company, you know the one that everybody HATES - I don’t mean dislike, people HATE them - one thing they goofed up was FUN LOW BUDGET PODCASTS THAT ARE FUN BECAUSE THEY ARE FUN AND EASY TO MAKE AND FUN. A human, with some AI help, can make something entertaining rather quickly. And fun.

Last week in the news there was a story about a bunch of men in Brooklyn spotted coming out of the sewer system wearing only underwear. One theory was that they are treasure hunters! Back in the days before everyone got pissy about AI because of SlopCo my partner Mark would have knocked out a series like this before I even sent him the story.

What a wonderful title for a podcast. It lets you know that it’s just fun.

But no, the slop jerks had to do things like “Charlie Kirk Was Murdered Two Minutes Ago But We Made 40 Cents On Prerolls” x 15000 a day, so I guess fun “pulp” series have been ruined for everyone.

Here’s some of the fun we we used to have….think “B Movies” back in the studio era of Hollywood. Not everything is Gone With The Wind. Some things are Plan 9 From Outer Space, and shouldn’t that be ok?

On to what I am listening to this week….

This was yet another discussion that made me feel like nobody actually WANTS to do video. We can somewhat all agree that it’s smart because of the algorithm, and the whole Gen-Z argument, but nobody seems excied about MAKING it.

I find myself enoying short quirky series. Life Without is a good companion, and a good semi-binge (two or three).

I found the discussion of Are Potoato Tacos Really Tacos to be entertaining.

I just recorded a bunch of these to cover June.

I just learned, right now, that the NYT puts older epsidoes of the Ezra Klein show behind the paywall. Who knew? Well, if you can find a way to access this one, it was a very good discussion of how GLP-1s are changing medicine beyond just weight loss. I listened to it in Pocketcasts, so I must have grabbed it when it was new - or maybe I somehow connected my Times subscription to Pocketcasts? Who knows. (This is a still image below. You know how to find podcasts, wherever it is you find them).

My friend Martin started a newsletter. Give him a look.