Is size important?

[Soccer Shout]

How much importance do you attach to delivering a show that is a consistent length?

My show is news-oriented, so some days there's a lot and some days not so much.

We go from 10 minutes one day to 20 minutes the next..and everything in between.

Does anyone reckon this will irratate listeners who generally know how long what they are listening to will last?

Or will our brevity be appreciated more than waffling on to fill out a 'time slot'?

[ElNacho]

i say, if u want this particular show to be longer, do it. if u want it to b short, do it. My show varies from 30 minutes to 1 hour. usually shorter. but whatever i got, i got. i do this fo myself, fo fun. yeah. okay i kinda drifted and lost the point didnt i

[Yotto]

I've had shows as short as 2 minutes (Today's!) and as long as over 20, and haven't given it much thought. Just pad the short ones with V1agRA commercials.

[WyethDigital]

I appreciate it when a Podcast is no longer than it needs to be. Waffling is boring. If you have an interesting anecdote about yourself, or you want to get more personal and let your audience "in" to what your life is about, then by all means use that to flesh out your show. But don't pad it with useless stuff. Your audience will eventually be able to tell, and will just turn you off anyway.

Eric

[Steve Pinder]

I've had anywhere from 2 minute shows up to and hour.

Steve Pinder
www.karatekast.com

[monkey_one]

In the porn industry size does matter....yep

[kinkysex]

I aim for 30 minutes. I'm usually within 7 of that goal.

I chose this number because that's how long most of my favorit podcasts are.

I like to aim for a definate number because that is part of the fun of podcasting to me - trying to do it like the pros do.

I have found that most listeners don't care as long as they have enough of their favorite shows to get them to work, etc...

[discoverpodcasts.com]

Why not ask your audience? I personaly like my shows around 30 mins. I make exceptions for Digg and Twit. I live my video podcasts 5 mins and under.

[swingercast]

Half hour is our goal too. We'll make it longer or shorter depending on the material.

There is an old addage in the world of screenplay writing that goes something like this: "You've got to learn to kill your babies." That is to say, you may have a bit in your show that you think is great but if it doesn't work for the show you have to be able to listen openly and decide if it fits with what you are trying to accomplish.

Allie keeps me in check, she's cut plenty of my bad jokes.

[Hittman]

Whatever your show length, I think it helps to be consistent. You don’t have to be anal about it, and get it to the second, but I know I appreciate shows that keep it in the same general ball park from show to show, so I’m guessing other people do too.

There is an old addage in the world of screenplay writing that goes something like this: "You've got to learn to kill your babies." That is to say, you may have a bit in your show that you think is great but if it doesn't work for the show you have to be able to listen openly and decide if it fits with what you are trying to accomplish.

The exact phrase is “Kill your darlings.” Samuel Johnson advised “Read over your compositions, and wherever you meet with a passage which you think is particularly fine, strike it out.”

In other words, being too clever is usually a bad idea.

One reason I keep my show short is to force myself to cut and chop and pare and reduce and sculpt until I’ve removed everything that isn’t worth the time. It’s a fun challenge, and in my case, makes the show better.

[jbisjim]

We try to stay between 30 and 40

[SFEley]

There is no One True Answer for this, because content is so different.

Here's something to try: assuming you've been doing your podcast for a while, go back and listen to your old shows. Shows old enough that it's not all familiar to you; when you listen, it's like you're hearing someone else. Pretend that it is someone else and that you're merely a listener.

Notice the point at which you get bored, or say "****, I wish this guy would get on with it." Shorten your future podcasts accordingly. If you never get bored, get a second and third trusted opinion before concluding that your pace is perfect.

[roadrageradio]

There is no One True Answer for this, because content is so different.

Here's something to try: assuming you've been doing your podcast for a while, go back and listen to your old shows. Shows old enough that it's not all familiar to you; when you listen, it's like you're hearing someone else. Pretend that it is someone else and that you're merely a listener.

Notice the point at which you get bored, or say "d*mn, I wish this guy would get on with it." Shorten your future podcasts accordingly. If you never get bored, get a second and third trusted opinion before concluding that your pace is perfect.

This is good advice.
When I was first learning photography, my teacher advised me to shoot the first roll of pictures without putting film in the camera. (roll?) (film?)

The idea was to get the cliche shots out of the way first.

In listening to podcasts, I've found that inside every long show, there's a better shorter show.

[cinesnob]

I try to come in beween 14-16 minutes. My first show, about six months ago, weighed-in @ about nine minutes. I think our listeners appreciate consistancy.

[JanesDaddy]

The original question was "is size important?", to which my answer is Yes - file size is important. Length is less so, because if it's good I'll listen. Keith and the Girl or Geek News Central are both about an hour long, and I used to listen to them (not so much now).

What I can't stand is when shows that used to be 16MB suddenly appear to be 50+MB. The encoding/bitrate changes (with no noticeable change in quality, I listen to mostly speech podcasts), and suddenly my 256MB iRiver can only hold five or six hours worth of podcasts instead of eight. That makes me mad.

Just because some people have a 40GB or 60GB brand-named player, doesn't mean that we all have.

[WyethDigital]

The original question was "is size important?", to which my answer is Yes - file size is important. Length is less so, because if it's good I'll listen. Keith and the Girl or Geek News Central are both about an hour long, and I used to listen to them (not so much now).

Actually, that is the question in the header, but when the original poster elaborated on it, the real question was about length of show.

What I can't stand is when shows that used to be 16MB suddenly appear to be 50+MB. The encoding/bitrate changes (with no noticeable change in quality, I listen to mostly speech podcasts), and suddenly my 256MB iRiver can only hold five or six hours worth of podcasts instead of eight. That makes me mad.

You do make a very valid point, though. I have noticed this, too. Another thing that sometimes seems unnecessary is the use of stereo in some of these talkie podcasts. Seriously, unless you mix your audio really, really well, you aren't going to see much of a quality issue when you post it as a mono file vs a stereo file, but you will save an immense amount of file size. I'd rather see (er.. hear) a talkie podcast with a decent bitrate, but with a mono audio track. But that's just me. And probably Janesdaddy. And a couple of others.

But on that note, Janesdaddy, have you told the shows you listen to about the file size issue? Most offer a way to post feedback. And if it's done nicely, most will consider what you say.

Eric

[Soccer Shout]

Thanks for all the feedback. The route we're taking is "we're done when we're done". Last night was 6 mins b/c my cohost was on vacation. But we've done 18 mins on occasions.

There are just vast differences in the amount of material we have to cover. On a Sunday night, we have a weekend of soccer action to review. On some Wednesdays, we might be 3 days from a game, past of future. Sometimes there's a huge story or two, sometimes there's nothing.

We're going to cover what there is to cover and then bug out of there.

BTW...sorry about the confusing subject...but it caught the attention.