an open letter to firearms podcasters & unintended consequences

[Sheepdog1968]

Dear Firearms Podcasters,

Firearms have been my hobby for 35 years. I have had a temporary long commute for the last year (4 hrs a day on the road) that will soon end. As such, I have listened to many firearms related podcasts. I love them all.

One thing I have noticed by there now being so many is some unintended consequences that I would kindly ask those who make podcasts to take into consideration.

If there is a horrific event or some anti gun political activity going on, most you will dedicate a large portion of your show to it. By listening to a lot of podcasts, it becomes very easy to end up hearing 6 or more hours or horrific events such as Ft. Hood Part 2. Listening to too much discussion of such horrific events takes an emotional toll on me. In fact, I have ended up deleting some podcasts outright because I just can't hear one more person discuss for 30 minutes what Bloomberg is up to this week.

I do want to listen to all of your podcasts. I would greatly appreciate it if there is any way that you can be mindful that many of us gun folks are like preaching to the chior and maybe keep some of the political rants or horrific events more concise with your personal insignts. I think all podcast listeners would benefit.

Tom Gresham's Gun Talk is probably the best example of how a political topic or horrific event gets discussed and then moves on. Again, I know they are your podcasts you are producing but there are now so many of you, at times I just feel worn out and exhasuted from these less fun subjects.

Food for though. Please keep making podcasts. Many thanks.

 

[NoVA Shooter]

While I agree that listening to the news go on and on ad nauseam about events is frustrating, you have to remember that each pod cast/news show is independent of each other (they don't know that you've already heard it somewhere else). Who gets to be the one to report on events? They have their own set of listeners, demographics, agenda, etc. What you're asking for is for a business to relinquish reporting of news to a rival. That would be like asking ABC, CBS, and Fox to stop reporting the weather because NBC already has talked about it. I'm sure if ratings went down because of the content, they will change, but big events (good and bad) usually draw more than they turn away.

 

[Tirod]

I listened to commentators for quite a few years, and came to the conclusion that their #1 goal is to churn a situation for every emotion they can get in order to get you to maintain a habit of tuning it.

After years of being whipsawed about the impending destruction of society and loss of our freedoms on a daily basis, I turned them all off. First, I realized I didn't need mulitipoint presentations about what was wrong. I had a brain, I knew what I knew, I didn't need in depth analysis about it. Second, many of the commentators have their own personal bias - I discovered a vast range of moral and ethical positions among people who claimed they represented my views.

One famous radio commentator went deaf from drug abuse, and was rumored to have expensive vacations in the Caribbean with paid female companions. All that while being divorced from his third wife? Nope, that isn't my demographic whatsoever. It didn't help that as I listened, I realized that his point of view was actually moderate.

How boring.

So, if podcasts are a major problem in life with a disconcerting focus on disaster and doom, then that is exactly what they do. The evidence is right there, and asking them to stop doing what they do for a living isn't going to work.

Just stop listening.

 

[Deltaboy1984]

I listen only once a week on Saturday or Sunday afternoon.

 

[splattergun]

Podcasts are like any other commercial product. The producers create product which they believe will be popular enough to compete with their rivals (not to mention, shooting incidents tend to make great soapboxes!), then it is presented for consumption. You get to choose whether to consume or not. In other words, you get to choose what you listen to.

You do have alternatives. You might use that time to learn a new language or to listen to audio books of classic novels, or even to lectures on most any topic you could imagine. Gutenberg.org is perhaps the best source available for free audiobooks in both fiction an non-fiction categories. Imagine how much you could learn with 20 hours per week!

 

[Sheepdog1968]

Podcasts are like any other commercial product. The producers create product which they believe will be popular enough to compete with their rivals (not to mention, shooting incidents tend to make great soapboxes!), then it is presented for consumption. You get to choose whether to consume or not. In other words, you get to choose what you listen to.

You do have alternatives. You might use that time to learn a new language or to listen to audio books of classic novels, or even to lectures on most any topic you could imagine. Gutenberg.org is perhaps the best source available for free audiobooks in both fiction an non-fiction categories. Imagine how much you could learn with 20 hours per week!

Good point. Many thanks. I think I'm going to take a critical look and further filter what I listen too. I stopped watching live tv and only read the newspaper. That helped greatly. Doing the same for podcasts should help. Onto audiobooks.

 

[rdhood]

If it bleeds, it leads. ALL media obeys this commandment. Nothing new here...

 

[MinnesotaFats]

I thought a podcast was a fishing technique. Well now i know not to listen to one... whatever it may be.

 

[hemiram]

Some are great, with a lot of good info, but some are half politics and I tend to either just bail, or jump forward until they are talking about something else. I kind of miss the days when something bad was in the news for a week or so, and then not again until the perp was caught or went on trial. Now it's endless..

 

[we are not amused]

Why whine about something you voluntarily do? If it bothers you, quit doing it!

I used to try and listen to "Air America" when it still existed. I believed it important to keep tabs on what the enemy was saying. But it became just too poisonous and insane, so I quit. So did everybody else, and it went off the air, at least on radio, I understand most of them went over to MSNBC, which I don't watch either, again with most people apparently, considering it's ratings.

 

[rodregier]

For those who didn't get the memo, Wikipedia definition of a podcast:

A podcast (or netcast) is a digital medium consisting of an episodic series of audio, video, PDF, or ePub files subscribed to and downloaded through web syndication or streamed online to a computer or mobile device. The word is a neologism and portmanteau derived from "broadcast" and "pod" from the success of the iPod, as audio podcasts are often listened to on portable media player

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Podcast

 

[palmetto99]

I listen to podcasts while I work. They range from history, comedy, movies, politics and yes, firearms. There are tons of podcasts out there for what ever the category. The better produced ones seem to come from folks that come out of some type of broadcasting. Most of the ones for firearms are done by well meaning folks that have no real training. It shows. Bad production quality. Old or dated content. Way to much politics. And just plain not entertaining on the microphone. But, I'll give them a try (whatever the topic) for an episode or two. I have my regulars and a lot of podcasters will have other podcaster on as guests and that is usually how I come across new ones to try.

 

[Joe Demko]

Gun-oriented podcasts and youtube videos do tend to be rather amateurish both in production values and content, IME. I give them credit for being well-meaning, but I can generally get the same level of information, or better, more quickly from boards like this one.