I honestly love Justin Wolfers, when I see/hear him interviewed by others he is engaging and a wonderful teacher; sometimes I listen to his segments again because he can explain things with such technical, and refreshingly moral, clarity.
But this podcast has not found its footing. Strangely, it's as if I can't "hear" him - the rhythms are way off - someone is editing out the natural rhythms of human speech - don't do that, please! Spoken English has powerful rhythms of stress and phrasing, essential for clarity of expression, and also human beings, dontcha know, take breaths at appropriate phrase breaks while they're speaking. Sometimes I find my self gasping, as my whole body can feel that the editing has turned Justin into a robot that doesn't breathe, so I subconsciously try to breathe for him! It also makes the thoughts and builds of arguments unintelligible. A skilled editor would not allow that to happen.
Similarly, when you start a commercial in the middle of a conversation with nary a knife's blade between, you've again disrupted the flow of thought, in such a destructive way it will make us 1) forget what was being said,
2) loathe the sponsor of the obnoxiously interrupting message, thereby negating the point of the ad, and
3) generally irritate and cause resentment and frustration in your listeners - who want to hear what you have to say, and don't want to be punished for trying to do so!
Also, please, don't put anyone in front of a mic if they don't have decent voice/speech and a basic level of poise. Megan's speech (articulation) is fine, but she really needs voice (sound, resonance) training. The amount of tension in her throat makes her sound harshly pinched and lacking authority, plus she has the too-common profusion of "like"s and upglides and generally sounds embarrassed to speak. She also probably needs a better mic & mixing.
Look, I know you're on a shoestring, I'm not talking a fancy studio - just needs a level of professionalism, thoughtfulness and some standards; a good producer would help.
For me, I've tried, because I respect Justin so much. But this has been a hard to listen, every episode, and I'm not sure I will stay with it.
