We’re almost out of time…
I commute at least two hours total each day. Thus, I spend a good deal of time in my car, during which I prefer to educate, inform, and entertain myself. The magic combination of iPod and netcasts [sic] has made this a simple part of my everday life, much like kicking the cat out of my way in the hallway or finishing the last third of a bottle of Everclear in the car on the way to work.
So, I hereby stipulate that I consume a lot of serial digital media, your Honor. OK.
The thing that continually frustrates and annoys me is the ironically arbitrary decision to impose a time limit on an inherently free-form medium. Why on Earth do they say, “we’re almost out of time” when the whole point of the distribution scheme is to be on-demand? I do understand that trained (paricularly of the old school) broadcasters use such phrases and expressions to move a program along, to shoo away a guest who is bombing, or even to change the subject. But the self-imposed limit of one hour, or half an hour? Come on! If your content is compelling and you’re clearly not beating a dead pack animal, KEEP GOING!
I have to give credit, on the other hand, to shows like Buzz Out Loud, which tell you right up front that the length of the program is arbitrary and subject to when the hosts are done covering the planned material in a relaxed, non-frenzied pace.
The bottom line is that you’re not trying to fit into a network timeslot, so quit ripping me off with a lame 60 minutes of material when there clearly are 73 to be had.
