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As Hometown Tales tells it, “Every Town Has One. Local Legends, Folklore, Ghost Stories. Historic Oddities or maybe just a great greasy-spoon diner specialty.” Recently, Hometown Tales has celebrated their 200th episode. The hosts, Gene and Bryan, have good chemistry and can even finish each other’s sentences. The show forgoes the traditional audio bumps and transitions. However, Gene and Bryan include content such as previous shows for reference, interviews and the occasional mystery hunting expeditions. The audio levels are solid and both hosts provide amiable and articulate voices. The introductions to a few shows grows lengthy at times and the hosts have a tendency to ramble. However, Hometown Tales gets it right and produces a fun show.
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NewsCast Live is an established show having 156 episodes as of this writing. Mike James is the enthusiastic host that covers news in several categories. Mike brings a lot of energy to the show but comes across too strong at times, bordering on annoying. Yet, is is better to error on bringing too much rather than too little energy. Mike reads daily news while adding commentary to spin the story in an editorial manner. Audio content, availability and presentation are professional and well paced. The show stumbles on certain stories when Mike stays on the topic too long. Transitions would enhance the listening experience and audio bumpers would help the flow of the show. Overall, however, NewsCast Live adds refreshment to many stories that would otherwise be stale.
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eWeek News and Views is presented by Ziff Davis Media Inc. The podcast does not bothering with much of an introduction. As with previous shows we have reviewed, it is difficult to rate a podcast that is purely informative. The content eWeek News and Views presents is valuable in that it brings many industry leaders together to discuss their company’s view of the market. However, it is disappointing to see such a large company as Ziff Davis produce shows of such poor sound quality. Both the interviewer and interviewee sound as if they were being recorded from a phone call conference. The level of background noise is impossible to ignore and vocal levels kills any tone variation that the hosts may be projecting. We recommend eWeek News and Views for the information that is discussed, but we are very disappointed at the sound quality and lack of professional presentation.
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Tags: hometowntales, newscast live, eweek news and views,
