Melvyn Bragg steps down from presenting In Our Time

In Our Time has been my favorite podcast to listen. It made me appreciate how well moderated a discussion among experts can be and how poorly most moderators on other radio programs or conference panels do their jobs.

My complaint with In Our Time is that BBC started inserting the "this program is supported by ads outside of the U.K." ads in the middle of the discussions. The ads start and end with an extremely annoying loud chime that just blows out the speakers if I have the volume turned up to understand a guest that's speaking in a more soft voice.

VPN to the UK and pull the back catalogue from the BBC using get_iplayer, don't get it from the podcast feed

You don't even need VPN, you can just straight download the mp3 file of each episode https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qykl/episodes/downloads

Only the streaming options (iPlayer and Sounds) are geolocked

They closed off the website to unregistered in the UK too, last time I tried to access content it asked me for a license number (I don't have a TV license).

I used to follow topical comedy podcasts but they put a large delay in their publication cycle so they're no longer topical.

They also nag you to install the app. They seem often to just repeat the worst habits of commercial media.

The thing that makes it work (aside from Melvyn's excellent hosting) is that they have an unspoken but fundamental assumption about the audience, which is that the listeners are intelligent. Like, it's ok to have nuance, to dig deep into topics, it's even ok for listeners not to follow every point precisely. But the listeners are smart people that appreciate hearing from people who know what they're talking about.

That's a very rare assumption in modern media, when most mainstream things seemed to be aimed at some sort of lowest common denominator.

They ask if you have a licence with a Yes / No choice. They don't ask for the licence number, which I'd be surprised if anyone in these islands could recall. Rather charmingly, they assume you will be honest in your answer.

Very nice! I'd also want to run a script to remove the BBC Sounds ident at the start

The audio is so much better when it begins with "<Melvyn inhales> Hello, 400 years ago in the Sahel region of Africa..."

This seems like a treasure trove. Thanks for sharing this link!

Those introductions are iconic! There is no delay and no doubt about what is about to happen. I have the full back catalogue downloaded but never considered that I'd need to start trimming.

Audacity? Are there automations possible?

I feel strangely offended that here in Czechia there are actually no ads on BBC podcasts …

> how well moderated a discussion among experts can be

I've been listening to the podcast for years. I don't think the format counts as a 'discussion among experts'. It's more like Melvin asks prepared questions individually to each expert--a hub and spoke model. The experts rarely talk to or debate each other, although they often agree which each other. Melvin largely controls the narrative and direction, which I think works better. Guests do get to free-wheel at the end of the podcast, however.

The TV License check is purely an honor based system for now - you can simply say yes and no further inquiry is made, it does not ask for any kind of reference.

I suspect this changes in next few years once they finally decide on what TV license reform looks like, especially given the large drop in TV License receipts, but for now anyone can access in UK/via VPN, license or not.

Imo this works well, especially in the podcast format, because it doesn't feel like they're trying to make every episode for every listener. You dip in on the espisodes that catch your curiosity so if you're listening there's a decent chance you're interested in the topic and are paying attention.

For what it's worth, the BBC has a premium podcasts subscription for the US and Canada, with no ads.

https://www.bbcselect.com/select-more/bbc-podcasts/

I believe it's currently Apple-exclusive, but if you enjoy BBC content, it's worth it.

If you pay for Spotify and listens there, this removes the ads.

He’s really, really good. Whenever I listen to the show I’m amazed at how precise his questions are - he’s perfect in the role of the intelligent non-expert, often asking about the exact thing that was confusing to me in the expert’s previous reply.

If the timing is consistent, maybe ffmpeg can trim the first n seconds off all the files.

It does not.

I've been listening to In Our Time on Spotify for years. I've never heard an ad, ever.