Topic: Live To Tape

The hosts discuss the "Value for Value" model and the benefits of "live to tape" production over highly edited content. They celebrate the success of the cookbook "Too Many Eggs" and the children's book "The Runaway Washer," both of which won awards at the San Francisco Book Festival. The segment emphasizes the importance of independent production without corporate sponsors.

Adam Curry and John C. Dvorak describe their "live-to-tape" production philosophy, emphasizing speed and minimal post-production compared to other shows. They discuss the upcoming launch of Amazon Transcribe on AWS, which will allow for automated, time-stamped transcriptions of audio files. The hosts speculate on how this technology could improve show notes and searchability while also raising privacy concerns regarding Amazon's advertising patents.

A tour of the E! News studio revealed the "incremental live-to-tape" production method, where a one-hour show takes three hours to film due to frequent "pickups" and resets. Presenters Kat Sadler and Jason Kennedy were described as highly professional and telegenic. The discussion noted that live production is often preferred by studios for certain tax benefits, despite the increased complexity.

The program opens with news of nominations for the Podcast Awards in the People's Choice and News/Politics categories. A comparison is made between the "live-to-tape" production style used here and the post-produced methods of shows like Serial, Radio Lab, and This Week in Tech with Leo Laporte. The difficulty of managing high-quality audio and Skype integration in a live environment is highlighted as a superior form of production.