Have you noticed the change? If you are long-time listener to MacBreak Weekly, hosted by Leo Laporte and his tech compadres, there's little doubt you could escape it. MacBreak jumped into the podcast era early on, and with the well known Leo Laporte, it quickly grew into the podcast to listen to for all things Apple. But the show has shifted axis over the past few years, thus Three Guys and a Podcast felt it was time to give MacBreak Weekly listeners a voice – in what we believe is a growing concern amongst many listeners that MacBreak Weekly is now longer a Mac or Apple-centric show. We've also made this a key topic in Epsiode 73: Scaling Engine from China.
In early 2007 my brother keyed me into podcasts via iTunes, and MacBreak Weekly quickly became my show of choice. Leo and crew had fun conversations, sometimes finding themselves broadcasting in local San Francisco pubs. The show had a very organic, informal way about itself. Each week the show contained Mac news, software and hardware information, along with Apple's mighty struggle against Microsoft's icy grip. For an avid Apple fan, MacBreak Weekly was great stuff.
But something happened along the way to enjoyable infotainment. As Apple's success grew, Leo seemed less enamored with the platform despite massive improvements in hardware and software. In fairly short order, Laporte glommed onto Android. Whether Laporte no longer cared for Apple due to it being old hat for him, or Apple gaining mainstream success, it became clear that MacBreak Weekly's host was no longer into all-things-Apple. Leo's personal preference is fine, but he injected his Android passion it into MacBreak Weekly, and it has clearly stained the show.
Gone are the days of meeting in a bar and hosting a show, with the studio format well established. Guests are mostly tech pundits, not always those using Apple product in the production and business worlds, and Leo has lost seemingly all zest for Apple gear.
A few weeks ago was my last time listening to the show. Leo started off with a SuperBowl commercial review, but the next 15 minutes quickly shifted it towards talking up the Samsung Galaxy Note product. Leo waxed on about how he really liked the large tweener-sized screen (but he thought the Dell streak was no good?...), as his aging eyes could see text and such better. It took MacWorld's Editor-in-Chief, Jason Snell to bring the show back to the Apple world suggesting the show should get back to Apple's world instead of some other realm.
This is one small illustration (among countless others) where Leo has taken the MacBreak Weekly, and lead it down a path Apple users don't care about. Andy, Alex, Christopher, Merlin and countless others can offer depth and solid Apple-based discussion, but Leo's insistence to continue showing off Android flavor of the week products has run it's course.
At Three Guys and a Podcast, we have no studio, state of the art mixers, endless ads or high-profile guests. But we do have a passion for the Apple-centric world, and have no plans to shove Microsoft of Google's latest gadgets or promotional goodies down your listening ear.
1 Comment
Slyone ~ February 28, 2012 21:47