every episode of discovery's friday news feedbag (let's just use DFNF) is like happy hour with witty people who like science and have a healthy curiosity for life. this show makes science fun and accessible because of it's informality, it's completely unnecessary tangents, and its social media efforts.
i listen to 19 science podcasts (seriously? wtf is wrong with me?) and i can say that of all the hosts of these programs, i want the hosts of DFNF to be my bros (which is doubly weird cos i'm a girl).there are three hosts of this program. will johnson, the host of the hosts, and jorge robot and james williams. both jorge and james report 1 science story every week (which is a big controversy as they used to do 3 but i enjoy it either way)
JSYK i am intentioanlly disregarding traditional grammar spelling and punctuation. it's in celebration of this podcast's informality. unlike most programs the hosts tease each other about slacking on their podcast duties and they frequently forget promises to follow up. without shame, Will brazenly questions one of the reporters if that is all they has to offer. once they began the show without james (i think it was james) and he awkwardly waltzed in after a few minutes of recording. then james proceeded to razz will for his lack of punctuality. oh, and as this was happening, jorge was imperceptibly mumbling in the background probablly sitting 8 feet from the microphone. it's like listening to brothers. or buffoons. i like them both.
i can't help but hang my head in shame and laughter when will can't get through the opening without james or jorge interrupting with some completely unnecessary idea or quesiton. the tangents are ridiculously perfect and frequently make me smile and laugh while i'm on the treadmill. listening to the july 15 episode i LOLed in the car when they rambled about soup and jorge almost screamed about how he was going to get some after the show. me too, jorge. me too.
in regards to its social media efforts, this program does it right. they have a twitter feed, they are active on fb and they have a blog. furthermore, they highlight funny or interesting happenings on these sites AND often make up personas for the listeners. for example one listener said that he always enjoyed the show on his birthday and suddenly they were imagining him sharing a steak dinner with a girlfriend while listening on his bday. they love to hear that their voices have been listened to exotic places. i wish i could say that i have done this but sorry, guys, i live and work in pennsylvania. maybe it counts that i make a vaccine for rotavirus? i ahve yet to listen on the job, though, i have to be completely gowned up from head to toe and would probably get fired if that included my ipod.
so, i say to the hosts of DFNF Thank you for reporting excellent science stories in such a silly way. you make science informal and accessible. plus, you make me laugh.
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