There is no signs of OLR slowing down anytime soon as we head into our 11th broadcast year and our 500th episode coming up in 2013.

As one of the hosts and producers, as with any aging show you often want to examine your formula creatively and see what kicks in the pants you can give the show to keep things fresh.

I'm not talking about anything crazy so don't go making stuff up. We've always made small tweaks to the show... for example, we canceled the afterbirth... added the foogle question of the week... that's all stuff in the past year.

So I have a few questions for those brave enough to respond. You can answer here or via my e-mail directly rob at vognetwork dotcom:

* Do you miss the cagematch/afterbirth , now that it's been a good 6 months or so without?

* Do you like it when we have interviews?

* Do you think listener created content (Mentioned in OLR 481 but skipped this week 482 due to all the WiiU content) is an idea that will work? Do you think you might participate?

* We haven't been doing OLR games like Listless/Match Game a lot. Do you miss them, or think it's best for special occasions?

* Do you think there's a segment that we should be doing that we aren't?

* Do you think the show has gotten too long? Do we need to look at holding ourselves to a strict 3 hours... or maybe even 2 1/2?

Thanks

_________________

_________________
"I LOVE THAT SONG" - Now on the VOG Network!
Current ILTS article - Working by Evan LE NY from Spacechem

I still fine with it as it is, since I usually only get to listen live for a little bit at the start, and save the rest for podcast listening during my long commutes. I like the games, but like act_deft said, I think it often works best when you have a guest. I'm all for listener content; if we didn't have our own show to use as an outlet, I'd jump at that.

I think as long as the show still feel fresh for the three of you (plus the usual guests), then there's little need to make many changes.

My one comment would actually be that the show try to avoid politics for a little while. I think there's enough spirited debate to come with the Wii U...

_________________

_________________

_________________
"I LOVE THAT SONG" - Now on the VOG Network!
Current ILTS article - Working by Evan LE NY from Spacechem

There's already a design document for doing an actual cage match game on the site - as well as with Listless that involves both the live and podcast audience.

The "list" functionality of the site was thrown together extremely quickly because our writer at the time jumped the gun and didn't want to wait for the real version to be developed.

_________________
Bobby Blackwolf
Co-Founder, Editor in Chief: Technical
Host - The Bobby Blackwolf Show
LIVE Sundays 8PM ET/5PM PT

I always enjoy the longer shows because I can have something to listen to longer, and although listless is amazing, it definitely should be saved for special occasions, but not too special if you know what I mean.

_________________

_________________
OLRmy since 6/23/2002!
OLR Wikia | OLRChive (now with Vanilla skie episodes!) | OLR: Best Hits Volume 1 (highlights from our first 30 episodes) out now! | OLR: Best Hits Vol. 2

Well, lets go down the list.

Q: Do I miss cagematch/afterbirth?
A: A part of me does, but I also understand when the show ends at or even past 9PM on a Sunday night that you all want to get rest and get ready for the workweek. I do also agree that cagematch can be retooled into a interactive part of the show where live and podcast listeners can participate on a weekly basis. I do wonder what is the actual "legit amount of time you can play a song on a podcast", maybe 30 seconds at most? I do know that the Creative Commons wiki has a long FAQ about what is "fair use" and whatnot. Apparently, critiquing a piece of work is considered "fair use". Who knows, maybe VOG can one day just get a blanket license and call it a day. As far as hosting music on the site, I believe YouTube/Spotify has you covered.

Q: Interviews, Like?/Don't Like?
A: The interviews have always added more to the show, as it adds another view that you may not get or add some information and insight that you might not get somewhere else. As long as the person being interviewed has something to add to the conversation, keep inviting them.

Q: Listener created content...
A: My answer with the interviews also applies to this question also. I would also like to add that we get actual listener created content and not some cross promotion content being passed as listener created content. Now don't get me wrong, I like it when cross promotion happens because that's how you build brands and the network at large, but they are VOG staff first, listeners second. Oh yeah, also screen the content first before airing it. Perhaps you could add it to the end of the show, like how the "other guys" do it if you guys start getting content like "pro tip of the week".

Q: Listless/Match Game, more often or special occasions?
A: They work better with guests and I think better during special occasions or when a big news story is happening (ex. WiiU launch)

Q: Missing segments?
A: Remember where you guys wanted to feature an Indie developer and talk about their game? Since that really didn't pan out that well, I'd say forget the developer and do an Indie game of the week. With Steam's Greenlight service, the various console portals, and the "Indie bundles", I think it would be a great time to just try to recommend a game since the market is blowing up and it would be nice to have a guide to filter out all the fluff. Also maybe game studio/game developer of the week, highlighting what they made and how they impacted the game industry. I think it would be a great companion to "Classic Game of the Week".

Q: Has the show gotten too long, maybe keep a time limit?
A: Well I believe that as long as the quality of the content is great like it always has been, three hours is a great timeframe. If you all agree to go 2 1/2 hours, it maybe a good time to bring back a quick afterbirth segment (10-15 minutes perhaps) As far as I am concerned, there's no fluff in the show that keeps me from saying "why the hell is this so long?"

Just my 2 cents...