My father made me promise that anytime I the chance, I would to the least expected thing. I have done well, and being a part of the TWIT army is just one more thing to add to the list.
That being said, I have run into folks like us, but they were quite a bit younger, than we boomers. Once I was sitting having dinner in an airport, with my phone propped up watching MBW, when my 20 something sever said, “Oh, I love TWIT.” She told me she would even search YouTube so she could see the old Tech.tv shows.
When I am at friends’ houses I subscribe them to TWIT.tv on their smart TVs, and just leave without mentioning it. Now quite a few of them are addicted.
A lot of the popular podcasts people know are story-based, I know many people who don’t realize podcasts can even be non-fiction stuff like news.
Most people prefer shorter form content nowadays (max ~30 minutes in length) since they often don’t have a long enough commute for a ~2 hour show like a lot of TWiT programming is.
Another similar point, I’ve had some people say they were thrown off by how shows sometimes ramble for a long while, they prefer when content is more scripted and less loose (like NPR’s news podcast)
As some others mentioned, it also has to do with how you found them most likely. If you previously knew people like Leo and Patrick from the Screen Savers, you might be more inclined to watch their future endeavors. I know that’s part of why I first got into TWiT, Revision3, and CNET back in the day, because a lot of the personalities were familiar people. People who didn’t grow up with that stuff are less likely to want to care about it.
I found TWiT not because of any old tech shows or what not, I was never really into tech shows and didn’t even know podcast existed until 2013 or 2014.
The first time I saw TWiT was actually through a YouTube video discussing about Windows Phone with Daniel Rubino of Windows Central.
Then I started to look around for apps and shows, and never look back.
I listen to a variety of podcasts, eg. Good Food, KCRW, Freakonomics, Recode Decode, just to name a few, but TWiT shows are still my main ones, mainly due to the conversations, the discussions and the personalities here.
There are just so many contents nowadays, I just felt I got no time for all these, and I admit I turn up the speed or scan the show notes and skip sometimes. Sorry…
Not many people in my social circles listen to podcasts, so can’t really discuss or chat about things and topics I heard, so this forum is awesome and cool, thanks TWiT and @Leo and the gangs!
I’ve been following Leo since the ZDTV/TechTV days. I credit Screensavers for catapulting me into an IT career.
Back in the late 90s I was a 20-something gamer who built PCs to play my games on. 20+ years later I’m a CISO for a large State Agency. During that time I’ve done everything from Mainframe operator, Enduser support, Server Administration, Windows Domain Administrator, Database Admin, Web Developer and now I’m in the IT security field. I’ve done it all.
I’m a geek so I like this stuff, “The Tech GUY”, “Security Now”, “FLOSS Weekly”, TWIG all great stuff if your a geek but I don’t know many people IRL who like that stuff, that’s ok, at 56 I’ve learned that it takes all sorts to make the world
Are we weird? well I would not say so but there are tons of people that say we are, so does that make it so? Is it weird that the sky is blue but space is black? Yep and dont see much of the ocean being as blue as the sky (when the clouds go away). Weird
I came over to TWIT around 2011 when I was looking for podcasts. I jumped fully in when CNET’s daily podcasts went bust and I needed my fix. I have found a couple people who listen to Leo on the radio but that’s all so far.
My coworkers listen to a few of the shows and I’m a Tech Guy by nature and trade. But I’m listening to more of the shows than them, I think. Outside of the office, I don’t have ‘tech’ friends really. I’m a GenX guy myself, and I was rarity in my computer “using” as I grew up, which is now the norm, obviously. I knew of Leo twenty years ago in ZDNet. My boss was interviewed by Leo, on his show, back then. But then I lost track of him, and discovered him a couple years ago again, on Twit. I really enjoy it. Keeps me knowledgeable in areas needed in my domain. Great fun in the chat room too.
Thanks Leo and all of the Twit staff, and the audience, for your community.
We are not weird, we simply understand that we need to know that which we wield daily.
I am 67 and have been a Geek since I bought an 8 Bit computer by maxing out a new, zero balance credit card for 64k of RAM and a cassette drive somewhere around the eighties.
I am my 32 year old son’s tech support. If I play podcasts in the car, my wife goes glassy eyed and says “can’t we have some music?” but hands me her phone, tablet or Chromebook (my choice) when she is is trouble.
We few, we happy few stand between our own, and a confusing and dangerous world, and TWiT helps us more than I can express.
I love TWIT. Many of my boomer & millennial friends don’t like it. FWIW, I am a boomer and know about IRL. Not all of us millennials are “flashing 12s” haha
I have to say I don’t think this is unique to TWiT. Podcasts, in general, are very niche and usually find a niche audience. You have to like the hosts and love the content. Even the top shows, like Joe Rogan, don’t appeal to what the mass media would consider a broad audience.