Leo Laporte's TWiT.tv (TWiT Podcast Network) Cancels FLOSS Weekly, Just Like Cloud Guru Killed Some GNU/Linux and BSD Shows a Few Years Ago
THIS is not a blunder or a new scandal, just an observation. It's not about Leo's infidelity and one can assume there are financial pressures, as sponsors and advertisers cut their budgets. It's an international, global problem.
I want to clarify, upfront, that this article isn't about some personal grudge, just an observation from an amicable lurker, who occasionally spoke to that show's managers. Without further ado:
A few weeks ago I noticed that the FLOSS Weekly RSS feed was not yielding anything new anymore. Then I noticed that the Hack-a-day feed, which I had been following for a long time, started syndicating FLOSS Weekly episodes.
Mysterious. Why Hack-a-day?
So now FLOSS Weekly is in Hack-a-day?
It went on and on for a few weeks.
So what the heck was/is going on?
Well, the belated answer comes from this new blog post, dated yesterday, and - perhaps not too surprisingly - it ends up coming from the co-host of the now-defunct Linux Outlaws podcast (Sixgun Productions), also an habitual co-host in FLOSS Weekly. To quote: "In December of last year I received an email from Leo Laporte. The Chief TWIT himself. It was titled “The Last FLOSS Weekly” and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t come as something of a shock. I think to the whole team, not just me. Basically Leo said that TWIT was streamlining and changing their roster of shows. To paraphrase his own words, he built TWIT like a traditional radio station with expensive studios and a large set of staff, advertising income couldn’t sustain it in it’s current form. He said FLOSS was done and the next show (due in a few days at the time) would be the last. We recorded and broadcast that show before Christmas and it was a bittersweet affair. Leo joined us towards the end of the show to discuss why things were ending and he did a good job I thought. I know it wasn’t an easy decision for him and understandably some of the audience were not pleased. I have no hard data or real inside knowledge on this but I do know that podcast advertising revenues have dropped significantly recently and this probably necessitated change for him. You can listen to the final FLOSS Weekly on the TWIT network here."
I was one of the earlier guests of the show, about 15 years ago.
The above is similar to what CloudGuru did to Jupiter Broadcasting, canceling some GNU/Linux shows and even BSD ("BSD Now"), forcing some of them to seek a new or reborn identity elsewhere, which is what "BSD Now" did. Of course I have a share of criticism for that episode where "BSD Now" promoted Microsoft's proprietary rubbish, just like during the pandemic FLOSS Weekly started having some dubious guests like Microsofters and even staff from the Gates Foundation, in effect openwashing/whitewashing criminal elements in a show called "FLOSS Weekly". But things have been mostly fine this past year.
Either way, perhaps it's a source of solace and calm that FLOSS Weekly found a fallback and a new home. So far their guests have been OK and we linked to the latest episodes over at Tux Machines.
FLOSS Weekly is a relatively old podcast. It's good to keep it going. It has been reported that podcasts have, in general, suffered many setbacks in recent years (audience and income declines). █