The writing is all designed in advance. Is a conversation more truthful than that? Or in the context that we're talking about, is the conversation as a medium just more entertaining, a better way to grab the audience's focus?

even the consumer of the conversation — the podcast listener in this case — is kind of a virtual participant, because they are witnessing the dialogue happen. That's something I feel all the time as I listen to podcasts and subconsciously formulate my own (imagined) responses in real time, as if I'm also a guest. That effect is pretty potent. I int... See more