I was looking at stats for one of my recent episodes of the Amateur Traveler podcast. I think it a good episode and it has had between 29,000 and 30,000 downloads so far. It occurred to me that I had spent a few hours editing the audio for that show. The guest had very interesting things to say but also had a lot of ums, ahhs and some stuttering that I edited out of the show. I recall editing out 5 minutes of content from this particular show that in my opinion did not add value for the audience and did not present my guest in the best light. Much of the editing was of small chunks less than a second, but there were enough chunks that the total time added up.
It occurred to me that assuming an audience of 29,000 and 5 minutes saved (I have edited more out of some shows) that I saved 145,000 minutes or over 2400 hours or 100 days of total listener time. Somehow that seems like a good return on the time I spent on editing. Because I was willing to edit there were 100 days worth of time that were not wasted (when my show gets to 100,000 downloads every 5 minutes I can edit out that don’t add any value would save an entire year of my listeners’ collective time). Just think of all the things that people can do with 100 days. 2400 hours is about 5 years of baseball games (though to be fair that would seem much longer to many of you). 100 days is more than 3 times longer than William Henry Harrison was president. 100 days was enough time for FDR to pass most of the new Deal (although first he had help from congress and second that look odds to see “congress” and “help” in juxtaposition).
And so this week as I edit my show I do so with a renewed sense of hope that the time that I save will be worth it. Please use your 5 minutes wisely.