I woke up to a strange podcast in the 5by5.tv specials feed called Regarding the Talk Show and I though, huh? What could this be?

Turns out that John Gruber has left the 5by5.tv network and taken his show with him over to muleradio.net. The specials podcast was the first I’d heard of it. Dan was very gracious in wishing John well, but expressed his disappointment that they couldn’t have recorded one more show as a farewell. I share that disappointment. What’s with that John?

What hit home with me was his explanation of how he got to ‘know’ radio talk show hosts, and that, when they go, you feel like you’ve lost a little something. That’s how I feel.

I first came to 5by5.tv by following Merlin Mann to my favourite podcast of the week, Back to Work. Merlin is someone that I can relate to extremely well and I would consider him to be more of a friend that some of my actual friends, at least in the Facebook sense of the word. Love that guy! I miss him on MacBreak Weekly and the show is very much the poorer for his absence. But without that move, I may never have discovered Dan and his network. I may never have got to ‘know’ John Gruber, John Siracusa or moneyboy. And these are people that I now spend a huge chunk of my week listening to.

As has been stated in many tweets (Tweets?), the shows are more than the presenters, or ‘hosts’ as you say. Put John Gruber and Dan Benjamin together and you end up with John and Dan and something else, something that could make me giggle when out walking the dogs in the mornings, something that could evoke an emotional response in me, and THAT’s why I continue to listen.

So, John has moved on. For what it’s worth, I also wish him well. I’ve enjoyed sharing part of my week with him for the past however long, but, to be honest, this could mark the parting of our ways. I tried episode one of the Talk Show in its new venue and found it hard to stomach. I shall persevere for a few, but it could give me the very opening I’ve been looking for to add Amplified to my weekly playlist. I’m trying to operate a strict ‘one in, one out’ policy with my podcasts now because my days remain 24 hours long, no matter how many podcasts and audio books I may wish to listen to.

Thank you Dan for putting up that specials episode. Thank you.