I was listening to Adam Curry today. It was the first time in a while and I think everyone knows that he swears his butt off in the Daily Source Code. It hadn't really occurred to me until I was listening to the DSC again that most of the other podcasters I listen to don't swear. I say most because I also listen to The Linux Link Tech Show which is...well...ribbald, let's say.
Let me say straight up that I don't think swearing has any place on a business podcast. Swearing is generally not appropriate in business, but it's acceptable when you know your audience. The problem with podcasting is that you never know who's going to download and listen to your show. There's no real way to know your audience with that level of certainty like there is when it's just Joe and Jessie and you in the office with the door closed.
I think it's fair to say that one of Curry's impetus (impeti?) for getting this whole podcasting thing off the ground was the tight reign that the networks and regulatory bodies have on main stream television and radio. Since podcasts aren't "broadcasted" over the airwaves and use the unregulated Internet as the transmission medium, everything and anything is fair game.
Of course this unregulation (is that a word?) goes far beyond just being able to swear. It's the same thing that allows every one of us to pick up a mic and create a show. It's the type of thing as free speech: it's a double-edged sword.
We don't swear tooooo badly in our podcast, but I'm glad that we could if we wanted to. I suspect that's why Curry doesn't bother to clean it up. I thinl he wears it as a badge to show that anything goes in podcasting.
