I'm catching up on podcasts and caught a very illuminating piece on NPR's "On the Media" titled "Pulling Back the Curtain."
"Pulling Back the Curtain" was played in tribute to NPR contributor John Solomon, who had died after a long illness. Solomon originally recorded the segment back in 2004 to explain "how our show, and public radio, is edited."
I had never heard Solomon's piece before but even six years later, "Pulling Back the Curtain" packs a wallop in questioning NPR editing practices. Those include the simple matter of editing out distractions ("um," "uh," "ya know") to more thought-provoking questions of whether hosts should use active voice in trying to make recorded bits come across as live interviews.