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There are 2.5 minutes of content between 2 minutes of pre-roll ads and the first ad break, which lasts for another 2.5 minutes. At least the ads are of decent quality, unlike Better Offline. iHeart sure loves them some gambling, supplements, pharma and VPNs.

Advertising breakdown for the 09/30 episode of the Vergecast.

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There are four advertising sections in a ~25-minute podcast resulting in a 2:1 content-seconds-to-ads-seconds ratio. I understand the economic reasons for paywalling the site and don't have any better suggestions for revenue, but the ad load is making the podcast experience suck more than I'd like.

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iHeart flogs their other talent to do ad-reads. I'm unlikely to listen to other iHeart-related podcasts, but I'm somehow especially turned off by this practice and I'm not entirely sure why. I'm at the point that I'm just hate-listening to the "monologue" episodes in order to break down the ads.

Pre-roll and post-roll advertising breakdown for the 09-30-2026 episode of Better Offline.

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Nerd Inferno @nerdinferno.com · 29/09/2026

Ed's "monologue" episodes are lazy rants about the state of the AI industry with incredibly high ad-to-content ratios. His 09/30 episode achieved a 1:1 ratio. I forget what the rant is about the second an ad break starts. This time there were actually more seconds of ads than seconds of content.

130

Yeah, this will make a difference. Like it or not, it's almost certainly fair use to train AI on podcast content and I would be astonished if iHeart isn't training internal AI on non-iHeart podcast content. Because everyone is. The image depicts MP3 metadata wherein AI training is forbidden.

The image depicts MP3 metadata wherein AI training is forbidden.

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Nerd Inferno @nerdinferno.com · 19/09/2026

When I moved the mouse away from the window CNN offered a presumably AI-generated article summary pitch. They should have their QA AI take a look at this kind of thing and context in which it is presented.

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Nerd Inferno @nerdinferno.com · 11/09/2026

Y'all ought to check out Denny Hoskins' best pal, Rick Brattin, for whom he was trying to steal Cleaver's seat. The dude's comically evil. Even Missouri Republicans have gone on record about his performatively cruel bullshit. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rick_Br...

Y'all ought to check out his best pal, Rick Brattin, for whom he was trying to steal Cleaver's seat. The dude's comically evil. Even Missouri Republicans have gone on record about his performatively cruel bullshit.

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Nerd Inferno @nerdinferno.com · 11/09/2026

Well, well, well. Turns out Dennyboy's attempt to steal Cleaver's seat and give it partner-in-crime Rick Brattin didn't work out so well. I'd almost forgotten what good news felt like. More like this, please. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

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There's more, but I'll close with the guy he drove to suicide by falsely accusing him of being an undocumented immigrant and the perpetrator of the 2024 Kansas City parade shooting.

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Regarding "Rainbow Story Time" at a library: He and best bud Denny Hoskins held a press conference and said if the event was LEGAL he would try to make it illegal. As though there was any question about the legality of such a thing. The attempt to connect the concept and the event was obvious.

On his stupid Medicaid/abortion filibuster: Republicans Lincoln Hough and Mike Parson described the act as "pathetic political gamesmanship" and "deliberate dysfunction."

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On welfare: Brattin believes that poor people should not have junk food or rich people food. "A recipient of supplemental nutrition assistance program benefits shall not use such benefits to purchase cookies, chips, energy drinks, soft drinks, seafood, or steak."

On free speech Brattin seems to be mostly concerned with college athletes protesting, but also proposed a bill authorizing the USE OF DEADLY FORCE AGAINST PROTESTERS ON PRIVATE PROPERTY.

100

Brattin supports election fuckery via obfuscating language from his pal the Secretary of State -- you know -- the one who's up for a contempt hearing for ignoring the will of the voters.

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Brattin is opposed to basic democracy. He spoke against a voter initiative on paid sick leave saying that voters did not have "skin in the game" or understand the impact on business. Brattin is a high school graduate who spent six years in the military. Seriously, fuck this guy.

Brattin is opposed to basic democracy. He opposed a voter initiative on paid sick leave saying that voters did not have "skin in the game" or understand the impact on business.

Brattin is a high school graduate who spent six years in the military. Seriously, fuck this guy.

It's like Charlie Kirk -- you can dip in anywhere and come up with something truly odious. On homosexuality: "When you look at the tenets of religion, of the Bible, of the Qur’an, of other religions, there is a distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being."

It's like Charlie Kirk -- you can dip in anywhere and come up with something odious.

On homosexuality:

"When you look at the tenets of religion, of the Bible, of the Qur’an, of other religions, there is a distinction between homosexuality and just being a human being."

Education: Brattin wants equivalency between intelligent design and evolution. He wants to end tenure in public universities. He wants to eliminate financial aid for "low-earning" jobs like teaching and nursing.