Podcast Review: WDW Radio

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to Episode 1 of NPAATR's Podcast Reviews!  For a brief background, check this out.

WDW Radio is the meat and potatoes of any Disney podcast listener's diet.  The host, the ubiquitous Lou Mongello, is the BMOC of Disney podcasters.  In his inveterate polo shirt, Lou oozes with professionalism in every episode.  His information is some of the most reliable news available (outside of official Disney Company statements).   Due to his BMOC status, he knows a LOT of interesting, informed, and important Disney people and gets access to some great events and cutting-edge information for the podcast.  Plus, I very much enjoy that his podcasts are most often "evergreen" which means when I have exhausted all of my new podcast episodes, I can always download older WDW Radio episodes without worrying that they will be outdated.

The downside?  There is very little criticism.  He is always complimentary (often to the point of obvious hyperbole) and almost never points out the negative aspects of whatever he is talking about.  It makes me distrust his opinions on a lot of things because his reviews don't ever seem very balanced.  The exaggerated compliments feel insincere to me - he's saying it because he has to say it (see BMOC status above) and not because he really means it.

Also - and this is purely a personal thing - I don't enjoy when his cadence gets grandiose (which happens most often when he is summing things up).  It makes me think he's trying to sound inaccessible or superior or something and it bugs me.    Also, the way he speaks indicates to me that he's not a very good writer - he's much too wordy to the point where his speech doesn't make grammatical sense (e.g. "You have very much a blank slate here." Um, what?).  It's more about what sounds good than saying/writing something that means something.   I don't care for surface over substance when it comes to writing and speaking.   I admit this is solely a gut thing and that Lou is really very nice and smart and friendly. 

It also drives me nuts when Lou does his top 10 lists (often with his guest host Tim Foster).  Not because I don't enjoy top 10 lists, I do, but because he never follows the rules he sets out for himself!  Call me a rule-stickler (I am), but if you say it's going to be a top 10 list, you should not be trying to squeeze 23 items in there.  You should have 10, and I will even allow one or two honorable mentions, but no more.  It destroys the integrity and the point of the list.  More importantly, it drives me nuts!  And don't try to make something into something it's not and excuse it with a "go with me here people"; a streamer hanging from the ceiling in the Amazon scene of Small World is NOT a water feature.  Creative? Sure.  But instead of trying to be funny by stretching your own rules, how about just changing the rules?  Makese more sense to me.  [End of rant].

ANYWAY, because he never criticizes things, it's obvious that Disney loves him because they give him great access to events, opportunities and connected, knowledgeable interview subjects that other less-established, less-predictable podcasters do not always get.   Plus, I mean, this podcast is just Disney-phile basics!  It's a white-button down shirt in your closet.  It's meat and potatoes, people!  You can't possibly have a well-rounded Disney podcast playlist without WDW Radio.   If you haven't already, go immediately to iTunes and subscribe!