The honest comparison

In the room, people interrupt each other, laugh at the same moment and finish each other's sentences. Remote, they take turns. If your show depends on friction between two people, book the room. If it is one expert answering questions, remote is fine and saves everyone a train fare.

What remote costs you

Roughly a quarter of a second of delay, which listeners hear as politeness. It flattens arguments. It also removes the small overlapping sounds that make a conversation feel like one.

What remote gives you

A guest in another time zone who would never have travelled. That is usually worth more than the quarter second.

The middle option

Hosts in Studio A, guest remote on a good microphone we post out in advance. Most of our interview shows run this way.