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Local Guides
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PODCASTING
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by
Leanne Kemmler
February 24 - March 2 |
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Every major news source from the BBC to the New York
Times and CNN is reporting on podcasting. Journalists
are falling all over themselves trying to get interviews
with the big players in this new media industry. Nobody
wants to be the last one in on the hot new trend.
So, what’s so hot about podcasting? Well, it’s the future
of entertainment as we know it.
Named after a play on the words broadcast and iPod
(the popular mp3 player), a podcast is radio program in
the form of an mp3. Made available for download on a
computer, many people download podcasts to mp3
players and, in effect, create a totally customized radio
station they can then listen to on the go.
Some radio stations have begun posting select
programmes for download—of which the U.S.’s National
Public Radio is leading the charge. Some podcasters
are former professional media personalities—Adam
Curry, former MTV VJ and popular commercial radio DJ
in New York and the Netherlands, is one of the more
popular with The Daily Source Code.
Most of the voices heard in podcasts are amateurs.
They are husbands and wives who banter about life and
more (The Dawn and Drew Show, The Croncast and
Illinoise), young people playing independent music (Vu
d’ici, Insomnia Radio and In Over Your Head Radio),
geeks talking tech (The Wizards of Technology,
Infonomicon Radio and ESC From The World), people
talking about movies (Reel Reviews), beer (The Good
Beer Show, Beercasting.com), wine (Grape Radio,
Winecast), snowmobiles (SledHead-Radio), sports (The
Skinny on Sports) and, of course, God (Lifespring,
Rachel’s Choice, The Godcast Network), to name just a
few.
It’s estimated that there are over 3,000 podcasts
available. Dozens more are popping into existence
every week.
Commercial radio has been bled dry. A handful of
companies control thousands of stations, producing
playlists that feature less than forty songs per day,
played over and over in an unending shuffle. There is
never anything new, never anything unexpected and
nothing that deviates from the narrow, pre–determined
pool of artists the record companies with the most money
dictate must be played. The on–air talent are so far
removed from reality, their voices sound like cartoons.
Network television is no better. Reality shows bloom like
weeds on networks empty of all creativity. They exploit
the human condition to sell ads for cars no one can
afford to buy, drugs that can keep you erect all day and
schemes to make middle–aged women firm and buxom.
There is an ever–widening gap between the makers of
entertainment and the consumers and it is out of this gap
that podcasting arises. Alienated by popular media, by
images and voices that do not reflect the reality of the
average person, by the message that nobody is thin
enough, wealthy enough or interesting enough—
podcasters have reclaimed entertainment for the
common people.
It often sounds cheaply produced, speakers can and do
stumble through their mostly unscripted lines and songs
are sometimes miscued. But that’s what makes the
medium so compelling: the flaws are visible, letting you
know that this is real, that this was made by an actual
person and not a committee.
In the brave new world of podcasting, you are in control.
You pick and choose what you want to listen to and, just
as importantly, when you want to listen to it. Traditional
radio is constrained by geography and time —if you
want to listen to the morning show from Y95 in Hamilton,
you can’t be in Halifax at midnight. With podcasts, you
can listen to your favourite show days after it was
created and published. You can fast forward through it
and rewind to your favourite part. You can play it again
for your wife when you get home from work. You can
listen to it at the office. You can listen to it while you
make dinner. And, with a few cheap gadgets, you can
listen to it over your car stereo or on the bus ride to
school.
All you need is a computer, some free or cheap software
and maybe a cheap mp3 player.
And, if you decide that you just can’t find what you want
to listen to, you can make your own. Get yourself a
cheap microphone, download some free software and
post the file to a free or cheap hosting service. You can
be your own radio station. Talk about your day, your
kids, the car you’re rebuilding, your favourite kind of
cheese, how much you hate or love Britney Spears or
maybe play a few of your favourite songs (though
remember that all music is copyrighted, so know your
rights and responsibilities). You are in control and there
are no rules (except the ones in the constitution)
dictating what you can and can’t say.
That’s why podcasting could very well be the future of
entertainment.
You can find podcasts through a number of tracking
services. One such service is Podcast Alley. This page
offers a ranking system that tracks listener votes and
shows the most popular programmes. The number one
podcast for some time has been The Dawn and Drew
Show. This married couple, living on an old farm in
Wisconsin, are the darlings of the podcasting world. With
well over 8,000 downloads per show, this pierced and
dyed couple know no boundaries.
Starting way back in the fall of 2004 when podcasters
could be counted on one hand, Drew experimented with
podcasting. It wasn’t until his wife Dawn joined him, that
things really took off. “For the record, Dawn’s right,” said
Drew, ever the foil to his wife’s bold personality during
their comic conversations. “People are just so sick of
what’s out there and so they’re looking for a new voice,
something fresh, something that’s not completely
regurgitated over and over,” said Dawn, explaining why
podcasting is gaining momentum so quickly.
It helps if you have a nice voice and a fearlessness
when it comes to talking about risqué topics, as Dawn
does. “It’s really been a grassroots movement and Drew
and I come from a punk rock mentality, so we’ve really
adopted this. The highlight has been returning to those
roots and saying ‘We don’t need Big Brother to tell us
what we can say. We can make our own fucking radio
show!’”
Dawn and Drew could be the young couple who live
next door to you, who you queue behind in the grocery
store or who hand you your coffee when you hit the drive
through. They aren’t rich, they aren’t powerful and they
have no special training. They just saw an opportunity to
make their own voices heard by the world. And, it turns
out, the world wants to listen.
So, what are you listening to? V
SIDEBAR
Think you might be interested in checking out a few
podcasts yourself? Here’s a handy dandy list of some
good places to start your listening.
Dawn and Drew’s View Interview
http://mp3.dndshow.com/
DNDSinterview20050123.mp3
The Dawn and Drew show
www.dawnanddrew.com
The Daily Source Code
http://live.curry.com/
The Croncast
http://www.croncast.com/
Illinoise
http://www.Illinoise.net/
Vu d’ici
http://www.mcturgeon.com/blog/
archives/podcast
Insomnia Radio
http://hardcoreinsomniaradio.
blogspot.com/
In Over Your Head Radio
http://www.inoveryourhead.net/
Infonomicon Radio
http://www.infonomicon.org/
The Wizards of Technology
http://www.wizardsoftechnology.com/
ESC From The World
http://www.matthewbischoff.com/mt/
Reel Reviews
http://www.mwgblog.com/
The Good Beer Show
http://goodbeershow.com/
Beercasting.com
http://beercasting.com/
Grape Radio
http://www.graperadio.com/
Winecast
http://winecast.net/
SledHeadRadio
http://www.sledheadradio.com/
The Skinny on Sports
http://www.skinnyonsports.com/
Lifespring
http://caltem1.org/podcast.htm
Rachel’s Choice
http://www.godcast.org/categories/
rachelSChoice
The Godcast Network
http://www.godcast.org/
The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd
http://www.doctorfloyd.com/
Yeast Radio
http://madge_weinstein.livejournal.
com/
Science@NASA Feature Stories
http://science.nasa.gov/
Reading to Rowan
http://www.cadence90.com/wp/
Homeschool Habitat
http://bradley.chicago.il.us/hh/
In Our Time
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/history/
inourtime/index.shtml
WGBH Morning Stories
http://www.wgbh.org/morningstories
Podcast Alley
http://podcastalley.com/index.php
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