By Ralph E. Hanson
December 1, 2005
Charleston Daily Mail
For as long as I’ve had my iPod, I’ve been a big fan of podcasts, The idea of podcasting is that you can produce digital audio files using your computer, upload them to the Internet, and then have people listen to what you've produced on their computer, iPod, or other MP3 player (hence the name podcasting). Essentially, podcasts are like TiVo or tape recordings of radio programs you can take with you and listen to at your convenience.
In the early days of podcasting, before Apple made it easy by including support for it in iTunes, the most popular podcasts were those produced by a range of eclectic individuals. As an example, the first podcast I subscribed to is Brian Ibbot's Coverville, a show featuring new artists recording their take on old songs (otherwise known as “covers”). You haven't lived till you hear the punk version of Joni Mitchell's 1960’s anthem “Both Sides Now.” And it was through Coverville that I discovered Skipping Discs outrageous CD Saturday Night Hay Fever - a collection of disco hits done as bluegrass covers. But Ibbot isn’t a media professional; he’s a web designer in Colorado.
Coverville provides a prime example of how the Internet is providing alternatives to mainstream media. While big record companies moan that they are losing sales to kids trading music over the Internet, and corporate radio stations are having trouble attracting listeners, podcasts let consumers discover new music that they can’t find anywhere else.
Then there are podcasts that are simply retransmissions of mainstream media content. For example, I listen to NPR's On The Media every week on my iPod as West Virginia Public Radio doesn't carry the show. And I'm a huge fan of Elvis Mitchell's weekly interview show The Treatment that runs on Santa Monica public radio station KCRW. These are old media programs being delivered though a new channel in much the same way that you might buy cassettes of favorite radio broadcasts -- except that the podcasts are free and immediately available.
What have been more problematic are podcasts tied to mainstream media programming. Take, as an example, Fox’s podcast for the television series House M.D. The materials they've posted so far are either breathless star interviews that you might otherwise hear on Entertainment Tonight or else extended plot summaries that save you from the necessity of watching the show. Now, I'm a big fan of House, but the supporting podcast is corporate promotional drivel.
ABC/Disney, on the other hand, continues to show that it "gets it" when it comes to utilizing new media. ABC shook up the television world in October with the announcement that consumers could download episodes of their hit series Lost and Desperate Housewives for $1.99 to view on either their computers or video iPods. And these downloads came free of commercials!
ABC has further shown its willingness to innovate with the Official Lost Podcast. The first few episodes of the free audio podcast were mildly amusing, but nothing special in terms of content. But the fourth installment was a full-length commentary for the Lost episode “Collision” that sounded just like the commentary tracks you might get on a DVD. Now this is making great use of the new medium. The podcast provides something that couldn’t be done by television alone, and it gives consumers a reason to pay attention to the Lost web site.
Podcasting is still a very young medium and is bound to change in ways that we can't predict. But it is going to be transformational to broadcasting the way that blogging has been to journalism and print. And the mainstream media ignore these changes at their peril.
Hanson is an associate professor of journalism at West Virginia University.