Podcasting

I just read an interesting prediction on Podcasting. It came from the Small Market Radio News Letter:

Realizing that subscribing to Podcasts is more confusing than it ought to be, podcasters will seek out other venues for their content. Aggregators will lock on to popular podcasts and distribute them through online or satellite radio. By the end of 2006, we will be well on our way to making podcasts ubiquitous, mostly through making them easier to access. Satellite radio companies in particular will look to benefit from the popularity of podcasts.

I tend to believe that podcasting will increase in its popularity and those of us in radio need to get in on the bottom floor so we're not having to play catch up. One of the ways we're using podcasting to enhance our operation is making our AM talk show available for download on our station website. We've also made press conferences available in whole...which gives our audience a better look into the actual news.

On thing I'm hoping to do is make a lot more content available via streaming on the web and then making those same events available for download later. An example would be streaming the League of Women Voters' debates with political candidates and then making those debates available for download the next day. That will give lots of people a better chance to hear what's going on and will also create more traffic to our website which in turn will make it more appealing to clients to buy spots on our web page. And that's a great way to increase revenue without giving up inventory on the station.


AJ