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| PODCASTS: what happens when everyone listens? |
May 8, 2006 |
By Greg Michetti
It’s Christmas Eve morning and a tiny microphone dangles from a drapery hook in the basement ceiling of Jerry Andrew’s Lethbridge, B.C., bungalow.
Right on cue, a guitar-strumming Andrew steps up to the microphone and begins belting out his best Johnny Cash version of “Silent Night.” A long cord connects the microphone to a desktop PC that is recording the session while simultaneously mixing in an MP3 of June Carter humming in the background.
Andrew, dressed in black to help the mood, will submit this recording to the Paducka World Wide Radio Network, a popular Country and Western Internet podcast channel. He feels it sounds a lot better than the “Merry Christmas Yall” podcast that is getting a lot of attention and downloads this holiday season.
Podcasts, like Andrew’s “Silent Night,” are defined as the broadcasting of video or audio files over the Internet for playback on a PC or portable device. They’re a dash of Tivo, a handful of audioblog and a whole lot of Wayne’s World all wrapped up in iPod cool. Podcasting, now about 18-months old, is the slam-together of broadcasting and Apple’s iPod music devices.
A single Web site like http://www.podcast.net boasts thousands of available podcasts, with more than 6,000 in the Entertainment category alone. The variety, from Talking Sex Radio (“Hi I’m Brandi, your birthday present”) to Tom’s Trucker Blog and Podcast (“Reportin’ to yew from just outside Dallas on m’way to pick up a load in Sherman”) is downright astonishing. You want to hear a podcast where somebody talks in Italian about what types of shoes are fashionable in Rome this spring? No problemo, paesan: we found at least three sources without a lot of effort.
The heart and soul of podcasting personifies the freedom of the Web. It’s creating audio and video content for those who want to listen or view exactly when, where and how they want.
However, there might be one fundamental question behind podcasts and podcasting: Is anybody really listening?
Podcasts: anybody home?
“If you think I’m going to listen to a pair of amateur weekend fishermen from North Bay discuss their best practices for tying fish flies, you’re nuts,” said Melissa Smith of Guelph, Ont. “I’ve got better things to do. I mean—get a life, will you.”
Now, some of us do like to fish, but the point is valid. Podcasts could simply be the electronic version of Speakers Corner in Hyde Park in London, England, where the orators often outnumber the audience. The same thing seems to apply to blogs and blogging; sometimes it seems the only people who read blogs are those who write them.
Still, some see podcasts as a looming threat to the entire Canadian broadcasting business.
Last fall, in his speech to the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB) convention in Winnipeg, association President Glenn O’Farrell said, “If we allow technology to irreversibly undermine broadcasters’ ability to continue in that tradition, we risk losing, little by little and bit by bit, the most powerful vehicles of cultural expression in Canada.”
He declined to be interviewed for this story.
O’Farrell’s speech hints at some type of government intervention to help deal with technological advances he feels hurt the industry. But, isn’t hiding behind the government’s skirt in an attempt to un-ring the Internet bell a tough thing to do? Besides, the CRTC decided in 1999 it would leave the Internet alone.
If content is good…
O’Farrell’s view isn’t shared by many in business and away from the politics of Ottawa. Both the CBC and Corus Entertainment, a pair of Canadian media heavyweights, see an opportunity.
Doug Rutherford, vice-president of news/talk programming for Corus, said podcasting is another means of distribution and is similar to satellite radio—yet another new twist on old technology.
“We have to look at these things as opportunity,” Rutherford said. “Podcasts are something that represents new territory for broadcasting’s coming of age and we have to adapt. Now, I don’t have all the answers but I do know that radio broadcasters are a very creative bunch.”
So, what will make podcasts work? “Anything that makes memorable content,” Rutherford said.” If it is talk radio or music delivered via terrestrial links, Web or podcast, the message is the same: content is king.”
So the future is less about the method of access and more about the content. Consider television: a device called the Slingbox debuted in Canada in March (http://www.slingmedia.com). A brick-sized gadget, it connects to your home Internet router and TV set-top box and distributes TV content to any ’net-connected PC anywhere. If you’re in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and want to watch the 6:00 pm local Channel 3 news from Edmonton, just open your browser.
“There are now three devices to view information: the personal computer, the television and a mobile unit like a cellphone or PDA,” said Vyomesh (VJ) Joshi, executive vice-president at Hewlett-Packard Imaging and Printing Group.
“In the months and years ahead, the big money in this consumer market segment is going to be made in the methods the three devices use to connect, or talk to each other. Consumers want this done easily, seamlessly, and don’t really care how it happens. But they will pay for it.”
Podcasting 101
Let’s look at education. At Duke University in North Carolina, all freshmen students in 2004 received free iPods when they enrolled. Music and radio talk show aside, the lectures rolled out by professors at post-secondary institutions may be the killer application for podcasting, because university students now expect to live in a connected world.
“Students today really get it,” Rutherford said. “They’re wired and they’re sharp. The other day I spoke to a law class at the University of Alberta. Everybody in the audience brought out laptops and I really wasn’t sure if they were listening to me or not.”
Meanwhile, 300km south of the U of A campus, the University of Calgary will be the first in the country to introduce podcasting on a large scale when it launches four courses in the summer and fall featuring portable MP3 technology as a teaching tool. Students can listen in on lectures at their convenience, either on a home computer or a portable MP3 player.
“Utilizing podcasts means providing educational material that is portable, functional, relevant and convenient for both faculty and students,” said David Johnston, former registrar and director of the U of C’s e-strategy project, which is aimed at extending the use of technology on campus.
“We are taking relatively new technology and using it in new ways to enhance the teaching and learning experience. Students are busy and flexibility is important. They are very interested in the portability and convenience of podcasts,” Johnston said.
The U of C will introduce podcasting in four courses: Communications, Fiction, Organic Chemistry and Sociology.
“I think this is really cool,” said Ryan Cameron, 20, a third-year student who is pursuing a double major in computer science and English. “There are always good points made in every class where you wish you could just write the whole thing down, but you can’t. But if it’s a podcast, you can listen to it over and over, and wherever you want.”
Dr. Harry Vandervlist, who will teach iENGL 231, added: “It’s important that the recordings be well done and interesting. Using podcasts probably won’t save instructors any time, but what they will do is give both the instructors and their students more flexibility in how they use their time.”
Mothercorp
Meanwhile, if anybody “gets” podcasting it’s the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. CBC Radio 3 is arguably the premier venue in the world for undiscovered artists to upload their music and have it available for everyone to play. Stories are already floating about savvy record producers finding talented rap groups through ’net podcasts like CBC Radio 3.
Claude Galipeau, the executive director of digital programming and business development at CBC, not only points out the success of its podcast-laden CBC Radio, he casually mentions the overall success of a Web site that consistently ranks as the most visited by Canadians. His statistics prove him right.
“Seventy per cent of visits to http://www.cbc.ca are non-referred, meaning they are either bookmarked or surfers click on a link that takes them there.”
Once again, Rutherford’s “content is king” message rings true. “We have been extremely successful with cbc.ca and related platforms like Radio 3,” Galipeau said, “in large part because of the news we offer.”
CBC has stayed well ahead of the curve on podcasting, and it even owns part of the SIRIUS satellite radio operation in Canada.
The real issue is still how to make money with products that are typically free.
“Content is not free to produce and distribute,” Galipeau said. “Everyone is trying to figure out this space.”
So, will podcasts decimate the radio and TV business as we know it? Probably not. If anything, the Internet will complement broadcast offerings, as CBC’s experience shows. After all, somewhere out there somebody is listening to an amateur Country and Western singer from southern Alberta sing “Silent Night”. And you know what? He’s pretty good, even if he does sound a lot like Johnny Cash.
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