Ok one of the things that is really starting to bug me is the endless comparison of podcasting with radio - ‘podcasting will replace radio!’ - ‘it’s like TIVO for Radio’ and even Steve Jobs at the WWDC saying “We see it as the hottest thing going in radio” . Talk about being totally wrong - Steve Jobs is talking absolute bollocks
Firstly podcasting is NOT radio - when it started the media looked for an angle, took the easy route and started doing ‘podcasting will kill the radio star’ type articles. All fun and funky, but it’s kind of stuck - with radio corporates moving into podcasting (Rush Limbaugh ‘hottest thing in podcasting’?!? Get back to bed, honey!) the trend seems to be heading that radio shows can be just ripped, MP3′d and it’s just another delivery channel. WRONG.
Secondly don’t judge existing podcasts by radio standards - they’re not done for an average drive-time audience, or on thousands of pounds worth of kit, and that’s not the point. They have no advertising revenue and most don’t want to have advertising in their casts. So why is the ‘charts’ of PodcastAlley/Podcast pickle et al all so important? And why do people bitch about casts that have great content but don’t have that ‘radio’ sound?
Podcasting is a revolution exactly because it ISN’T radio - the low-or-no production values add charm but also validity - you’re getting this from a PERSON not a coporation.
The voice is distinct, human, clear and warm and more importantly unique - this is where the corporates will struggle to get that one-on-one feel, I doubt they will be able to. That human connection is what it’s about - remember podcasting used to be called audio blogging (I’m sure I’m preaching to the converted here, but I have to say this).
The low entry value means it’s accessible - and will get more so. Trying to build in more production values is dangerous as it raises that bar and stops the very people you need casting from doing so. This is the problem with existing media - ‘I can’t make a film! I can’t produce an album!’ - it encourages apathy through high production values. it inhibits - but that gloss doesn’t actually add any more information or content.
Content is king - if you have something to say and we can hear you, then that’s great, that’s what it’s about - I was listening to Lucky Bitch Radio and Wanda’s recent breakup and past struggles with addiction and thought this is what it’s about - you’re hearing someone’s view on the world at a crisis point pretty much unedited. You rarely get that connection even in so-called ‘reality shows’ which are highly staged. It’s not self-indulgent - that’s exactly the attitude that stops people from starting things like podcasts.
Radio is produced for a mass audience and is increasingly commoditised into smaller and smaller chunks and market niches - or what the marketeers think are there. Podcasting is not the new radio - like all new technologies it’s going through the infancy stages of copying an existing medium to seek validity - photography did this when it started, aping the impressionists and fine art to prove it’s worth. Eventually it decided to go it’s own way and created it’s own self-confidence.
This is what will happen with podcasting - the radio production nerds and wannabes will go off to XM or Sirius or KYOU and the rest of us will build a future for podcasting with our own language, and our values. It will happen sooner than you think…the danger of looking to radio for validity is that it is a medium in artistic and monetary crisis - why replicate them like a kid trying to look hard and older for his big brother? We’re in out infancy but shouldn’t try too hard to grow up just yet and be like the big boys - like Podshow and Odeo are. I’d rather go out and play wouldn’t you?
Anyway I thought Dawn and Drew taught us all this?
Or did we forget?
