Monday, May 23, 2005

Podcasting is owning the broadcast tower NPR's Morning Edition woke me up with a familiar voice talking about a familiar topic -- Jeff Jarvis, author of the BuzzMachine weblog, talking about the spread of podcasting. (Here's my own podcasting article, written last year and recently updated, but probably not updated enough.) "I love blogs and go berserk about them because its the first chance the people could own the printing press. Well, now the people own the broadcast tower, and that's cool," Jarvis says. Reminded that newspapers and radio companies are getting on the podcast wagon, Jarvis told NPR's Renee Montagne, "What excites me is not big media companies finding another way to create more media. What excites me about this movement is that it is the people talking." The NPR page links to several podcasts I hadn't heard before, and to four earlier NPR stories about the phenomenon. I've been putting off my own podcast ideas for lack of time, not to mention the sophisticated equipment the podcast masters use. Maybe it's time to head to the store... (Yes, that equipment picture shows an iRiver MP3 player, a small white $15 Griffin stereo microphone, a hotel room lamp and coathanger. For amateurs, carrying the lamp around is probably the hardest part of podcasting. I've been thinking of attaching my microphone to my banjo instead, for more of a Tennessee sound. On the other hand, the podcaster in the picture, Adam Curry, is now thinking of podcasting as a business, complete with a satellite radio connection.) Meanwhile, Jeff Jarvis is trying something new in the Web business world, leaving his day job at Advance.net, to do some consulting for About.com (now owned by The New York Times), work on a news start-up, and write a book. "Blogging has changed my career and opened all these doors," Jarvis says, "I've learned a tremendous amount (or think I have) about the future of the press thanks to the conversation I've had here with you all." 10:41:14 AM    comment []

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