In the heyday of radio, the wireless was the centre of people’s lives. The image of families gathered around their radio set is a familiar one — listening to a broadcast was a group activity. “When they say ‘the radio’, they don’t mean … a man in a studio,” wrote EB White, author of children’s classic Charlotte’s Web, in the 1940s. “They refer to a pervading and somewhat God-like presence that has come into their lives and homes. It is a mighty attractive idol.”
Time has changed that idol’s nature. Families don’t sit and listen to the radio as groups any more. People listen to the radio in their cars, on their own — or not at all. And now it is changing again: instead of simply listening to the radio, people are making it themselves.
Despite the hype that has surrounded podcasting since it started to emerge last year, it is a relatively low-tech concept. Most digital music players don’t have radio receivers, but are blessed with a large storage capacity and, when docked with a PC, a connection to the Internet. At the same time, the essential kit of the radio operation — a microphone, recording equipment and mixing desk — have become common, inexpensive and easily usable through home computers.
With all this, the question became clear: Why not make radio programmes that can be downloaded to MP3 players? That is essentially what podcasting means, self-contained digital radio.
It is early days, but two distinct threads have already emerged. On one side stands a gaggle of enthusiastic fans who produce podcasts as a hobby and on the other lie well-established media companies who see the podcast format as a great way to crawl into people’s ears.
The grassroots movement is growing fast and beginning to diversify, but it is dominated by two groups: those who use it to talk about technology — often excruciatingly, about podcasting itself — and those who use it to create and distribute adult material. So far, so familiar: this pattern of technologists and pornographers as early adopters is one any Web user will recognise.
Now independent podcasters (they don’t like to be labelled amateurs) are developing further, stretching deeper into music programming and earning money from advertising. For some — including the flagship Dawn & Drew Show, made by a couple on their disused dairy farm in Wisconsin — it’s a personal experience. For others, such as American technology writer and broadcaster Leo LaPorte, it is effectively another extension of their own personal, professional brand.
“Independent podcasting has been driven by an insatiable desire for better listening,” says Adam Curry, a former MTV presenter who has been one of the pioneers of the format. He thinks the failings of traditional radio — particularly in the United States — have left people looking for vibrant, new solutions, and finding these through the Internet.
While independents are exploring new ways of using podcasting, media organisations have been among the first to latch on to its benefits, for obvious reasons. Many already have expertise in producing high-quality audio material and most have made substantial services in their Web operations. The BBC, for example, makes many radio shows available this way — and is set to begin doing the same with video content, too. But, basically, it is repurposed, time-shifted radio — TiVo for MP3 players.
“For the moment, that’s true, but I would see it changing,” says James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, which was the first United Kingdom radio station to produce a podcast. “In the next few months, we are going to be using some of our archive material, and I would only see that type of thing increasing. And new presenters and new talent might eventually come from podcasting, not from hospital radio or overnight slots on local stations.”
The greatest leap forward came when Apple decided to integrate a podcast directory into its iTunes music client. Since June this year, iTunes users — which includes the about 20-million iPod owners around the world — have been able to view, download and listen to a wide range of podcasts. It has already registered millions of subscriptions.
Apple isn’t the only one getting involved. This week, Yahoo unveiled a service that lets users search for, subscribe to and review podcasts. This follows moves by companies such as AOL and the search engine Blinkx, which both have podcast-related offerings.
“The future of sitting in front of a box that has just one function is going away,” says Cridland. “It’s a platform that is a much more level playing field: anyone with decent content can distribute it.”
It is a far cry from the days of crowding around the wireless. Now, just as people have been carrying their own music around with them, they’re taking their own radio shows as well. When Mae West whispered, “come up and see me sometime when I’ve got nothing but the radio on”, she probably didn’t imagine she would be wearing an iPod. — Â