9/12/11
by Brian Baltosiewich
Someone asked me if I thought podcasting was going to last. I was a little taken aback by the question, it?s still so ?new? and I?m so immersed in it right now that the thought podcasting could be a flash-in-the-pan had never occurred to me. Taking a step back, the answer is clearly no. Everything has its successor, and clearly, nothing is permanent. The next big revolution is around the corner.
Take radio for example. AM was huge, and it couldn?t get better. Until FM came along. Until satellite came along? until podcasting and internet streaming came along. Heck, even in eleven years my own personal experience with Internet programming has changed drastically. In 1999 I began producing an Internet sportstalk program that I eventually recorded in my apartment and sent to the website that had the guts enough to carry it. Our first show, though, was produced and webcast live in a local bar. We needed access to a phone line and unplugged the bars? ATM to get a line out.
Realizing that was the only phone line we had access to was limiting, as I had two guests lined up for phone calls. I took the headphone jack output from my cell phone and ran that into my mixer with a series of adapters that would have left MacGuyver in awe. Then I realized as we tested that setup that with the adapter plugged in, the guest couldn?t hear me. I would have to have the adapter unplugged as I asked the question, then quickly plug the adapter in before the guest started talking.
It was, I am quite sure, unlistenable. Which I am ok with because I am quite sure no one was listening- but for my own personal web programming journey it was the equivalent of ?Watson, come here! I need you!? The first step in what has become a bit of an obsession. Eventually the show reached the point where we would nearly max out the sites? capabilities on the days it was produced.
Anyway, I told you that story to make this point? that in the decade since that ugly first effort- Internet programming has developed to the point where anyone with a mic and a computer can have a show. Right now, podcasts are the venue of choice for thousands. Some advancement is going to come along (maybe it already has) and podcasting will go the way of the CD. We?ll have to adapt again? and again? and again. Embrace your inner MacGuyver now, and get used to it.
Brian Baltosiewich has been a broadcast professional for more than 20 years. His podcast website, www.radioexiles.com features professionally-produced podcasts from radio pro?s who have lost their gigs. Reach out to him at brian@radioexiles.com or through their twitter account @radioexiles and on Facebook at radioexiles.com
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