Like a thief in the night, the hashtag #PodcastDay emerged on trending lists throughout social media last week to pay homage to a phenomenon that equally snuck into a mainstream audience when it first emerged more than a decade ago.
September 30 was set aside by InternationPodcastDay.com to spread the news on anything and everything about the subject of what is essentially Internet broadcasting.
Today, podcasts are ubiquitous in the lives of a mobile world, so trying to define this means of communication is a waste of time for many. Fixing the word “Internet” to said definition also grossly underplays its benefits, which is allowing listeners to subscribe, download content onto a mobile device, and listen at will.
Podcasting is a term first used by reporter Ben Hammersley in a piece he wrote for The Guardian in February 2004. Hammersley reported on a trend fueled by the popularity of iPods and the cheap audio technology used to take advantage of a new audience. He just didn’t know what to call it.
“Audioblogging? Podcasting? GuerillaMedia?” asked Hammersley, rhetorically. Podcasting would remain in lexicon, but “GuerillaMedia” broached the subject of a new world order for journalism.
Flash forward another four years, Edison Research finds 37 percent of Americans have heard of podcasting, while Pew Research finds 19 percent of Internet users it sampled had downloaded a postcast. When Pew Research broached the subject again the following year, the number of those who downloaded a podcast nearly doubled to 32 percent. It’s about at this same time, in March 2009, television personality Adam Carolla starts a run of nearly 60 million unique downloads from March 2009 to March 2011, a Guinness World Record.
“It’s a new way of exploring an old means of broadcasting – which is radio,” said Liz Richards, assistant professor of communications at the College of Saint Rose. “It was really heralded as a savior for radio. Since broadcast television became more accessible, radio sort of declined.”
Within the same timeline of the rise of podcasting, there has been a steady increase in the perceived demise of print journalism. Much like how the Buggles proclaimed “video killed the radio star” in 1980, advancing technology has opened an instant audience to anyone possessing as little as a smartphone and Wi-Fi access.
In the movie “Pump Up the Volume,” actor Christian Slater stars as an angst-ridden teenager who voices out his frustrations over the airways on a pirate radio station out of his bedroom. Though the movie is now 25 years old — dating back to before chatrooms on America Online — it represents a microcosm to today’s Internet broadcasting phenomenon.
“I just started looking back to get ‘Pump Up the Volume,’” said Herb Cloutier, founder of FanBoysInc.com “It wasn’t revolutionary, but it started out on its own.” He recalls reading an interview with Slater on the movie’s 25th anniversary. “The interviewer brought up podcasting. [Slater] feels he was part of the podcast movement back then … back in that day private radio was the only way – there was no podcasting.”
Cloutier started out in “Internet radio” seven years ago with Ken Lytle for a broadcast from RadioUgly.com. “In 2005, he was where I am now.” He helped with logo design, and co-hosted on the air. But, he ultimately walked away to concentrate on his professional career as a graphic artist, only to come back to it four years ago.
“Four years ago, I asked what is this podcast thing?” said Cloutier. He soon realized what he was doing at Radio Ugly was the same thing “And, I started kicking myself for not learning the back-end production.”
Herb now manages five podcast productions off the website dedicated to all things fandom, from his home base out of Saratoga Springs. The shows go by the names “Incast,” “DW and Incredible Jeff Show,” “Random Sh*t, Random Guy,” “Popping the Cherrywood,” and “The Infinite Crossover.” It’s a popular franchise that started out covering the subject of comic books, and later, toy collecting. Eventually, podcasts started to delve into everyday pop culture. Now, the show garners a healthy enough following to lure sponsorships to help pay for operations.
Some of that pop culture leads to talk about the day’s headlines.
“We always try to do something that’s pertinent and current,” said Cloutier. “Yes, we’ll break out and talk about the news, but the website is not a news site. It’s more entertainment. I’m not really sure I would call myself a journalist. We try to make it fun for the person as they are listening.”
Gregarious in nature, Cloutier (or DW) finds himself behind the microphone starting off each show with current events. Recently, the discussion turned to the murders of Virginia television reporter Alison Parker and cameraman Adam Ward, whose murders where recorded by the assailant Bryce Williams, and subsequently uploaded onto the Internet. Cloutier mentioned a similar act done on Parascope.com, a video streaming service. The ability to broadcast material, any material, to a mass audience without regulations in place for radio, television, even feature films, have people wondering what should be done with the Internet.
“Not saying there should be regulations. There should be, maybe,” said Cloutier. “It’s hard to say because I don’t want an [Federal Communications Commission] regulating pocasts. … There should be some moderating, but no regulations.”
Today, there are more than 250,000 unique podcasts residing on Apple’s iTunes, according to the Cupertino, CA company’s own figures. On occasion, Cloutier and his staff of personalities ranks within the Top 100. The popularity has caught the attention of financial backers like Death Wish Coffee. Cloutier said there is also discussions of leading a seminar on podcasting at a New York City school.
Cloutier said he and his staff maintains a code of ethics that is self-regulated. Schools like the College of Saint Rose, are educating students on the importance.
“It’s absolutely something I incorporate into my classes,” said Richards. “Anybody can use a video camera. Anybody can use an audio recorder. We can teach a chimp to do these things.” Richards’ students learn the logistics of the interview process, the potential dangers associated with thrusting oneself on the scene and the concerns over legality issues. “You don’t necessarily know what you’re doing or the legal implications,” she said.
Just as the news of the radio star’s demise was exaggerated decades ago, the professor said she has observed how newspapers have evolved to incorporate podcasting into their operations.
“What I see newspapers doing quite well, New York Times being one of them, is that they are using podcasts,” said Richards. As an example, a podcast can follow a column where the author is interviewed on the subject, sometimes accompanied by visual animation to provide additional content for the paper’s website. Print, audio, video – each medium can survive independently, said Richards, but the marriage of the three enhances the reader’s experience. “It’s a compliment to print media,” she said.
