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The Future of Podcasting is Here
How you can be a part of it
by Pam Baumeister
Fruition Consultants
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If you are familiar with all the new technology, you won’t confuse the word “podcasting” with some science fiction fishing adventure. Podcasting is the distribution of video or audio files over the internet. Web surfers can download content from podcasters’ sites or subscribe through sites like iTunes.
Podcasting may not evoke images of an alien with hip waders and a fly fishing rod, but there may be a podcast about such things in the near future. According to Bridge Ratings, five million people last year listened to a podcast (1.5 percent of current U.S. population). By the year 2010, up to 75 million will have listened to a podcast. That’s a 1,400 percent increase!
The podcasting trend that started over a year ago has become a hobby of many people under the age of 50. Two–thirds of podcasters are male and 67 percent are 44 and younger, according to M:Metrics. With a few simple pieces of equipment, anyone with something to say can start their own podcast.
Jennifer Napier–Pearce, a radio journalist–turned–entrepreneur, is podcasting from her second–floor spare room of her home in Sugar House, a trendy Salt Lake City neighborhood. She became interested in podcasting from her techie husband who started listening to podcasts when podcasts first came out. Napier–Pearce wanted to change her pace from traditional radio and found podcasting to be the perfect transitional tool. Her show, InsideUtah.com, is her “creative space” where she can “hone her journalistic skills.”
“In radio there are time constraints. With a podcast I can let things play out,” says Napier–Pearce. She likes that aspect when she’s interviewing someone particularly interesting. Her show features Utah’s political and cultural happenings. She has interviewed U.S. Senators Orrin Hatch and Bob Bennett, Salt Lake City Mayor Rocky Anderson, and Utah Governor John Huntsman, Jr. Also included in InsideUtah.com’s impressive roster of guests are painter Nathan Florence, playwright Allan Nevins, and Utah Film Society director Tori Baker.
You don’t need to be a broadcast journalist or have a fancy schmancy guest list to produce your own podcast. Because this is still such an experimental outlet for anyone to express themselves, podcasting can be about anything. Do you have something vital to say? Are you an expert in your field? Do you want to promote your business or ideas? Podcasting may be the way you can share what you know with many people and maintain low overhead cost.
Once you know your format and content, as well as how long your show will be and how often you want to record, you’ll need to get the equipment necessary to get started.
| What You Need to Get Started: |
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Extras, For More Professional Quality Sound: |
| A computer with a fast internet connection |
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A flash recorder (like Marantz PMD 670 for around $500) |
| At least 250 gigabyte hard drive |
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Mixing board (like Barringer for around $75) |
| Software to edit your audio files, like Adobe Audition for PCs or ProTools for Macs |
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| A minidisk recorder for interviews |
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| A multi–directional field microphone |
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The next step is finding a podcast provider and starting to experiment. Don’t expect perfection the first time. Your first several shows will take quite a bit more time than you would expect. Consider this your tweaking time.
“I was spending over 40 hours per week on one show,” says Napier–Pearce. Now, a show takes her about ten hours. She has been producing her own podcast for almost a year and has interviewed over 120 people. The show posts on the web every Friday, and most shows are under 30 minutes in duration.
Whether you decide to do one show per week or one per month, don’t expect to make any money, unless you’re willing to sell your own advertising time. Right now, Napier–Pearce is making nothing for the podcast. She does it because she loves it.
“I went from having one job to having three,” she points out. She not only produces a weekly podcast, but also fills in as an anchor for Salt Lake City radio station KUER, and teaches news writing at the University of Utah.
Who knows where she’ll be in another five years, but right now this podcasting pioneer is feeling very fulfilled.
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Pam Baumeister is the co-owner of Fruition Consultants, an Advertising/PR firm. She has been involved in media for more than a decade in several interesting capacities. As an actress, talk show host, morning on-air co-host, corporate media relations coordinator and weekend deejay, Pam loves talking to people and sharing their stories. She also freelances for the Salt Lake Tribune and is working on starting her own podcast for women entrepreneurs.
fruitionconsultants.com |
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Miracle Max: Don't rush me sonny. You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles. |
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