E-COMMERCE
SHOPPING - DRIVE
MAY 8, 2008

Internet broadcasting
Podcasters are finding a place in business and in leisure.
By Linda Melone

If you’ve ever fantasized about hosting a radio show, podcasting may be your ticket to Internet stardom. Defined as Internet broadcasting, podcasts enable a host to create a show and send it to subscribers via the Internet. Adam Curry, an MTV host, was one of the first celebrities to
create his own website and pioneered podcasting in the early 2000s, earning him the title of “Podfather.”

A podcast loads digital media files onto the Internet for playback on computers and portable players such as Apple iPods. With thousands of podcasts available, subscribers can have programs automatically sent to their iPods or computers when the host produces a new show.

“Podcasting really took off when Apple started supporting it in 2005,” says Ron Ploof of Aliso Viejo, podcast producer at Griddlecakes Radio (griddlecakes.com) and a member of the Orange County Podcasters. “Approximately 95 percent of my 2,000 subscribers are people who subscribe to my show through iTunes. I even get comments to my website from people stationed in Afghanistan, which is really humbling.”

Creating a podcast can be a challenge for most non-techies, although in the past several years, podcast software has made great strides in becoming more user-friendly. But Ploof admits it takes him about 10 hours to produce a podcast. That’s why he dropped the frequency of his broadcast from bi-weekly to once every 5 to 6 weeks.

In his show, Griddlecakes Radio, Ploof shares stories from his personal life mixed in with “pod-safe” music. The Recording Industry Association of America has made it illegal to put music to podcasts without the artists’s permission. An artist looking for exposure can allow the podcaster to use the music, provided credit is given during the program.

From a popular show for moms called Mommycasts to Christian shows referred to as Godcasts – and even podcasts about other podcasts – the popularity of this fledgling industry will likely continue to increase. And, although he’s yet to make a profit, Ploof convinced his employer – the Fortune 1000 company Synopsys Inc. of Irvine – to create a position for him in marketing as the new media evangelist. He says it allows him to put his podcasting skills to work in corporate communications: “Podcasting is a powerful way for companies to communicate both internally and externally. There’s power in the small audience.” OCM

Linda Melone is OC METRO Business Magazine’s e-commerce columnist.