March 24, 2005
Radio Beat: Local stations are tuning into podcasting
By BILL VIRGIN SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/tv/217244_radiocolumn24.html
How do you listen to your favorite radio programs? And when?
The traditional answers were: On a radio receiving an over-the-air signal, and whenever the station decided to broadcast the program.
The Internet provided some new answers. You can listen to programs through Web streams on a computer. Some stations now archive programs on their Web sites.
Thanks to technology, there's yet another set of answers: you can listen to your favorite radio programs on an iPod or similar device, and do so any time you want.
The reason is podcasting, a technology that allows listeners to automatically download their favorite shows to their computers, transfer those audio files to iPods or other MP3 players and take those shows with them to listen to at their convenience.
Much of the ink on podcasting has been devoted to the technology as a challenge to traditional radio, as independent programmers put together their own shows that anyone can download.
But traditional broadcasters are also seizing on podcasts as one more way to reach audiences, including those not currently tuned in.
KOMO-AM (1000) was one of the first commercial stations in the nation to offer podcasting, through its Web site, www.komonews.com "There's a voracious appetite for it, once people figure it out," says Stan Orchard, assistant director of news and programming at KOMO Radio.
KPLU-FM (88.5) yesterday launched podcasting for locally produced news stories, "Jazz Kitchen" with Dick Stein and "BirdNote." Its Web site, www.kplu.org, and KOMO's provide explanations to listeners on what's needed to set up and receive podcasts.
KUOW-FM (94.9) says it plans to make podcasts of local news and information programming available "shortly."
Orchard says the transition to podcasting wasn't difficult since "we were already creating the content for the Web site." Full newscasts work less well for podcasts, since they're time-sensitive, he says. "It's more for individual stories and longer-form stuff."
What you may notice in these initial offerings of podcasting is what's not available: music. That's because stations and record labels are wrestling with the rights to the music and problems with replicating and distributing digital files of songs.
"It's certainly something we would love to do for our listeners but we have questions about intellectual property, " says Tom Mara, executive director of KEXP-FM.
But radio stations also don't want to be left behind the podcasting trend. "We're always looking to appeal to the broadest spectrum of audience," says Martin Neeb, general manager at KPLU-FM. Offering podcasting allows radio to reach out to a younger demographic than its existing audience, he adds.
One other challenge for commercial radio stations is figuring out whether podcasting will generate any revenue for the station or be absorbed as one more operational and marketing expense.
Podcasting isn't the only technology traditional radio broadcasters are pursuing.
KEXP-FM, for example, is working on technology that would allow streaming of its broadcasts to cell phones and wireless Internet devices.
KUOW-FM, meanwhile, announced it is using digital broadcast technology to offer a second "channel" of news and information programming called KUOW2 (which it has been steaming for months). That's in anticipation of new digital radios that will be able to pick up multiple channels on the same frequency.
================================ George Antunes, Political Science Dept University of Houston; Houston, TX 77204 Voice: 713-743-3923 Fax: 713-743-3927 antunes at uh dot edu
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