Today in Digital Marketing - Weekend Surprise: The Start of Podcasting

Episode Date: May 15, 2021

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Hey, surprise, it's Todd. It's a special weekend edition of Today in Digital Marketing. As some of you know, I sometimes do these weekend editions that often don't have much at all to do with digital marketing, but I thought you'd like this one anyway for your weekend rest. Years and years ago, I used to be the technology columnist for CBC Radio, which is Canada's public broadcaster. And 17 years ago, one of the pieces that I did was on this new trend that was coming up called podcasting. This, I think, was the very first time that audiences in Canada heard about podcasting on the CBC. So I hope you'll enjoy it. It's certainly a throwback. It's certainly, I think, entertaining to listen to the excruciating pains that I went to to describe what an iPod was, what a blog was.

Remember, this is 17 years ago. Anyway, so here it is. Enjoy, and I'll talk to you with the regular episodes on Monday. In a coffee shop in Charlottetown, Stephen Garrity is sitting down with a friend, a cup of lemon iced tea, and a laptop computer. A few keystrokes later, and he's on the air. Live from the Formosa Tea House. Live from the Formosa Tea House.

Live from the Formosa Tea House. Live from the Formosa Tea House. We're back at the Formosa Tea House. This is Stephen Garrity here. This is the new face of radio, at least if people like Garrity have their way. It's called podcasting. It works like this. Ordinary people record their own show of sorts at least if people like Garrity have their way. It's called podcasting.

It works like this. Ordinary people record their own show of sorts into their computer. Then they post that show online for others to download and listen to. But don't expect high production values yet. This is a trend just emerging. Garrity's show isn't interrupted by commercials. It's interrupted by the waiter. Indeed, most podcast shows so far sound

a little bit campy. Hi, welcome to the Don and Drew show. I'm Don and Sally. Hi, I'm Drew Domkus. Take this example, broadcast from Wayne, Wisconsin. And it's cold. It's very cold. We started a fire today. Yeah. Well, like in the wood burner.

In the wood burner, yeah. So Drew, start opening up with what you're wearing. Okay, I'm wearing some hand-me-down hill figure jeans. But others sound downright professional. From the Silicon Valley, San Francisco, and the rest of California, I'm Eric Rice, and this is my show. This guy created a show by literally wandering around a technology conference with his laptop and doing impromptu interviews with industry pundits he bumped into. I'm standing here with Sam Tesla, who started, and this is very deja vu, especially for those

of you familiar with the Apple Store user group. You started a user group. Podcasting is evolving out of the blog trend, short for weblog, sort of an online diary. And like the beginnings of the blogging trend, today's podcasters are mostly extreme computer users, the early adopters, for whom the word nerd is a badge of honor. But increasingly, their content is going mainstream.

Well, good afternoon, friends, family, world leaders. Welcome to the Daily Source Code for Wednesday, October 6th. This guy, Adam Curry, used to be a VJ at MTV. Now, he produces a daily podcast out of his castle in the Netherlands. Actually, we've got a lot of cool things lined up for today's show. I've got, oh boy, I've got a couple of songs to play for you. Lots of examples of new podcasts. One of the reasons podcasting is taking off is the way it's distributed.

Listeners can download the show and play it on their computer, but there's an easier way. Using special software, listeners who own iPods, those portable music devices from Apple, can have their iPod automatically store the latest episode of their favorite show. It's sort of like a VCR that tapes your favorite programs overnight while you sleep. Except in this case, it's taping radio shows. For now, if you want to catch a podcast, you'll have to hunt around. The main website that lists available shows, podcaster.net, only has about 35 shows listed. But that number is growing daily, as more people become self-made talk show hosts.

And that is getting some radio executives nervous. Think about it. With enough of an audience of iPod listeners, it's entirely possible some of the better podcasters could actually attract advertisers. Advertisers who want to reach tech-savvy and niche market listeners. In that scenario, radio stations, as we traditionally know them, would become irrelevant. Who needs to tune to a particular station, or even bookmark a specific website,

if every morning your listening device has already filtered out the shows you don't like, and left the few you do? You might argue it's already happening to television, where fewer viewers stick with a single channel through a whole evening, but rather pick and choose based on the show brand. Either way, today's podcasters are on to something, whether they realize it or not. Have a good night, Internet.

Good night, Internet. For CBC Radio, I'm Todd Maffin.