Nickdfresh
03-30-2006, 10:07 AM
Discuss, and post links to excerpts from, to your favorite political radio Podcast/MP3 download. Discuss personalities that you listen too on your daily drive, while working in the home or office, or (like me) while sitting home alone with the door barricaded and an assault rifle in your hand...
First installment, Mark Levine's "Inside Scoop (http://www.radioinsidescoop.com/)."
I've listen to a few Podcasts of this guy while driving long distance. He's not on im my market and I'm stuck with only Rush on the lone commercial news-talk station, which sucks since I can only get a right bent form that money grubbing asshat. Levine (no relation to the other Levine) is a moderate Liberal carried on the TalkStar network and is limited in the market selection...
Any, here's an article on political Podcasting from the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20235-2005Mar9?language=printer)
Bloggers, Meet the Pod People
By Leslie Walker
Thursday, March 10, 2005; Page E01
Jeff and Tina Henry-Barrus were lying in bed in their Adams Morgan apartment a few weeks ago when he grabbed his Macintosh laptop and started recording their pillow talk.
Their Boston terrier got in the act, jumping up with his owners and snoring in the background of their maiden podcast, a new way to distribute audio that is sweeping the Internet and prompting talk of homespun programs knocking commercial radio off the air.
The husband-wife duo, with twins on the way, has since recorded two more half-hour talk shows and podcast all three to the Web, where anyone can download and listen to their banter on iPods or other portable music players. More than 100 strangers did just that the first week the D.C. couple started podcasting with a silly riff about falafel and family life posted to his and hers blogs (www.restaurantfuel.com and www.ilikeseamonsters.com.)
"Our theme is to let people watch the lifestyle of these urban hipsters change as we go through this pregnancy and end up with two babies," said pink-haired Tina Henry-Barrus, 31, who is four months pregnant.
Although the technology is less than a year old, thousands of people are podcasting nationwide, meaning they post audio files online in a format allowing personal computers to zap them to portable MP3 players. The word "podcasting" is a mash-up, a contraction of broadcasting and iPod, the popular music player from Apple Computer.
The big idea is to let people save Internet audio so they can listen whenever they want from a computer or handheld device. Receiving software lets people pick podcasts from online directories, clicking a button to tell their computers to find and download new versions of those selected programs. Files automatically get copied to iPods.
At least they're supposed to: I tested two receiving programs and found both raw and rickety. Some shows I downloaded disappeared from my computer before I got a chance to listen or transfer them to my iPod; others wouldn't appear in my playlist no matter how many buttons I clicked. And not surprisingly, the content quality was uneven.
Topics range as widely as human conversation -- political rants, religious sermons dubbed Godcasts, musical mixes, kitchen gossip and barroom chatter called beercasts. A few big corporations have experimented with podcasts, including one General Motors recorded at a Chicago auto show. While home recordings are attracting the most publicity, commercial broadcasters are making over-the-air shows available, too, adding fuel to the larger trend of time-shifting radio.
BBC Radio offers its "Fighting Talk" show as a podcast, and some National Public Radio stations are doing the same with their regular programs. Locally, WTOP Radio began podcasting some on-air fare a few weeks ago. Yesterday, it launched its first made-for-podcasting program, a new afternoon newscast called the Podcast Update.
"We will market this to Metro riders, saying, 'Before you leave work, download this thing and you get an eight-minute news update to listen to on your ride home,' " said Steve Dolge, WTOP's Internet operations manager.
Local radio host Mark Levine (His tag line: "All the news from Washington that the government doesn't want you to know'') jumped mike-first into the on-demand audio movement a few months ago, podcasting his one-hour daily talk show that airs on Leesburg-based WAGE-AM (1200).
"I get about 5,000 people a month downloading my podcast, and that is growing," said Levine, whose podcasts are posted online at www.radioinsidescoop.com.
Levine's show has advertising spots carried over from on-air broadcasts, but WTOP plans no commercial messages in its original podcast, at least not initially. As for at-home podcasters, most have no clue how to make money.
Jeff and Tina Henry-Barrus have modest costs -- they pay $15 a month to a Web hosting firm, edit their shows with free audio software and upgraded last week from a built-in laptop mike to a $54 plug-in model.
"The greatest thing about podcasting is it lets regular people make radio," said Jeff Barrus, 30. "It would be nice to make money from it, but I don't think that is going to happen."
Thanks to copyright issues, spicing podcasts with songs poses a problem for hobbyists. While the D.C. couple would love to sprinkle urban tunes into their weekly show, they can't afford the licensing fees required to distribute copyrighted music online -- and they won't risk the lawsuits they believe the recording industry will file against podcasters who play unlicensed music.
Podcasting has become a magnet for software entrepreneurs, who think it could turn out to be bigger than the blogging movement and are eager to get in early.
Arlington resident Roger Strickland, a federal technology consultant by day, has become a podcast service provider by night. His $4.95-a-month www.slapcast.com hosts podcasts and lets people record shows by calling a toll-free number and talking into any phone.
Strickland said the bug bit him while he was riding the Metro to work in D.C. and listening to podcasts on his iPod Mini. His favorite is "Daily Source Code," a geeky gabfest recorded by Adam Curry, the former MTV video jockey who co-created podcasting software with blogging pioneer Dave Winer.
"It is replacing radio and dead times on commutes for a lot of people," said Strickland. "I can listen to a real human voice and get a point of view I may not have considered before."
Advertisers are starting to show interest, too.
Doug Kaye runs www.itconversations.com out of his spare bedroom in Kentfield, Calif., offering 450 free podcasts of speeches and interviews with technology executives. Kaye has one sponsor now and said two more are on tap, which should allow him to expand his one-man operation and hire a few independent producers.
The veteran sound engineer sees podcasting as part of a bigger trend toward mobile, on-demand media. "When I can subscribe to a podcast directly from my cell phone -- without needing a laptop or computer -- then it will be really big," Kaye said.
That day may come this year or next, but I wouldn't bet on cell phone carriers letting ordinary people crack into their tightly controlled, still-emerging networks for mobile radio and TV. Then again, the iPod's funky culture is spawning such strong demand for on-the-go media that new audio advertising and subscription models almost certainly will follow.
Leslie Walker's e-mail address is walkerl@washpost.com.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
It's kind of cool that if you have an iPod and the time and drive, you can get at least snippets of any radio show you want and play it in your car...
First installment, Mark Levine's "Inside Scoop (http://www.radioinsidescoop.com/)."
I've listen to a few Podcasts of this guy while driving long distance. He's not on im my market and I'm stuck with only Rush on the lone commercial news-talk station, which sucks since I can only get a right bent form that money grubbing asshat. Levine (no relation to the other Levine) is a moderate Liberal carried on the TalkStar network and is limited in the market selection...
Any, here's an article on political Podcasting from the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A20235-2005Mar9?language=printer)
Bloggers, Meet the Pod People
By Leslie Walker
Thursday, March 10, 2005; Page E01
Jeff and Tina Henry-Barrus were lying in bed in their Adams Morgan apartment a few weeks ago when he grabbed his Macintosh laptop and started recording their pillow talk.
Their Boston terrier got in the act, jumping up with his owners and snoring in the background of their maiden podcast, a new way to distribute audio that is sweeping the Internet and prompting talk of homespun programs knocking commercial radio off the air.
The husband-wife duo, with twins on the way, has since recorded two more half-hour talk shows and podcast all three to the Web, where anyone can download and listen to their banter on iPods or other portable music players. More than 100 strangers did just that the first week the D.C. couple started podcasting with a silly riff about falafel and family life posted to his and hers blogs (www.restaurantfuel.com and www.ilikeseamonsters.com.)
"Our theme is to let people watch the lifestyle of these urban hipsters change as we go through this pregnancy and end up with two babies," said pink-haired Tina Henry-Barrus, 31, who is four months pregnant.
Although the technology is less than a year old, thousands of people are podcasting nationwide, meaning they post audio files online in a format allowing personal computers to zap them to portable MP3 players. The word "podcasting" is a mash-up, a contraction of broadcasting and iPod, the popular music player from Apple Computer.
The big idea is to let people save Internet audio so they can listen whenever they want from a computer or handheld device. Receiving software lets people pick podcasts from online directories, clicking a button to tell their computers to find and download new versions of those selected programs. Files automatically get copied to iPods.
At least they're supposed to: I tested two receiving programs and found both raw and rickety. Some shows I downloaded disappeared from my computer before I got a chance to listen or transfer them to my iPod; others wouldn't appear in my playlist no matter how many buttons I clicked. And not surprisingly, the content quality was uneven.
Topics range as widely as human conversation -- political rants, religious sermons dubbed Godcasts, musical mixes, kitchen gossip and barroom chatter called beercasts. A few big corporations have experimented with podcasts, including one General Motors recorded at a Chicago auto show. While home recordings are attracting the most publicity, commercial broadcasters are making over-the-air shows available, too, adding fuel to the larger trend of time-shifting radio.
BBC Radio offers its "Fighting Talk" show as a podcast, and some National Public Radio stations are doing the same with their regular programs. Locally, WTOP Radio began podcasting some on-air fare a few weeks ago. Yesterday, it launched its first made-for-podcasting program, a new afternoon newscast called the Podcast Update.
"We will market this to Metro riders, saying, 'Before you leave work, download this thing and you get an eight-minute news update to listen to on your ride home,' " said Steve Dolge, WTOP's Internet operations manager.
Local radio host Mark Levine (His tag line: "All the news from Washington that the government doesn't want you to know'') jumped mike-first into the on-demand audio movement a few months ago, podcasting his one-hour daily talk show that airs on Leesburg-based WAGE-AM (1200).
"I get about 5,000 people a month downloading my podcast, and that is growing," said Levine, whose podcasts are posted online at www.radioinsidescoop.com.
Levine's show has advertising spots carried over from on-air broadcasts, but WTOP plans no commercial messages in its original podcast, at least not initially. As for at-home podcasters, most have no clue how to make money.
Jeff and Tina Henry-Barrus have modest costs -- they pay $15 a month to a Web hosting firm, edit their shows with free audio software and upgraded last week from a built-in laptop mike to a $54 plug-in model.
"The greatest thing about podcasting is it lets regular people make radio," said Jeff Barrus, 30. "It would be nice to make money from it, but I don't think that is going to happen."
Thanks to copyright issues, spicing podcasts with songs poses a problem for hobbyists. While the D.C. couple would love to sprinkle urban tunes into their weekly show, they can't afford the licensing fees required to distribute copyrighted music online -- and they won't risk the lawsuits they believe the recording industry will file against podcasters who play unlicensed music.
Podcasting has become a magnet for software entrepreneurs, who think it could turn out to be bigger than the blogging movement and are eager to get in early.
Arlington resident Roger Strickland, a federal technology consultant by day, has become a podcast service provider by night. His $4.95-a-month www.slapcast.com hosts podcasts and lets people record shows by calling a toll-free number and talking into any phone.
Strickland said the bug bit him while he was riding the Metro to work in D.C. and listening to podcasts on his iPod Mini. His favorite is "Daily Source Code," a geeky gabfest recorded by Adam Curry, the former MTV video jockey who co-created podcasting software with blogging pioneer Dave Winer.
"It is replacing radio and dead times on commutes for a lot of people," said Strickland. "I can listen to a real human voice and get a point of view I may not have considered before."
Advertisers are starting to show interest, too.
Doug Kaye runs www.itconversations.com out of his spare bedroom in Kentfield, Calif., offering 450 free podcasts of speeches and interviews with technology executives. Kaye has one sponsor now and said two more are on tap, which should allow him to expand his one-man operation and hire a few independent producers.
The veteran sound engineer sees podcasting as part of a bigger trend toward mobile, on-demand media. "When I can subscribe to a podcast directly from my cell phone -- without needing a laptop or computer -- then it will be really big," Kaye said.
That day may come this year or next, but I wouldn't bet on cell phone carriers letting ordinary people crack into their tightly controlled, still-emerging networks for mobile radio and TV. Then again, the iPod's funky culture is spawning such strong demand for on-the-go media that new audio advertising and subscription models almost certainly will follow.
Leslie Walker's e-mail address is walkerl@washpost.com.
© 2005 The Washington Post Company
It's kind of cool that if you have an iPod and the time and drive, you can get at least snippets of any radio show you want and play it in your car...