"Dining-Room DJs find Forum in Podcasting", by Adam Geller,

Durham Herald-Sun, March 5, 2005

CHAPEL HILL -- A radio revolution is going on right now, but not many people know about it.

A fledgling technology is enabling amateurs to syndicate homemade radio shows over the Internet for free. Podcasting, as it's called, doesn't require expensive broadcast licenses or radio towers. Most home computers come equipped with everything necessary: a microphone and a recording program. Add an Internet connection, and the recipe is complete.

UNC graduate student Bret Dougherty wanted to add his views on urban culture, sports and technology to the thousands of podcasts available.

"There is something that's new about this," said Dougherty. "I'm doing something that's really innovative and cool."

On a recent evening, Dougherty was ready for the big launch. Sitting in his makeshift studio, which on other nights is the dining room in a condo apartment near the UNC campus, Dougherty started up a record in the background and began his 12-minute journey to the end of his first recording.

Armed with a glass of cranberry juice at his side, Dougherty talked about Temple University basketball coach John Chaney, the urban effects of expanding Wrigley Field baseball stadium in Chicago and an update on college basketball player JamesOn Curry. Then, to end the night on a funky note, Dougherty played Ramon and Company's "Duck Walk."

Dougherty said the radio world will benefit from new voices like his.

"Why do I want to listen to boring [local stations]? I mean, they've been playing the same tunes since 1984," he said. "I want to hear some fresh stuff."

After the recording was done, Dougherty only needed to put the file on his Web site, www.irondogchronicles.com, to make the night's project complete. Family, friends and other computer users who subscribe to "The Irondog Chronicles" will have the new audio file delivered automatically.

This content delivery structure is fundamentally different from traditional radio. Radio stations, by design, push their content to listeners through the airwaves. It's a one-shot deal. You listen now or you've missed it.

With podcasting, the audio is available on the listener's schedule. Specialized programs, such as iPodder, routinely check podcast subscriptions to see if a new file is available and then automatically download it. Since the files are on the listener's computer, they can be transferred to a portable music player such as an iPod, a practice that helped create the name for this broadcasting trend.

This automatic syndication dynamic among the podcaster, the Internet server and the listener hinges on a technology called Really Simple Syndication. RSS is a coding style for files read by syndication software, much the same as HTML is a coding style for files read by a Web browser.

With podcasts, there is an RSS-type file containing informational tags like a name, language and author. Computer software can then interpret the info tags and accurately determine which files to download. RSS can be used to syndicate any type of content, not just audio files.

California programmer Dave Winer, who invented RSS, said RSS-enabled podcasting offers three advantages over traditional radio: unlimited availability, no limit on the geography where the broadcast can be heard and a low cost barrier for entry.

"Not everybody wants a radio show, for sure, and maybe not everyone wants one right now, but eventually some people do," said Winer. "I mean, I did, and that's why I started the podcasting stuff."

In addition to RSS, Winer developed the actual concept of podcasting with ex-MTV video-jockey Adam Curry.

"You get other media that come along, and they enable people to consume more or listen more or get more ads. Podcasting is about being creative and about people expressing themselves," Winer said.

Podcasting, Winer claimed, can attract people through its ability to convey information in different ways.

"You can read more than you can listen to in audio, but you get more information from audio," he said. "You get more emotion. It's more expressive, more interesting in some ways."

But even with thousands of podcasts available and thousands of syndication software downloads every week, people listening to podcasts represent a very small fraction of Internet users.

Winer said that widespread adoption isn't necessary to declare the technology successful.

"It will never be the case that most people ski, but it's still a fun sport. It's still a profitable business for people. It's still worthwhile, even though not everyone does it," he said.

In the long run, Winer envisions a medium that delivers a more realistic view on life because the content is unpolished and unfiltered.

"We like the flaws; it makes it real," he said. "So sorta come as you are -- we're just folks -- and tell your story."

Hear more about podcasting Monday, March 6, 2005 on The Chapel Hill Herald's news partner, WCHL radio.