Cirrus@Austlit

PODCASTING

A podcast is a program (usually audio, sometimes video) which is made available as a downloadable digital file. It can be delivered via an RSS feed (see below) over the internet to a subscriber. Podcasts are designed for playback on computers and mobile devices such as digital audio players, smartphones and iPads.

The first Australian podcast appears to be G’Day World, made available on the internet on 29 November 2004. Founders Mick Stanic and Cameron Reilly claim they were inspired by hearing downloadable MP3 recordings from the pioneering American IT Conversations Network (2003–12), founded by computer-software executive Doug Kaye.

While the iPod inspired the neologism ‘podcasting’, the phenomenon’s origins were in the ‘open source’ movement in the United States, where ‘audio blogging’ was pioneered. This innovation was the culmination of a series of computing developments including compressed audio files (the MP3 format), the Really Simple Syndication (RSS) file format (allowing a user to subscribe to a podcast series), and podcasting and other digital recording and editing software.

In June 2005, Apple added a podcasting feature to its iTunes software, at the same time making more than 3000 podcasts available free. The appeal of podcasting transcended the consumption of audio files by computer users, as iTunes allowed users to create and publish their own podcasts. Podcasting thereby incorporated aspects of both production and consumption. Anyone can create a podcast with a laptop and microphone.

The BBC was the first public sector broadcaster (PSB) to trial podcasting in late 2004 with some of its specialist talk programs. ABC Radio was not far behind. The first Australian station to offer a program for download was ABC’s youth network, Triple J, which trialled podcasts of its current affairs show, Hack, in December 2004. In late 2004, Radio National (RN) decided to podcast, and six months later, eight of its flagship programs could be subscribed to with RSS technology. The huge takeup of this new service resulted in unprecedented downloads for the network. RN commanded the highest downloads for its programming across the ABC between 2005 and 2013.

Podcasts have become part of a revised multi-platform vision for all kinds of media organisations. Regular podcasts (and video ‘vodcasts’) are offered by media ranging from newspapers to community and commercial radio stations through their online portals, with broadcasting organisations moving from the one-to-many delivery of programs (broadcasting) to a far more convergent model. Podcasts in their purely audio form might be understood as extending and invigorating the life of traditional broadcast radio programming. They have also allowed a renewed focus on high talk content, and on the auditory experience. The majority of podcasts are talk based, and do not appear to be a threat to traditional services; rather, they appear to be contributing to rejuvenation of the industry.

Along with web radio, ‘audio on demand’ and ‘streaming’, introduced in the late 1990s, an extended ‘sound work’ industry has emerged in many developed countries, including Australia. Podcasting success stories such as This American Life are now part of this global environment of renewed audio/radio creativity, making audio programming and radio forms of this kind more visible than before. These programs are not only broadcast in real time (for example, on the ABC), but have cultivated new audiences in Australia through their podcast downloads and subscriptions via iTunes and their websites.

Radio comedy in Australia has benefited from the podcasting boom. Early podcasting saw a huge range of comedy programs proliferating. In 2010, the Age described comedians Josh Thomas and Tom Ward’s Josh Thomas and Friends podcast as ‘one of the best non-radio comedy podcasts’. Wil Anderson was another comedian who moved into the flourishing world of podcasts: in 2012, his TOFOP [Thirty Odd Foot of Podcast] podcast (with actor Charlie Clausen) attracted ‘as many as 50,000 downloads an episode’. Other prominent podcasters in Australian comedy include former breakfast radio hosts Wendy Harmer and Angela Catterns.

Like the PSBs – and before DAB radio – commercial radio networks such as Nova, Triple M and 2Day began investing heavily in content initiatives aimed at delivery to PCs and MP3 players. Podcasting trials in 2005 transformed into regular services. Along with top-rating podcasts of big-name duos like Hamish and Andy and Kyle and Jackie O, today they offer highlights packages of their most popular breakfast and drive-time programs, selected music and specialist content like Your Tech Life, which airs on Sydney’s 2GB. Australian community radio also offers a huge range of podcasts from its talk base, and – like Triple J – also offers MP3s of independent music recorded by the sector. Australia’s first and only gay and lesbian community radio station, JOY 94.9FM in Melbourne was selected in early 2014 as the first Australian community broadcaster to join the Apple iTunes Featured Podcast Provider program.

Podcasting has become standard for most radio stations and networks. It bypasses the limited or disrupted reach of traditional AM/FM radio, delivering audio programming and ‘radio-like’ content on demand to potentially global audiences. For broadcasters, podcasting operates in a non-linear manner; however, podcasting need not be defined in opposition to broadcasting.

For countless amateur producers, podcasting provides a means of distribution that confounds the former professional broadcasting monopoly – whether public, community or commercial. Yet this largely free, ‘time-shifted’ dissemination remains predicated on an ethos developed with broadcasting in its formative period and with an idea of the ‘gift ecology’ of the ‘commons’.

REFs: V. Madsen & J. Potts, ‘Voice-cast: The Distribution of the Voice via Podcasting’, in N. Neumark, R. Gibson & T. Leeuwen (eds), The Grain of the Voice in Digital Media and Media Art (2010); S. Murray, ‘Servicing “self-scheduling consumers”: Public broadcasters and audio podcasting’, Global Media and Communication, 5(2) (2009).

VIRGINIA MADSEN