Congrats Adam!
Rock on! The New York Times has the news that Adam Curry is going to be hosting a four hour daily Podcast Show on Sirius Satellite Radio. Fantastic! This is really, really great! Why? Well, first because I like Adam. But more importantly, because I think that four hours is just the beginning. Combine this news with the announcement the other day of the San Francisco radio station that's going all-podcast and this to me marks the beginning of the end for traditional mass-market media. Seriously, what blogging is doing to traditional print media - adding a much needed external voice and opinion - podcasting and soon it's video offspring is going to do to mass media.
You've heard it before, I'm sure, but I really believe it. Where blogs have made everyone a publisher, podcasting and other time-shifted user generated media is going to make everyone a broadcaster. The content has to get easier to create and consume (and that's what is happening now) and then I can see it dropping like a bomb onto the mass market. I'm not alone in this obviously - companies like Sirius and Infinity are investing in Podcasting because they see the opportunity there. Honestly, just about everyone who tries podcasting "gets it" right away. Though it's a no-brainer, it's definitely one of those things that you have to experience to believe. Explaining what podcasting never seems to work - but once someone tries it, they're hooked and they want *all* their media to work that way. It's like TiVo in more ways than one.
What amazes me is how insanely fast the Podcasting movement seems to be growing. It was just last Summer that Adam wrote the Apple Scripts that got it all working and gave it it's name. Though just working doesn't really explain the phenomenon. By using his experience in media (and minor celebrity status) to give the first Podcasts that professional quality Adam really showed us all what was possible and moved everything forward I think a lot faster than normal. If anyone else had done Podcasting first, it wouldn't have taken off nearly as fast, if at all. I think it's amazing what Adam's done.
Exciting stuff...
-Russ