« Daily Herald: Loud and clear | Main | Time Trax Joins in Support of Grokster »
March 28, 2005
Clear Channel will be Podcasting now - why not XM or SIRIUS?
I knew that Clear Channel was entering the Internet Radio arena, but what I didn't pick up was that that they plan on Podcasting as part of their new Web strategy.
Clear Channel will make five-minute, ad-supported segments available for download from station sites (and they have over 1,200 to choose from). Z100 Phonetap and morning drive-time shows are among the offerings the company plans to make available as downloads.
Read more:
I Love Radio | The Future of Radio
Now, I could care less if CC is successful with this attempt (ad supported 5 minute nuggets are pretty much useless to me) but this is a huge achievement for the Podcasting front. It makes the format legit. I'd like to see the Satellite Radio providers come on board with this progressive medium. During our awesome discussion about whether Internet Radio will be bigger than Satellite Radio, I really started to wonder if XM or SIRIUS would entertain the thought of delivering Podcasts through a dedicated station. A lofty thought, I know. But think about it.
XM and SIRIUS have an audience that is looking for specialized content. Want Tech Talk? Sure no problem! Want to listen to Dawn and Drew or the Daily Source Code? Just subscribe through the XM/SIRIUS Podcast interface. Why not use the Birds to stream a "my Podcasts" channel to your XM2go or ReGo unit? All the infrastructure is there already, all the satcasters need to do is create an interface for each listener to subscribe through.
I dunno. Maybe I'm smoking something, but to me it's the ultimate in custom radio.
March 28, 2005 10:13 AM
Comments
Very good points. You can count on it, especially if CC has one of their "Revenue Press Releases" that credits podcasting.
Its still very early on big businesses, but there is a great way to get "behind the scenes" info that listeners want.
I have more from a post last night at: http://www.ktoddstorch.com/business/2005/03/clear_channel_r_1.html
Posted by: K. Todd Storch at March 28, 2005 01:55 PM
I just read your post and didn't realize that these weren't even being delivered through RSS with enclosures. Saving audio as MP3 is only part of what is a podcast. Good stuff!
To me the benefit of Podcasting is the ability to offer "micro-content" to the listener. It is to Radio what blogging is to the Web. Vertical appeal to thousands of groups of vertical listeners. And who better to deliver this vertical content than those with an already rapidly developing audience of vertical hungry listeners.
One can only dream. :)
Posted by: Ryan at March 28, 2005 02:45 PM
There are two issues here. 1) Satellite is a broadcast medium and the internet can be both broadcast and narrowcast. Satellite radio will never be able to provide as compelling a user experience for satcasting as podcasting already is. 2) Satellite has already addressed this issue by putting hard drives in portable satellite devices like the XM MyFi. https://xmradio.metrononline.com/xm/main.aspx
Posted by: Joel Karp at March 30, 2005 11:40 AM
