By Dawn C. Chmielewski
Knight Ridder Newspapers
February 13, 2005

The "Rock and Roll Geek Show" broadcasts twice a week from San Francisco.
But you won't find its distinctive mix of good time rock 'n' roll, beer and
Macworld commentary anywhere on the radio.

The half-hour show, hosted by Michael Butler, is delivered directly to
listeners' iPods and other digital music players.

It's among a growing number of podcasts, a new online outlet for amateur
broadcasters to run their own pirate radio stations. No government approval
is required.

Butler's shows have attracted enough of a following to support an
eight-country European concert tour for his rock band, American Heartbreak.
"During the past four months of me doing this podcast my band has gotten
more exposure than in the seven years we've been together," Butler said.

It's hard to imagine giant radio conglomerates fretting over such
harmless-sounding podcasts as "The Dawn and Drew Show."
But technology can pounce on unsuspecting, entrenched businesses, and
podcasting seems to hold the same disruptive potential as TiVo, giving
everyone the power to listen to the radio shows they want whenever they
want.

"The devices are listening for us, recording while you're not there, filling
up with programs that you like," said Jim Griffin, chief executive of Cherry
Lane Digital, a consulting firm specializing in new forms of music and
entertainment delivery. "As we move from this 'channel we' to 'channel me,'
the intriguing question to marketers is: 'How do I program for that?'
Podcasting is the answer."

Podcasts take advantage of an online subscription format known as RSS --
short for really simple syndication. The software is designed to scour the
Web for the news stories posted by traditional publications or an entry
posted by a blogger. A separate piece of software pulls all the feeds
together in one place on your computer.

Podcasting works in the same way. Subscribe to specific Podcasts, and the
software finds the latest feeds and transfers the audio files automatically
to iTunes, Apple's digital media jukebox. When an iPod is plugged into a
computer, it downloads the podcasts. The software also works with other
music management programs and digital music players.

Two things happened to ignite the podcasting phenomenon.

First, there was the popularity of Apple Computer's portable digital music
players. With gigabytes of hard drive space to fill, iPods are voracious
consumers of fresh audio content. Then Internet entrepreneur Adam Curry, a
one-time MTV host, began podcasting his "Daily Source Code," a freely
distributed variety show. That inspired imitators.

Many podcasts have the rambling "Look Ma, I'm a broadcaster" feel of college
or ham radio.

But podcasts do include a handful of professionally produced shows, such as
Boston public radio station WGBH's "Morning Stories," "The Al Franken Show"
on Air America and programming from the BBC.

Fans of independent music will find podcasting an endless source of music
discovery.

Take, for example, "The $250 Million Radio Show," created by Derrick Oien.
Oien's show focuses on overlooked musical genres such as progressive emo,
electronica and punk/hardcore. His audience has grown to about 25,000
regular listeners since the first podcast Oct. 14.

To listen to a podcast, you will need software that reads RSS 2.0 feeds with
enclosed audio files.

The software is available at sites like www.iPodderX.com or www.iPodder.net.
The software -- some versions are free or available for a free trial --
automatically downloads audio files to your computer and moves the tracks to
iTunes or another music management program for transfer to your iPod or
other digital music player. All you do is subscribe to podcast feeds and
your machine does the rest.

Of course, finding what feeds to listen to can be as frustrating as tuning
into a radio station in an unfamiliar city. Expect a good deal of trial and
error.

llen Weiner, research director with the Gartner market research firm, said
podcasting remains largely a hobbyist phenomenon, attracting "anybody who's
ever had a microphone or worked at a college radio station."

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