When a word warrants entry into the Oxford English Dictionary, it's clearly made an impact. With campus turning more and more into a living iPod commercial, it's good to know that sometimes there's more than music coming through those little white ear buds. \nBut the OED definition makes the situation sound a bit dry. In many cases, a listener sets up a Really Simply Syndication feed on his or her computer, so that their favorite shows are automatically downloaded onto their mp3 player. But the truly beautiful thing about podcasting, to those who love it, is the variety of shows and music that can be spread through the use of podcasting. \nEric Berlin, a Pasadena, Calif., writer, uses his podcast as an extension of his blog. His podcast is posted alongside his blog at www.dumpsterbust.com.\n"Part of my entry to podcasting was a continuation of my service to the community," Berlin said. "After entering the print world, podcasting was a way of entering the discussion with audio technology. What's wonderful about podcasting is that you can make it what you want -- it's wide open as far as content. It's one of the reasons it's getting so popular, and has in such a short time."\nPromoting independent musicians is a big part of Berlin's show. \n"The first part (of the show) is talking about stuff, life, whatever; but the second part is music," Berlin said. "I play a lot of indie music, a lot of up-and-coming musicians. I find music I like, artists who are outside the realm of RIAA, and that's cool because I get a lot of great feedback from listeners and artists. It's another way of entering the conversation."\nHere in Bloomington, community radio station WFHB 91.3/98.1 has found success and increased listenership by making the station's shows available online at news.wfhb.org and on iTunes. The station's podcasting went active in April. \n"It's growing exponentially, we just had another record for downloads this month," said WFHB News Director Chad Carrothers. "'Hola Bloomington' is southcentral Indiana's only Spanish-language talk radio news show. It's the most downloaded show on our site, and (GLBT-geared talk show) bloomingOUT is a close second."\nCarrothers attributes the success of WFHB's podcasts to both iTunes posting and the public's desire for alternate news.\n"The reason that it's blowing up so much is that people are getting a lot more technically savvy," Carrothers said. "If you're looking for an alternative news source, there's a higher chance of finding someone like WFHB. People are hungry for alternative sources of news, and more and more these days, they're able to seek it out instead of waiting for it to be delivered to them. There is almost no Spanish-language talk radio out there. There's one show in California. But if you Google 'Spanish-language news radio,' you'll probably get Hola Bloomington."\nBerlin's show and WFHB's broadcasts run from thirty minutes to a full hour, but podcaster Wichita Rutherford keeps it short and sweet. \n"My show is five minutes long, and really what I do is travel around the world and talk to bluegrass stars, country singers and NASCAR drivers and see what they're doing," he said in his country-fried twang. "I just do five minutes, and five minutes of talking like this is enough for anyone." \nRutherford posts three times a week at www.fiveminuteswithwichita.com, and when his show was picked up by Sirius satellite radio, he was the first podcaster to get a major media deal.\nBut major media deal or not, Rutherford takes care of all of his own recording.\n"I do it all on the G4 iBook with a 14-inch screen," he said. "Libsym.com hooked me up, and they had to put him across a few different servers once it got popular. Those boys, what they have set up, and you send in an mp3, be it an hour long or 2 minutes long, and it goes right up there. It does all your RSS feeds for you. It takes care of all of it. It costs me five dollars a month."\nBerlin too stressed the democratic nature of podcasting. He also does all of his own recording and mixing.\n"Podcasting is one of those really emerging things, but it's relatively easy," he said. "I'm not a technical person. I taught myself over a few days. It boils down to having a microphone and a laptop. If you have those, you can have a podcast."\nIn lieu of a formal recording studio, Berlin prefers a more portable space.\n"I usually do my show from my car," he said. "I'll park on a quiet city street, have a couple of notes, and I'll just talk. I'll record the talking part, and get back to my place, mix in the music and the interviews, and cut the show together with Audacity software."\nThe depth and breadth of podcasts is what makes Berlin think that podcasting may be the new radio.\n"You have talk content, all this great music, and there's this guerrilla element of podcasting. You get away from the structure of commercial radio."\nBut a yearning for a specific type of radio is exactly why Carrothers thinks podcasting is so popular at WFHB.\n"Even among community radio stations, we're a little different," Carrothers said. "It has a different air sound, and when people move somewhere else and they can't find what they want, they look back for us. The podcasting is to automate the process, it makes it easier. It just shows up."
-- Editor in chief Kehla West can barely operate Microsoft Word, so this story took a good deal of research. Get ahold of her at krwest@indiana.edu.
