More and more community broadcasters are recognising the value of engaging with new technology, enabling them to give potential listeners more opportunities to access their programs. Podcasting is one of these options. Podcasting is not just about putting an audio or video file online for users to download. It involves users subscribing to the podcast, so that they are advised when a new one is available. Podcasts can be downloaded automatically by podcatching software (such as iTunes) and listened to on any computer or mobile MP3 player (such as an iPod).

Podcasts are not just a fad either – they have proven to be extremely popular in Australia. ABC Radio estimates that there are more than 350,000 podcasts downloads from its website each week!

Podcasting is not complicated, but there are few things you need know to set it up. To help community radio stations and individual broadcasters take advantage of this great opportunity to engage with listeners, Melbourne’s Triple R has developed a podcasting manual. This pilot project was funded by the CBF through the National Training Project.

The manual is designed for potential podcasters working in community radio stations. It outlines the tasks that are necessary to turn a radio show into a podcast. The majority of podcasting manuals already available on the internet focus mainly on how to make a high quality recording using a home computer, or how to produce an interesting show. For radio broadcasters, neither of these are an issue. An existing show on a radio station already has a successful format, and making a high-quality recording in a studio is relatively easy. So if you already have a radio show, you are 90% of the way towards creating a podcast.

There are many good reasons to podcast a program. Podcasting extends a program’s audience beyond its immediate geographical area. You can also reach audiences who cannot listen when it is being broadcast. For niche content that might not be able to find an audience in the small geographic area that a single station can broadcast to, podcasting is a solution as it can reach a much broader audience.

In Australia, unfortunately not all material can be broadcast as a podcast. Although a radio station pays an annual licensing fee for the music played on the station, this does not cover putting other people’s copyrighted music on the internet in your podcast. There are current negotiations with the various copyright organisations (APRA and ARIA) to change this ruling, but it may be some time before this is sorted out. There are ways to make the job easier in re-puposing your program for podcast, which are outlined in the manual.

The manual also covers topics such as how to plan your podcast, hosting your podcast, what material can be podcast, building and keeping your audience, as well as what computer specifications and programs you will need.

For those interested in learning more, a short accredited course in podcasting and writing for the web has been developed by Melbourne-based youth station SYN. The course is currently being piloted and will be offered more broadly early next year. For more information about this, please contact the CBAA’s training division.