2. Contents
Beginnings: Radio Computing Services and Mbone
The 90s: Internet Radio and Big Business
Post-2000: RSS and Commercial Opportunities
Final Thoughts
4. Beginnings: Radio Computing Services
Founded in 1979 by Andrew Economos
Throughout the 1980s, company provided software
for radio stations that contained both music and
talk-radio content
The Selector, a musical scheduling system,
became so popular it was eventually used by over
9000 radio stations to create music logs
5. Beginnings: Mbone
Developed in early 1990s by Van Jacobson, Steve
Deering and Stephen Castner
An experimental system for sending IP content to groups
of users (known as “multicasting”)
Allowed for real time access to interactive audio and
video on the internet
Steve Deering described an aim of creating a “global
video telephone system that allows groups of people --
not just individuals -- to share voice and data and images
in "real time" over the Internet” (New York Times)
7. The 90s: Internet Radio and Big Business
November 1994 – WXYC in New York State
becomes first traditional radio station to broadcast
via the internet
1995 – Progress Networks released Real Audio, a
compressed audio format, which allows for real time
transmission of AM quality radio, eventually
compatible with Miscrosoft and Nullsoft media
players
8. The 90s: Internet Radio and Big Business
Entrance of big media players
1996 – Sonicwave.com becomes first internet radio
station licensed by BMI (Broadcast Music Inc.) and
ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and
Publishers)
1996 – Richard Branson‟s Virgin Radio becomes first
European station to broadcast full program on the internet
1998 – Initial Public Offering for Broadcast.com sets
record for IPOs by increasing nearly 250% from its
opening price in a single day
10. Post-2000: RSS and Commercial Opportunities
RSS – Really Simple Syndication
Developed at Netscape and first released in 1999 – then
known as RDF (Resource Description Framework)
A web feed that allows for publishing of frequently
updated works
A person can subscribe to an RSS from a website and
their feed is automatically updated when the content is
changed
11. Post-2000: RSS and Commercial Opportunities
RSS and Podcasting
2001 – Tristan Louis, a French blogger, creates first
audio blog model which employs an RSS feed
2004 – British IT journalist, Ben Hammersley, writing for
The Guardian, suggests the name “podcasting” to
describe portable audio blogs
2005 – Apple iTunes version 4.9 adds features to support
podcasts, including a directory that allows for automatic
downloading and ranking
12. Post-2000: RSS and Commercial Opportunities
Mainstream Acceptance
Within days of the release of iTunes 4.9, podcasters
noticed huge spike in listenership with number of
downloads often tripling
2005 – George W. Bush becomes first President to
podcast when his weekly radio address becomes
available for download on the White House.gov website
2006 - Prime Minister Steven Harper‟s government
initiates “Prime Minister of Canada‟s Podcast,” which
continues to be updated on a weekly basis today
13. Post-2000: RSS and Commercial Opportunities
David
Spark, writing for Mashable.com, cites 9 “money
making techniques” for podcasters:
1) Bring podcast and its audience to a podcasting network
which will then run ads against it and provide compensation to
podcaster
2) If podcast has an audience, the podcaster can recruit
sponsors himself
3) Request donations like public television
4) Give away some podcasts for free, while charging a fee for
others
5) Give away part of a show for free, while charging a fee for
14. Post-2000: RSS and Commercial Opportunities
9 “money making techniques” for podcasters
[cont‟d]:
6) Podcasters can build their own network of
programming and recruit sponsors to run ads on it
7) Use the podcast to promote brand and sell the
podcaster‟s goods or services – method often employed
by stand-up comedians
8) Sell an iPhone application during podcast
9) Integrate sponsorship into show‟s editorial
16. Final Thoughts
Podcasts are one of the most important developments of
the social media revolution
Rooted in technology that dates back to the late 1970s,
they only went mainstream post-2000
Today they contain enormous commercial potential
17. Works Cited
History of Podcasting. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 8th, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_podcasting
Internet Radio. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 8 , 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_radio
iTunes: Podcasting. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 17, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/itunes#Podcasts
Lewis, Peter H. (1995, February 8). Business Technology; Peering out of a „Real Time‟ window. New York Times. Retrieved: February 16,
2013 from http://www.nytimes.com/1995/02/08/business/business-technology-peering-out-a-real-time-window.html
RSS. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 16th, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RSS
Spark, David. (2009, October 1). 9 Successful techniques for making money from podcasting. Mashable.com. Retrieved February 17, 2013
from http://mashable.com/2009/10/01/podcast-money-making-tips/
The Two Way Web. (2012, June 30). The History of Podcasting. Retrieved February 11, 2013 from
http://www.thetwowayweb.com/the-history-of-podcasting
Tristan Louis. Wikipedia. Retrieved February 17th, 2013 from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tristan_Louis
