Does Radio have a new competitor?

Podcasts aren’t new. They are used everyday by radio stations, mainly to replay the best bits from breakfast, drive or nights.

It works, often getting decent download numbers.

But what if you didn’t work in radio, had something to say and wanted your own show ?

Enter the independent podcast.

These are fast becoming popular destinations for listeners looking for content that is easy to access, can be enjoyed when it suits them, commercial-free and free of rules.

Wil Anderson is no stranger to radio and recently spoke with the Herald Sun about his weekly podcast, TOFOP (30 Odd Foot Of Pod).

He has been doing the show with mate Charlie Clausen for a couple of years and it can attract as many as 50,000 downloads an episode.

“Podcasting is comedy’s punk rock moment,” says Wil. “In the old days, if you had an idea for a show you had to wait for the gatekeeper’s approval. You had to wait for a radio programmer or TV programmer to give you a chance. And then, if you were lucky enough that they finally did, the end product would still be a series of compromises”.

CRA CEO Joan Warner sees podcasts as an opportunity, not a threat, to commercial radio;

“The number of commercial radio listeners has continued to increase each year in a highly competitive media landscape. Podcasts are another example of how the radio industry has adapted to new technology to extend its audience.”

Anderson went onto say…

“These days, if you have an idea you can put it out there. We do our podcast in Charlie’s front bedroom, the dog barks in the background, and we have listeners in 70 countries.”

See the full article at The Herald Sun here, and hear the TOFOP podcast here.

Mark Hales