Although some established radio stations soon began to release their regular programming via podcast, podcasts emerged largely as a rough-and-tumble, DIY space. This dynamic, the idea of podcasting as “citizens’ media,” is also apparent in an interview with media critic Jeff Jarvis that NPR ran in early in 2005 He proclaims,I’m like that homeless person on the corner that just rants no matter who’s listening. I forget that Drew’s recording this online. Sometimes people will write us, and I sit back and say, ‘How do they know that?’ And then I go, ‘Oh, it’s on the Internet.’
Jarvins goes on to describe two of his favorite podcasts: one from “a podcasting priest in Europe” and the other from “a friend of mine named Fred Wilson… who created a podcast with this three kids and wife.” Clearly, the early days of podcasting were very grassroots in nature. It was only after the medium began to catch on that corporate giants jumped into the fray. Later in 2005, Apple introduced podcasting functionality into its digital audio software, iTunes. It wasn’t until even later in 2005 that NPR, a huge player in today’s podcast market, first entered the scene. Why did attempts to launch the podcasting industry as a centralized business venture fail? Why did podcasting emerge as a grassroots industry? What does the history of podcasting tell us about the industry? We’ll look at those questions next week.What excites me is not big media companies finding another way to create more media. What excites me about this movement is that it is the people talking, and that’s what’s great about it is you can hear all kinds of strange and wonderful things and new voices from the people…