 | | mp3 player |
In the old days if you wanted to broadcast your opinions to lots of listeners you really needed access to a radio station. And that’s expensive. But thanks to the internet that’s all changing as people stop broadcasting and start podcasting instead. Podcasting takes its name from Apple’s ipod, but in fact you can use any mp3 player to do it. It’s like a cross between a radio show and a magazine subscription. Once set up your computer automatically downloads new shows to your mp3 player via the internet. The BBC is experimenting with making some shows available like this but its not just a game for the big broadcasting boys. Buscast
 | | Dubber and Spoons |
Dubber and Spoons Take the Bus is a podcast created by Andrew Dubber and James Debenham. They actually refer to it as a buscast. It came about because Andrew, who lectures on New Media at the University of Central England needed content for a podcast experiment. Now they have some 80 listeners worldwide, which is (as they acknowledge) rubbish for a radio show, but pretty good for two blokes on a bus! They are up to episode 32 and have in the past discussed most things including Birmingham’s most “Piratey” roads, experiments with laxatives and introduced us to some of the worst puns ever. Indeed they have even had a visiting guest star (who had to buy their own bus ticket) when a Canadian listener turned up because she happened to be in the UK. Indeed she actually travelled all the way up to Birmingham from London just to appear on the buscast.
 | | David Gregory |
Unlike traditional broadcasting the cost of all this is pretty minimal. No expensive studios, no pricey equipment. Instead the whole show is recorded on a small mp3 player, run through a bit of noise reduction software and then posted on the website. Although listeners were recently treated to a bit of aural pleasure when it was decided to splash out £8 on a new microphone which means the show is now in stereo. So is podcasting here to stay? Well its certainly a useful new way to get your music or your point of view out to an audience. And if two blokes on a bus in Birmingham can find an audience, then there’s a good chance you will too!
| 
