Putting podcasting into perspective

What is to be made of the podcasting phenomenon? Is it, in the words of the title of a forthcoming book, 'pirate radio for the masses', or is it a fad destined to remain primarily a tool of the technologically literate? This paper suggests that podcasting is a 'bypass' technology, allowing individuals to bypass the entire established radio industry in the same way that bloggers functioning as 'citizen journalists' can bypass the mainstream print media. Podcasting allows users to establish uncontrolled point-to-point relationships (fulfilling an early promise of radio) in the same way that bloggers can establish direct links with those who post to their sites. But in both cases---podcasting and blogging---there is potential for a 'roadblock' as major commercial organizations move in. As they seek to coopt the technology in aid of their for-profit purposes, they may undermine the 'free-ofcharge, power-to-the-people' ethos which still surrounds blogging and podcasting as it did in the early days of the Internet. However, the possible assimilation of these tools into corporate promotional strategies may prove to be the key to their making an impact on the masses rather than mainly amongst the technologically aware. By deploying podcasts to support their commercial objectives, relatively resource-rich corporations may move podcasting from its 'on the edge', pseudo-amateur status closer to the centre of the media sphere. This may be exactly what podcasting needs if, like Rowehl, one takes the view that 'Podcasting is a cultural and social revolution, not a technical one'.