Podcast.com News

We’re debuting an audio podcast produced in the Podcast.com studios.  It’s called Flipping Channels, a twice-monthly production that samples three podcasts you can find on one of our channel pages.  Here’s what it’s all about:

1. Focusing on a different channel every other week
2. Excerpting episodes from three different podcasts per FC episode
3. Being brief enough (under 10 minute per episode) to fit into a listener’s weekly schedule
4. Spotlighting podcasts outside of traditional media
5. Highlighting podcasts that may not be known by the masses

Sound good to you?  Check it out and send us feedback if you have comments.

With the elections in the United States just a few months away, many citizens of the world are earnestly starting to follow coverage on the candidates to be America’s next president.  Podcasts are an excellent way to absorb such coverage, as you can choose from a variety of opinions from big media companies as well as smaller podcasters that span the political spectrum.  Whether you are conservative or liberal or just interested in the process, you can find audio and video podcasts on the Politics channel of Podcast.com that will fit your needs.

Teachers of all ages of students are using podcasts to teach and teaching their students how to podcast.  Not only are students interested in making podcasts, but education podcasts are a great way for students to take their classes with them or to catch up on classes they missed.  Here are some recent stories about education podcasts that prove how podcasting is popular among students of all ages:

•  ”Kids are going to love it because now we can reach the world,” says a consultant who educates Kindergarten thru 8th Grade teachers on how to get students podcasting
• “It’s really increased a lot, believe it or not, an interest in writing, which is one of the most challenging things to get children to actually enjoy in the classroom,” says a 2nd grade teacher in North Carolina, USA who has students doing research projects using podcasts
• “It makes a real difference to them when they know that they’re families and friends are going to see their work,” says a 12th grade technology teacher in Ohio, USA who helps students and teachers publish their work
• “With podcasting, we have seen marks go up by 10 per cent on average,” says a dean at an undergraduate and graduate business school in Manchester, UK that offers podcasts to students

Not all sports fans in the USA follow college/university sports (or podcasts about them), but come March each year it’s hard for them to not get excited about “March Madness”, a single-game elimination tournament of sixty-four college basketball teams.  In a few weeks one of those teams will hold the championship trophy, and many people who don’t even follow college basketball (or any sports!) will try to figure out who that winner is via ‘pools’ with their friends and coworkers.  If someone asks you join their March Madness pool, make sure you’re not guessing who to pick — get informed by listening to the ESPNU College Basketball podcast.

Each month we collect episodes from different podcasts about a certain subject. The episodes are in the form of a playlist we call a feature. It’s easy: we collect the podcast episodes, you subscribe to our playlist.  This feature for the month of March is about St. Patrick’s Day, so we’ve collected different podcasts that celebrate the holiday: the music, the partying and parades, the tradition. You can subscribe to our playlist here. Hope you enjoy this feature, and send an email to info at podcast.com if you have an episodes you’d like to add to this playlist.

You can find this and other features at my.podcast.com/features (make sure you click on the ‘View All Episodes’ icon in the middle of the screen to see every episode we collected).

Podcast.com is entering the ‘Awesome Age’ (somewhere between the ‘Internet Age’ and the apocalypse): we’re collecting the top 25 podcasts on a monthly basis and presenting them to YOU and everyone else.  You can find the top 25 podcasts for the current month here, this month and always:

top25.podcast.com

Congrats to the podcasters featured in this top 25.  You can read more about it on our Treedia.com site.

If you look at our blog on our blog page and not on the Podcast.com home page, you’ll notice a ‘widget’ on the right that shows our current top 25 podcasts.  You’ll be hearing or reading ‘widgets’ and ‘Podcast.com’ in the same sentence more often in future days.

A new poll by Zogby suggests the Web, including podcasts, has become the preferred news source (over television, radio, newspapers) for almost half of all Americans.  Go figure.  Some interesting findings and conclusions:

• Nearly half of respondents (48%) said their primary source of news and information is the Internet
• 55% of those age 18 to 29 say they get most of their news and information online
• Web sites are regarded as a more important source of news and information than traditional media outlets (radio, television, newspapers)
• 86% of Americans said Web sites were an important source of news, with more than half (56%) who view these sites as very important

But who provides the news online?  Television and radio stations and newspapers still do, delivering their comprehensive news coverage to the Web.  If you’ve visited our news channel you know we have an abundance of podcasts from many of these big news outlets: New York Times, Associated Press, the BBC — as well as punditry and analysis from some smaller yet still respected local sources such as KPLU in Seattle and shows such as Between the Lines.  Podcasts are produced at numerous intervals: weekly, daily, even on the hour. And podcasting is the perfect medium for individuals to give do their own editorializing on daily events from their home studios.

Spend some time at our news channel and realize just how many news podcasts are out there.  It may change your daily routine, like it has ours.