I was raised on radio. Then I built this city… on Rock ‘n’ Roll.
Podcasting is not a revolutionary technology, though Neil Dixon and Om Malik disagree with me, and they’re both smart guys. Is it a coincidence that podcasting’s main advocate used to be on MTV, and is now using his online fame to re-launch a radio career? Is Tom Cruise gay?
It’s pretty easy to write a words that are sounding like the good English.
Making a radio show (which is what a podcast is) is hard, even if you have the tools:
- You have to know how to edit
- You have to find original music (or steal it and risk getting caught)
- You have to sound good (unless you present bookworm on NPR, then you can sound as nasal as you like. Michael Silverblatt should lay off the coke.)
If your podcast’s production values are low, people raised on MTV and action movies aren’t going to stick around. Good production values are why I’d rather see Brad Pitt kick someone’s head off, while Angelina Jolie slowly licks her lips in close-up (excuse me - I need a masturbation break) than watch, you know, intelligent movies and shit.
Podnography could be huge.
Sexy letters in porn magazines are great, and women love ‘erotica’ even more than men. There’s got to be a market for downloadable, sexy MP3’s I can listen to on my iPod.
Even with a video capable cell-phone, it’s too embarrassing to be caught watching ‘Eat Me in St. Louis’ on the train to be fun. You’ll be able to discretely listen to Podnography anywhere you want.
It’ll be easy to produce too.
No music is necessary for porn (maybe some solo bass guitar with a wah-wah effect), and anyone with a good voice and a creative streak can write it. Penthouse letters page, for all its other virtues, never got far past ‘I just gave a serious deep-dicking to the twins next door’. What about women? Just throw in a soldier on a horse and talk about what everyone in the castle is wearing before you get to the sex.
So where is it? Where’s my podnography?
It’s a killer promotional tool.
- Edit down the sound from your latest movie and give it away as a ‘Podnographic Preview’ on BitTorrent.
- Record a sexy message and let it circulate promoting you and your website.
- Take requests and sell exclusive mp3’s to ‘collectors’ and other sinners.
Seriously - go make some podnography. This idea’s so good, and came so easy, I kind of think all that "Einstein was a genius" stuff was exaggerated now.
Email me any you make and I’ll review it here immediately (just don’t write to tell me there’s a sex category on ipodder.org - it’s empty).
You’re quite prescient. This exact phenomenon was the subject of a Wall St. Journal article on Friday, July 22, 2005.
http://online.wsj.com/article/0,,SB112199964473193071,00.html
(subscription required, but it was Page B1 of the July 22nd print edition)
Sorry not to post my real name and e-mail, but Google sees all.
Excellent! Sam, you’re on to something here. I’ve just listened to your three most recent podcasts, and I wanted to write you and say what a brilliant job you’ve done!
Keep up the good work!!
Thanks Michael - I’m trying. The feedback is greatly appreciated.
Sam.