podCALGARY

Hi all, sorry that it has been a while since I have posted. As you know, one of my jobs at podCALGARY is to report on and discuss who is podcasting in Calgary. Well I haven’t been doing a great job but I have an excuse. First, I run a Google Alerts to let me know when someone in Calgary is podcasting, the alerts have been a bit dry. I am starting to question their accuracy since Dugg scooped me on the Global News podcast. I am currently reserving judgment on the podcast, while it is great to get my new on my ipod, they need some serious help. Anyway, my point here is that there isn’t really anything new happening in the Calgary Podosphere so I thought I would fire a podcasting news and technology question out to my buddy Doug.

Hey Doug, on Tuesday November 13th Microsoft’s Zune and Zune Marketplace release podcasting support. Could you let us know a few things? 1. Is there a “one click” subscribe code that podcasters can add to their sites. 2. How does a podcaster get his/her podcast listed in the Zune Marketplaces? 3. What do you think of the Zune podcasting interface?

I am asking Doug these questions partly because he handles this kind of thing for podCALGARY, he uses Windows and mostly cause he scooped me on the Global thing.

Daryl Cognito 

Global television recently launched podcasts of local news coverage from Calgary. Previously the national broadcaster offered just one feed, from Toronto, audio only. Now it has 14 separate feeds from across the country and two of them are from Calgary!

Global was very considerate of the audience offering the same programming in both audio only & video formats. I own a video iPod myself but opted for the audio feed so I can listen to the show during my commute.

Making local news content available on demand is a big step for broadcasters in our community. Could this take away from the traditional viewing audience? No – not significantly anyway. It will help them grow new audience and they will discover this like every independent podcaster that has come before them.

I believe that a significant portion of the audience core will completely transition away from traditional broadcastings in favor of on demand network technologies. But the infrastructure and user adoption are still several years away from being popular on mass. However, it is worth noting that Global Calgary is already prepared to serve those needs now.

Welcome Global Calgary to this medium we call podcasting. We’re proud to have you pioneering with us.

- Doug Nouwen

The Global News Hour Podcast (Audio)

The Global News Hour Podcast (Video)

It comes as no surprise to us here at podCALGARY cause we were behind him the whole way, but we still want to say a big congrats to Jeremy Z for coming in 4th in the recent race for the Mayor of Calgary. (Jeremy was the only canditate to be listed in the podCALGARY directory. ) There was a huge gap between 1st and 4th place, actually, the was a huge gap between 1st and second place, but you need to put it into perspective. Dave the incumbent had around 60% of the votes and Jeremy brought in about 4%. Third place, Sandy Jenkins, pulled in 8%. But the interesting story here is with 2and place (18%) Alnoor, who spent 1.2 million on his campaign. I haven’t confirmed this but I a confident that Jeremy spent less than 100 000.00 on his campaign. So there you go, you can spend 1.2 million and come in second, or you can podcast and come in forth, either way you don’t get to wear the Mayor hat, but if you podcast you will save at least 1.1 million.

Seriously, great run Jeremy.

Daryl Cognito

It’s official, ladies and gentlemen. on October 31, 2007, Yahoo will cease it’s ‘Yahoo Podcasts‘ directory indefinitely. While that may not mean a lot to you - as you’re already subscribed to the two best podcasts in Calgary - it certainly means a lot to the rest of the podcasting world.

After iTunes, Google, Odeo, the Podcast Pickle, Podcast Alley, Digg, CanadaPodcasts.ca, and Pluggd, Yahoo Podcasts was the premier Podcast directory in which average listeners could discover and critique independent podcasts.
What does that mean in the long run? Well, not much, if taken at face value. But, if you consider Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, Jaiku, De.licio.us, PodFeed, and the numerous other digital networking tools at our disposal, it means we’re - approximately - seven per cent worse off than we were yesterday.

Seven per cent doesn’t sound like a lot, but take this into consideration. Seven is a prime number. Not only that, but it’s also the number of Atlas‘ daughters, the atomic number of Nitrogen, and the code for international direct dial phone calls to Russia and Kazakhstan.

In all seriousness, Yahoo was one of the few directories that had the potential to cater to a mainstream audience - a ‘flashing 12‘ crowd, as some may say, and it’s disturbing to see the service fold at such crucial time for the medium.

The merger between Sirius and XM Satellite radio is looming; the number of active founding podcasts is diminishing, and a large majority of newer shows are struggling to compete with the rest of the online world. Yahoo Podcasts was one of the few (see: the above list) directories that could have been a household name.

What about the little guy? At this point, it doesn’t mean much. The issue will arise when CBC, CNN, CNBC, and all of the other C-words begin taking notice. The fact remains: Yahoo Podcasts was yet another community-supported, yet corporately-ignored, podcast directory that has fallen by the wayside - laying in the wake for its peers.

- Sean “Ajay” Joyner