for the love of pod

Driving home from the wild West Midlands after an abject 1-1 draw I stumbled across 5Live's podcast special "for the love of pod". What a bonus that was, as the programme demonstrated some of the thinking around audio in the 21st century that is driving traditional media outlets, like the Guardian and the BBC, comedians like Mitch Benn and Ricky Gervais, and small businesses like Wiggly Wigglers, towards podcasting.

In particular I was taken by:

• Mitch Benn's use of podcasts to release "extra" material to his fans, that wasn't used on the BBC's Now Show. [They only used 2 of the 3 songs he wrote each week, so why not release the B-side?] It strikes me that academics could do the same with extra bits of information/comment - some students might listen some might not, in the same way that I might listen to Mitch Benn's extras whilst 'er indoors just listens to The Now Show. We're both still fans...
• The use of podcasts to refresh a relationship with an existing audience, or to extend a personal relationship to a new following. In this, the role of "value added" content is critical - it made me realise the importance of the material that we have to say to our listeners/students.
  
• The personal, unscripted, one-to-one relationship that a podcast can portray to listeners is often very powerful.