AGGIES & AIRWAVES:
How Podcasting Provides a Voice for the Maroon and White
Article By: James McKissick, Staff Writer | BCS Chronicle
What You Need To Know:
Podcasting began in 1999 before Apple started officially supporting them in 2005.
Podcasting is essentially free, as long as you have a recording device and an internet connection.
There are currently over 500,000 active podcasts and 18.5 million episodes.
Texas A&M offered a course on podcasting in Spring 2020.
Podcasting uses RSS, or Real Simple Syndication, which was already being developed in 1999. This was less than a decade after the initial commercialization of the internet and two years before the first iPod was released. In 2021 you would be hard-pressed to find someone who hasn’t heard of podcasting.
But what is it?
Podcasting came about when Adam Curry first saw an iPod and thought to use RSS to sync online radio show episodes with it. Curry was host of what some call the first podcast, “The Daily Source Code.” RSS puts out a constant feed of information to any device listening to it. Initially used as a blog and news aggregator, RSS was adapted to broadcast audio and video as well.
In its infancy not many saw much of a future for podcasting, including Joey Lopez, the Director of the Media Lab in the Department of Communication at Texas A&M. “I saw value in it, but I didn't see how it was going to reach the masses,” Lopez said. He has been around podcasting since the mid-2000s, but didn’t start his first podcast until 2018 and now has even taught a class on podcasting.
Dr. Joey Lopez, Texas A&M University.
Image Source: The CM Collective.
So how did it get where it is today?
In 2005 Steve Jobs announced that Apple would be hosting and distributing podcasts for free. According to Edison Research, in 2006 approximately 22% of the US population was aware of what podcasting was, by 2009 that number had doubled, but then stagnated at approximately 45% for the next six years. Then in 2016 that number began growing by about 5% annually, and now sits at approximately 75% awareness.
“Podcasting has evolved over time from a highly technical platform to something that has been democratized through the evolution of the internet itself,” said Joey Lopez, going on to mention there are now websites that handle hosting and casting your episodes for free.
Freedom: The power and beauty of podcasting
Podcasting as a format has flourished with the freedom of decentralization and the backing of large media corporations.
“There's power in the human voice, there's power in human connection,” said Bailey Mullens, host of the Created Curious Podcast. “Because podcasting is so distributed it's a really great tool for freedom of speech,” he continued.
“There's so much freedom of expression with podcasts that you can give everybody a voice,” said Heath Buttery. Buttery is a Programming Executive for the “Many Aggies, One World” podcast. “It's a much more effective platform to discuss ideas, thoughts, and things that really spark creativity in people, so there's just really something beautiful about it,” he said.
“I think that podcasts in some ways are even more social and connecting than social media itself, because social media can be very toxic and can be very harmful,” said Anthony Ramirez. Ramirez is a PhD student and instructor at Texas A&M, and host of the “Academics and Amigos” podcast where he discusses his friends’ passions and research.
But why is podcasting as a format so popular?
Accessibility. There are plenty of services that will host and broadcast your content for free or, with the right knowhow, anyone can set up their own server and RSS feed at home.
This leads to an abundance of content. In 2018 there were over 500,000 active podcasts according to podcastinginsights.com. That’s shows, not episodes. Episodes were numbered at 18.5 million.
“The beauty of [podcasting] to this day in many ways, is that it uses open-source content tools to exist.” said Joey Lopez, explaining the barrier to entry is just being able to record and upload to a free podcast host.
Growing a profitable podcast
A lot of people try podcasting for fun, but that doesn’t mean you can’t grow a successful brand or make money podcasting.
John P. Lopez is an author, host of Houston sports radio show “Nick & Lopez”, and “Bite Me” a top 10 fishing podcast on iTunes. His advice for a successful podcast? Passion. “You have to have an absolute passion for the podcast,” he said. His passion since the time he was five has been fishing, and in 2017 he and professional fishing guide Captain Scott Null started a podcast about it. Now they have thousands of fans and their own merch. “I had no idea that it was going to be this, but it shows that there was a real need for what we were offering,” Lopez said.
Just keep talking
“What matters is the person sitting across from me, and that the person I get to talk to and that experience happening in that time,” said Bailey Mullens. “If you just stick with that mindset that eventually you'll get somewhere that's worth it.”