note: i added this note in because the post, once written, seemed to ramble and i wanted to make sure i started it off clearly - the "dinosaur" is represented by frank barnako, though he is certainly not alone, there are many more w/ his dna - the exceptional commentary i point to in my somewhat verbose post is provided by "mammals" such as doug kaye, steve gillmor, dave slusher and cameron reilly - plus my own personal pov on media strategy of course...
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the comet that is podcasting has hit, and established media folks like frank are trying to figure out how to adapt - he knows the rodents scurrying underfoot are interesting and he certainly seems to be trying to get it, but at the same time the brontosaurus is the pack he runs w/ - thus he tries really hard to appease both sides, established and emerging, during his articles and discussions, which i think ends up w/ him sounding confused to both sides - when i see his marketwatch blips - i cringe because the under-informed masses will take his statements at face value and look no further - to paraphrase what i think frank is trying to say: some of my best friends are podcasters (mammals) and unfortunately, based on the way the established media measures things - my new friends are being obliterated in the ratings by my established media brethren (dinosaurs). i don't think it's fair to accuse him of smoking crack, but i do think he is struggling w/ the right way to report on the daily shifting of the paradigm and still stay relevant to both the mammals and dinosaurs...
Blogarithms - Frank Barnako Steps on the Long Tail
"These folks are looking at podcasting only as a platform for stars and hits. It ain’t about that, guys. This is all about us reaching the audiences who care about our programs, and very few of us think for a moment that even the potential audience comes close to the size of that for some of the traditional-media outlets."
what's sort of funny about this somewhat critical and at the same time educational post by doug kaye commenting on an article by frank barnako is that frank actually comments on doug's post, but in error he calls doug "steve", an honest mistake, but indicating frank's confusion as to which blog post he was actually commenting on - since steve too had commented on frank's article in a brilliantly sarcastic way...
i think it's indicative of how confused frank is in general as an old-school media icon trying to "get it" and play at both sides, because his comment starts w/:
"I come to praise podcasts. Not bury them."
i don't think he is purposefully attempting to be contradictory - i think he really doesn't understand when he is talking out of both sides of his mouth...
steve's <sarcasm>post</sarcasm> is:
The Death of Podcasting by ZDNet's Steve Gillmor -- Podcasting, the underground movement begun by VH1 DJ Adam Curry and the irascible Dave Winer, is no more. The fledgling technology, actually nothing more than a bootstrap of the failed XML ASCII text scripting language, was dealt a fatal blow when Apple Computer, the Beatles' record company, released a version of it's iTunes copy protection [...]
dave also had a nice addition to the mix...
"Let me just add that it truly represents a glorious failure of imagination that these guys have no other way of looking at this phenomenon than through the lens of numbers obsessed bean-counters. Dear God, Al Franken has more listeners than me! Holy shit, the New York Times have more readers than this blog! Guess it is time to fold the tents of citizen media because what reason could there be to express oneself other than to be #1 in some ranking?"
the comment thread is definitely worth checking out too - some trolling (dave seems to be a troll magnet for some reason) but lots of good discourse too...
the most telling indication of frank's state of confusion can be found in this fantastic interview he did w/ cameron and mick, founders of the podcasting network, on their flagship g'day world podcast...
you can hear him actively try to appease both sides, old and new, constantly throughout the interview - both cameron and mick do a really good job of engaging frank and trying to sooth him in to the right direction - that podcasting is about long tail, that new doesn't have to replace old and that old shouldn't assume that simply re-purposing what they currently generate will cut it in the new media format of podcasting...
he makes a negative reference to the podcasting of school board meetings - hmmm - one of my constant examples - might he read nomadic audio ;)
he thinks the only thing that will motivate a podcaster to capture the school board meeting is monetary in nature, missing the fact that school board members for the most part are volunteers to begin w/ - and so can be the podcaster capturing the event so others can benefit...
he wonders whether podcasters could offer streaming, add bylines and station clocks so that a regular schedule could be established - clearly pointing out that while he may subscribe and listen to 35 podcasts - he still does not get what podcasting is really about - such as the concept of attribution, non-commercial, share-alike creative commons licensing that most long tail podcasters have adopted - when cameron referenced the potential of podcast redistribution, frank was shocked, one of many pretty telling stuff contained w/ the interview - highly suggest you listen all the way through...
in summary, seems to me that frank is firmly entrenched in what was, while struggling to appear to have a take on what could or should be capable via this new fangled thang "podcasting" that all the hip podvillians are doing :-p
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wow, a long one - sorry about the thesis but i just had to get it out there, as always my take and mine alone...
Nicely said Mike! BTW, congrats on the props you gto from Doug Kaye in his most recent newsletter.
Frank's a good guy - he's just thinking out loud and I'm sure he's not alone in thinking that us "indies" are dead. We, obviously, disagree. In fact, we think we're just getting started.
I recently sent our hosts a copy of Geoffrey Moore's adoption curve and asked "where on this graph do you think podcasting is today?"
It's still a scratch on a scratch. And "big media" entering the space is just going to bring more listeners. The total podcast audience will go from whatever it is today (let's say one million) to ten million. Those ten million people might start off listening to re-hashed radio or some other big media stuff, but then they will look around at other podcasts... and we're betting some of them will keep listening...
Posted by: Cameron Reilly | July 25, 2005 at 03:20 AM