One of CBC radio’s best offerings, a weekly documentary on the history of marketing and public relations, is not in the fall 2008 schedule. That’s right… The Age of Persuasion will go back into remission, falling into the down curve of the on-again-off-again nature of the show as accepted by the program’s cult following.

Fortunately, the back catalog from 2007 is being trickled out on the show’s website which goes to show you that in this topsy-turvy world of terrestrial radio and digital media, there are many opportunities for disappointment and excitement in The Age of Persuasion.

Nora Young and the production team of CBC Radio’s Spark have published this video which explains the origins and inner workings of their fantastic radio show — with only a bit of humour.

Terry O’Reilly, host of the amazing CBC program, The Age of Persuation, announced on his blog a few days ago that season three of the show will hit the airwaves again beginning in January.

Everyone who knows me knows that CBC radio’s Ottawa Morning and All In A Day have been my daily staples for several years. In fact, All In A Day served as inspiration for my own Electric Sky Podcast.

At the Montreal Podcast meetup this week, I publicly announced that 2006 was the year in which I abandoned my beloved radio shows. Both have undergone some radical changes in the last year, the most obvious are new hosts with styles that, even after many months, I have not been able to warm up to. This of course means that I have nearly wrapped up my love affair with terrestrial radio.

I remain a subscriber to several CBC Podcasts including The Digital Extra, Quirks and Quarks, Editor’s Choice, Ideas and Ontario This Week - a show that is hosted by the talented Michael Bhardwaj and features highlights of Ottawa Morning, Ontario Today and All In A Day.

Now, if CBC could Podcast Vinyl Cafe and O’Reilly and the Age of Persuasion…

I’ll be a guest of Points North, the afternoon show on CBC Radio Sudbury, today at 4:20pmET. Dan Lessard will be interviewing me about Just One More Book, a podcast about children’s books that I produce and host with my wife, Andrea.

I ran into CBC’s Alan Neal the other day.  Naturally, we spoke about Podcasting.  It turns out that Alan featured the world premiere of Uncle Seth’s newest single, To Be An Angel, on his radio program Bandwidth last Saturday (September 16).

Mark Ramsey has posted his view on how radio stations can use Podcasts to attract listeners their radio broadcasts (To Podcast or Not to Podcast).  The idea is to justify the on-air content and advertising dollars without erasing everything by giving it all away on the Internet.  He raised some great points.  However, he missed a key and critical approach.

Mark failed to present the idea of Podcasting behind the scenes content, outtakes and discussions with the Production team.  This approach accomplishes several things.  First and foremost, it will help to build a sense of community between the audience and the team that creates the program - something that the best radio shows have always enjoyed and that the online community craves.  It also creates a two-way relationship between terrestrial and online delivery in which the audience is drawn to both formats since they complement, not compete, with each other.

I was a panelist on the subject of The Intersection of Radio and Podcasting at the Corporate Podcast Summit USA 2006. During that session, I regularly mentioned the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and National Public Radio (NPR). Two days later, a number of CBC producers and hosts attended (and even presented at) the Podcasters Across Borders meetup and conference. This latter point has inspired some lively discussions in Podcasts and in person for the last few months - particularly during the last week.

There are a number of issues at play here. In this post, I will map some of them out and highlight some points for consideration.

PODCASTERS CAN LEARN FROM RADIO

The spirit of Podcasting is that it is not (or at least does not have to be) bound by traditional rules of radio production. In fact, many independent Podcasts enjoy significant subscribership due to the very fact that they are not radio (no theme song, no seasoned host, no pacing, and so on) and Podcasters that are “anti-radio” celebrate their decision. Whether the traditional programming devices become central to a Podcast or treated as an electric fence to be avoided, they exist and can be considered based on the individual’s own taste.

RADIO CAN LEARN FROM PODCASTERS

During PAB2006, Shelagh Rogers and Tod Maffin evangelized that one of Podcasting’s greatest qualities is that hosts are allowed to incorporate themselves into their programs. In radio, there is no room for the emotions and thoughts of the host; in Podcasting, it is the genuine delivery of the message that establishes a singular connection between the listener and the host, even though they do not exist in the same time or space. The attention is shifted from the content and technical presentation, to the interest and passion of the host.

PUBLIC VS. COMMERCIAL RADIO

When I talk about terrestrial radio experimenting with or adopting Podcast technology, I typically talk about Public radio. Perhaps because they dislike or feel threatened by Public radio, this has raised the hackles of some Podcasters. Why do I use the Public radio example? Because it has at least two advantages over commercial radio where Podcasting is concerned:

• Public radio generally creates its own content, or contracts for it, and therefore owns the rights for broadcast and distribution. Corporate radio tends to use a lot of “licensed” content (such as music).  Where Internet licensing is available, it is prohibitively expensive at this time.
• Public radio is typically not driven by a formulaic programming model that is designed by a central body to appeal to a very specific niche in a local market. Public radio programming is created by people with the authority to develop and produce their own content as long as it fits the spirit of a larger vision.  They have the freedom to reuse content from the airwaves, as well as the freedom to create Podcast-specific content.

RADIO RETHINKING ITSELF

Radio stations face a lot of challenges in the age of Web 2.0 with of its built-in social media capabilities.  Producers and hosts will have to work hard to remain competitive, keep existing listeners and attract new ones.  They know this.  That is why these people are experimenting with the possibilities of Podcasting, and becoming part of the culture as well.

The technology that threatens radio, could be the technology that reinvents it.