Podcasting Article

Hello. I hope you had very Merry Christmas.

I received some questions in early December from a reporter doing a story on podcasting for our local newspaper. We helped Jack Buckley, the pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Alameda, set us his Godcasting blog. It’s been quite successful and the Alameda Journal, our local paper, has picked up on the story.

Anyhoo…here are the their questions and my responses:

1. What is the usefulness of podcasting and why do it?

It’s another way to reach out to your audience – audibly. We all have different ways of learning, remembering, enjoying. We have different senses. It makes perfect sense. It’s an extension of a blog. It’s radio from the individual. Basically podcasting is a subscription service – only this subscription service serves up audio – talk shows and music.

2. Have you gotten feedback on the church’s podcast? Area lot of people using it?

I haven’t received any feedback personally. Jack has 8 subscribers. Feedburner (the subscription software) offers other statistics too. These statistics are only as good as the person who uses them.

3. Are there other Alameda churches doing it?

I’m unsure.

4. Have you started a trend and what does this mean? Does these mean members won’t show up to church on Sunday since they can hear the sermon the next day?

The podcasting trend has already started. Jack got in on the ground floor on a local, church, spiritual level. The sermons will probably be archived. I can never believe someone would not go to church cause they can listen to it on there walkman. Church is about community and seeing people you know, etc.

5. Where do you envision this new use of technology going? How does it help you, how does it create more obstacles? What about Spanish speakers and or people who speak other languages? Will your podcast cater to their listening needs?

It’s already on iPods. It’s a pull technology. You’re asking for it, when you want it. It’s like On Demand for TV. The benefit is that you are requesting the information; it’s not being pushed to you like TV or radio. Spanish speaking podcasts are out there already. I’m sure there is or will be software that will translate if necessary.

Unfortunately my responses and expertise were not included in the article, though Jack Buckley, the church’s generous pastor, wrote a letter to the editor afterwards (in this weeks Alameda Journal) explaining the omissions from the article. Thank you Jack.

Contact us if you’d like to learn more about podcasting and how to set it up on your website.

Cheers and have a great week.