By Thomas Crampton
International Herald Tribune
18 June 2005
Paris

The days of stringing a wire across the room to hear a shortwave radio
broadcast from the other side of world ended long ago.

Podcasting, the creation of audio recordings that can be easily downloaded
from the Internet, has made it possible for just about anyone with a
computer to reach a global audience with high-quality digital sound. While
the recordings are stored in the MP3 or AAC formats popularized by the
runaway success of Apple Computer's iPod, they can be heard using devices
made by numerous manufacturers.

In the United States, where the tools for podcasting were honed in the
anti-establishment atmosphere of Silicon Valley, this freedom prompted a
flourishing of independent radio broadcasters.

Similar experiences have occurred elsewhere around the world, with even
Switzerland now boasting at least one "indie" podcaster.

But major national broadcasters across Europe have taken podcasting to heart
in way that has not happened so quickly in the United States.

"The momentum behind podcasting in the United States came out of a
protest-style culture that rejects commercial radio," said Michael Bull, a
lecturer in media and culture at the University of Sussex and author of
"Sounding out the City: Personal Stereos and the Management of Everyday
Life." "In Europe, the taxpayer-supported broadcasters see podcasting as an
extension of their duty to serve the public."

The result is that, as with shortwave radio in a previous era, listeners can
hone language skills, catch up with news from home or get a taste of foreign
culture from a portable digital music player.

Some international podcasts can be found at the Web sites
www.podcastalley.com and www.podcast.net. With the notable exception of
French-speaking Quebec, where the term "baladodiffusion" was invented to
avoid sounding too English, the word podcasting seems to have crossed into
most languages unaltered.

Among the highest-profile examples of Europe's institutional investment in
podcasting is the BBC, which began a trial podcast of 20 programs last
month. Up-to-date statistics are not yet available, but an earlier
experiment with a very similar MP3 downloadable programming format was
highly successful.

The program "In Our Time," an intellectual discussion led by the broadcaster
Melvyn Bragg, built an Internet following of up to 25,000 people downloading
the program each week.

"It is still too early to measure results, but we are incredibly excited
about what we have on offer," said Chris Kimber, head of interactive radio
at the BBC. "Podcasting is fundamentally different from an Internet stream,
since listeners can carry the program with them and listen when they are
ready."

Podcasting itself may not be the final form of radio delivery, but it is a
step toward the goal of the BBC. "We are trying to ensure that radio
survives in the digital age," Kimber said. "We don't want to be the only
media that is not digital."

News broadcasts are not the only sort of shows available from European
broadcasters.

Arteradio.com, a site run by Arte, a cultural broadcaster supported by the
French and German governments, offers a wide variety of broadcasts in
French, English and German. Items on offer range from a novelty song that
remixes statements by Jacques Chirac to a disco beat, to a recording of a
cockfight in Madagascar.

Denmark's taxpayer-supported national broadcaster, Denmark Radio, is also
preparing for radio's digital future. "Within the next week or so, we will
go live with podcasts for about 50 programs, but that is just the
beginning," said Ole Molgaard, head of development for Denmark Radio. "Radio
is dead in its current form, but we see a great future for the medium."

The broadcaster, which has only four FM channels, offers 25 channels on the
Internet. "We want to offer people radio with a choice about where, when and
how they listen," Molgaard said.

Denmark Radio's podcasts will be delivered free to all users in Danish, but
copyright limitations have thus far prevented the use of music in podcasts,
as with the BBC. "Podcasting is the direction radio will go, the record
companies just need to catch up," Molgaard said.

Beyond state-supported broadcasters, the new technology has opened up room
for podcasters like Tanja Danker, a Zurich-based singer who has sung back-up
vocals for Celine Dion.

Her podcasts, recorded weekly on her iRiver MP3 player, run for up to 40
minutes on the Web site www.swisspodcast.ch and include music as well as
interviews with actors, musicians and artists.

The tough part for developing an audience, Danker said, is the language of
her podcast: The Swiss-German dialect.

But that's the point of her podcast, she said: "I want to reach our
community in Switzerland in a way that these many podcasts from the United
States cannot."

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