I just discovered podcasting. Well, that's not strictly speaking true, I've known about it for a while, I just never commented on it.

For any of you still living in a cave somewhere who have no idea what a podcast is, I'll tell you. A podcast is, simply put, like a radio show that is automatically downloaded once a new show is released. It is like an offline radio show. You listen to it whenever you get a chance, transport it however you like, and don't have to do a thing. In the older days of radio, you would have to hook up a recorder to your radio, get ready to record when the show started, turn the recorder off when the show was over, and get another recorder if you wanted to make copies of your show. It was a pain! Until podcasting, the plight wasn't much better. You would go to the radio show's website, download each radio show individually, and check back whenever the show changed. With podcasting, unless you turn the option off, your computer checks periodically to see if any new shows have been posted. It is a beautiful thing for getting radio shows alone.

Arguably the best feature of podcasting, however, is the ability of any person in the world to start his or her own podcast. Let me give you an example of what I mean.

I am a youth ministry major. As such, the interests and concerns, not to mention the opinions of teenagers are very important to me. Before podcasting, you could listen to the radio for hours or days, and never actually hear someone younger than 20 speak. Usually that means younger than 30, but I allow for exceptions. True, once in a while you might stumble upon a teen DJing a music hour, but you'd probably never hear a candid opinion or be able to get a real idea of what the teen cared about if you listened for years. The format just doesn't lend itself to that. Even if you heard a radio show directed at teens, you wouldn't hear the teenage opinion, only the 30-something producer's opinion. Again, the medium simply doesn't lend itself to it. Radio shows need to be paid for, and that usually means the audience only hears what the producers think they want to hear. The medium seems to be almost intrinsically oppressive.

So what of podcasts then? Why are they any better? Easy, because they don't cost thousands of dollars to set up. I don't have all of the details yet, but I'm told they can be set up for basically nothing. The cost of an internet connection. For a teenager wanting to post an opinion podcast, for a fifth-grade class that wants to address the world or for a political dissident in an oppressed nation that wants to speak his or her mind, all that is required is an internet connection. Again, so I hear.

The Teenage podcast scene is still pretty limited though, which is unfortunate. I assume this is mostly because nobody knows how to set up a podcast. If I remember what it was like to be a teenager though, I would assume it is because they think nobody will care. This is simply wrong. Sure, nobody may care at first, but it is equally as likely that a whole boatload of people will care. Depends on how you run your show, the temperament of the audience, and a whole bunch of other things that vary from person to person. I think the important thing is to try. Whether you are a teenager with something to say, or a teacher of a fifth grade class, podcasting might be for you.

I think the important question to ask yourself would be this. If money were no object and program scheduling were not a concern, would you want to start a radio show? Maybe not even "would you want to" but "would anything, no matter how small be served by it?" No matter what your interests are, there'll always be some other wacko with the same interests. Besides, what could it hurt?