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Viacom Launches Podcast-Only Radio Station 230

Posted by timothy from the mix-tapes-for-crushes dept.
prostoalex writes "Figuring out it couldn't get any worse, Viacom is turning an underperforming talk radio station in San Francisco into podcasting central. KYOU Radio performed so poorly in the ratings that it would not even show up on the official Arbitron radio rankings for the city of San Francisco. Now the Web site of the station owned by $56.5 billion corporation features a hip young look and claims to be the Open Source Radio. Visitors can upload the podcasts of their own in MP3, AIFF, AVI or WMA formats (no OGG support by someone who's so accepting of open source)."
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Viacom Launches Podcast-Only Radio Station More

Viacom Launches Podcast-Only Radio Station

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  • Good idea (Score:5, Funny)

    by katana ( 122232 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @10:38PM (#12395738) Homepage
    Radio that's just as good as your local public-access TV channels. Won't that be awesome.

  • Not a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)

    by HELLO.JPG ( 676706 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @10:39PM (#12395742) Homepage Journal
    From a business perspective this is genius. Content costs nothing because it's created by users and everything they make is pure profit. People will tune in to see if their content was picked or not.

    Of course, it will probably end up being just as crappy as local public access channels. Except, instead of seeing teenagers prank call McDonald's it'll be wannabe Art Bells ranting about how George W. Bush is hiding Osama bin Laden on the dark side of the moon.
    • This reminds me a LOT of the upcoming Current TV [current.tv].

    • Re:Not a bad idea (Score:5, Insightful)

      by grqb ( 410789 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:13PM (#12395915) Homepage Journal
      They have to screen each mp3 file that they play to make sure they don't get their asses sued by playing illegal content...that'll take a lot of hours, I can imagine that every podcaster and their dogs will be submitting something to these guys.
      • If they're paying license fees to the ASCAP and BMI folks, who know how to deal with radio stations, they avoid pretty much all the copyright problems, unlike freelance Internet broadcasters who are outside the standard recording industry business model. That kind of lawsuit is easy to prevent, assuming they're making enough on advertising to stay in business.

        There's still the politically-incorrect language problem, though, which means they probably will have to pre-screen to avoid having the Republicans

    • Commercials? (Score:4, Interesting)

      by hotspotbloc ( 767418 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:57PM (#12396109) Homepage Journal
      From a business perspective this is genius. Content costs nothing because it's created by users and everything they make is pure profit.

      I agree about the possiblity of being very profitable but what about commercials? The station needs to broadcast them:

      1. Will they just slice out content and insert commercials? If so, who decides what gets cut?
      2. Will they require producers to adhere to standard breaks and limit content time to something like 22:30 minutes per half hour with 3 breaks?
      3. Could the broadcaster insert an ad for a bbq shack during a pro PETA show (unlikely, but could happen)? Will the producer be allowed to insert their own ads?
      4. If the podcaster says one of the "seven dirty words" and it's gets broadcast couldn't the producer get hit with law suit from an injured third party (like an advertiser)?

      Yes, there could be a lot of profit in it but IMO it will be a rocky road in the beginning. While some podcasters will adapt I hope that's the exception to the rule. I like podcasts the way they are.

      Of course, it will probably end up being just as crappy as local public access channels. Except, instead of seeing teenagers prank call McDonald's it'll be wannabe Art Bells ranting about how George W. Bush is hiding Osama bin Laden on the dark side of the moon.

      If that part was posted by alone it would get a +5, Funny. =)

      • Of course, it will probably end up being just as crappy as local public access channels. Except, instead of seeing teenagers prank call McDonald's it'll be wannabe Art Bells ranting about how George W. Bush is hiding Osama bin Laden on the dark side of the moon.

        I can certify that that is a complete lie, I listened to that album a couple of times today and there weren't any fucking terrorists.

  • no ogg? duh (Score:3, Funny)

    by EvilStein ( 414640 ) <.ten.pbp. .ta. .maps.> on Saturday April 30, 2005 @10:39PM (#12395746)
    If it was ogg, it'd be an "oggcast"

    "podcast" was originally something to be listened to on your iPod. The iPod doesn't play ogg (by default) ;)

    "oggcast" would sound like a wild caveman anyway.

  • The Jarvis Take (Score:4, Informative)

    by KrackHouse ( 628313 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @10:44PM (#12395768) Homepage
    From BuzzMachine [buzzmachine.com].
    Now having said all that, I'll repeat that YOURadio is big news and good news for a few reasons: First, it is big media recognizing that it's time to listen -- and do more than listen: Let the people speak. It is big media recognizing the value of citizens' media. Second, it is an admission that the old, one-size-fits-all, top-down, one-way models of programming are broken and the audience can do it better. Third, it an admission that the old business models are soon to break and that the people can provide more talent for less than the old talent could. It's nothing less than the economic salvation of old media... if old media is smart enough to financially support citizens' media and not just exploit it. What's important is that a big media company knew it was time to stick some dynamite up the alimentary canal and push the plunger. It is the tipping point.
    Jay Rosen also has an interesting take on his blog, PressThink here [nyu.edu].

  • This has already been done (Score:4, Informative)

    by grqb ( 410789 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @10:45PM (#12395772) Homepage Journal
    Openpodcast.org [openpodcast.org] does exactly this, they've been doing this now for a long time. And, there may even be plans to do the same thing over satellite radio (although you'd have to listen to about a 2hr podcast from Adam Curry [curry.com] to learn more)

    shameless plug for my podcast: theWatt Weekly [thewatt.com] - energy news and discussion in mp3 format

  • Call me crazy... (Score:2, Insightful)

    by mgbaron ( 457884 )
    Call me crazy, but I fail to see what all the hubbub is about podcasting (I also dislike the name). I think it is kind of neat as an idea, but I just don't see any financial strategy behind this that is in anyway sustainable. This isn't meant to be flamebait, I am really curious.

    Can anyone explain this to me?

    Does anyone know any relevent links about this topic?

    • OK, you're crazy (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Schlemphfer ( 556732 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:02PM (#12395868) Homepage
      Call me crazy, but I fail to see what all the hubbub is about podcasting (I also dislike the name). I think it is kind of neat as an idea, but I just don't see any financial strategy behind this that is in anyway sustainable. This isn't meant to be flamebait, I am really curious.

      Please take the sentence above and insert "the web" where "podcasting" is currently placed. You could say much the same thing about the web lacking a financial strategy for content-oriented sites, especially back in 1999. But it evolved, at least somewhat. The same thing will happen to podcasts.

      Of greater importance, though, is that something can be totally paradigm-shifting but not generate a lot of cash. If 20 million people soon do most of their "radio" listening by podcast, the implications to society are enormous regardless of how much money is being made.

      • Except that by 1999 Angelfire was already including banner ads atop my horrible web page, and presumably making money off of it.

        Also, 20 million people may listen to podcasts, but they aren't doing it entirely because they love amateur recording, writing, and speaking quality. They're doing it because it's convenient, and can be listened to on their schedule, not Wolfman Jack's.

        A radio PLAYING podcasts takes away that major advantage. I like some of them, but I'm not going to tune in at a certain time and
      • Please take the sentence above and insert "the web" where "podcasting" is currently placed. You could say much the same thing about the web lacking a financial strategy for content-oriented sites, especially back in 1999.

        Except back in 1999 (actually 1996) we had Shoutcast and Icecast.

        I'll tell you what is going to happen with "podcasting". People are going to run into its limitations. They're going to realize that downloading hours of audio, transfering it to your ipod, and *then* listening to it is a
        • Hm... you mean like podcast over WiFi or WiMax? Wow, it's so crazy it might work...

          I have an idea. How about we use a transmitter more powerful than a WiFi transmitter so the station can reach a wider audience. And forget all that digital crap -- you can get better range and simpler equipment if you use analog. Maybe you can even pay people to play the music so you don't have to get your programming on a volunteer basis.

          What?
        • go to podcast.net, you can already stream all the podcasts in the world if that's your thing.

          but if your rss reader is downloading your new content to your ipod overnight it's really not that much hassle.

          24/7 streaming content is hard to do and loops are pointless.

          we do 1 hour a week, have a blast recording, and people who listen and like it can go back and get the earlier shows.

          Now these guys are looking to plunder the free content, but that's OK.

  • With apologies to the Buggles (Score:5, Funny)

    by NZheretic ( 23872 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:15PM (#12395932) Homepage Journal
    Ipodding Killed The Drive Time Radio Star.

    I heard you on the wireless back in Ninety Two
    Driving to work intent at tuning in on you.
    If I was jammed it didn't stop you coming through.

    Oh-a oh

    They took the credit for your shock jock comedy.
    Recorded on Ipods and new technology,
    and now I understand the problems you can see.

    Oh-a oh

    I met your children

    Oh-a oh

    What did you tell them?

    Ipodding killed the drive time star.
    Ipodding killed the drive time star.

    Downloads came and broke your heart.

    Oh-a-a-a oh.

    And now we meet in an household studio.
    We hear the playback and it seems so long ago.
    But we all agree Clear Channel has to go.

    Oh-a oh.

    You were the last ones.

    Oh-a oh.

    We are the next ones.

    Ipodding killed the drive time star.
    Ipodding killed the drive time star.
    On my hip and in my car, we can rewind if we've gone to far.

    Oh-a-aho oh,
    Oh-a-aho oh

    Ipodding killed the drive time star.
    Ipodding killed the drive time star.

    On my hip and in my car, we can rewind if we've gone to far.
    Downloads came and broke your heart, put the blame on Adam Curry.

  • Yawn! (Score:2, Interesting)

    by birge ( 866103 )
    This is supposed to be "citizens media" finally being recognized for the inexorable power it is, huh? Now we'll finally hear from "real people"? So, I suppose the DJs doing their shows before weren't citizens. But will we all of a sudden want to listen to those same DJs were they to put their schtick on an MP3 and accept no pay? Arguably not, but the podcasting cheerleaders seem to think that we'll certainly want to hear from some people with no training or prior interest in broadcasting. Yeah, that makes s
    • and if people like it then that's great, personally i don't read any corporate blogs,

      see? now I have choice!

      Hoorah!

    • Just to add to this. Some friends and I run a news and views blog. We get about 400 uniques a day in a city of 300,000.

      Looking closely in the access logs The local newspaper and news radio are among are biggest readers. Closely followed by the local Legislative Assembly.

      The wild-eyed techno utopians are almost always wrong, but don't think blogs aren't changing the world.

      We're not doing anything particularly new, but the barrier to entry before would have stopped us doing it at all.
    • People want to hear something different for a change. What's coming out of your high and mighty corporations nowadays is not evil robot stuff but actually much worse - market researched, Simon approved, homogenous cr-er, stuff.

      Citizens media may be poorly represented by this particular podcast outfit, but in general, many more people will now be able to get their stuff out there without dealing with the piles of red tape and ass kissing and casting couchesque bull crap that plagues entertainment today.

      The

  • Forget podcasting !! Return the airwaves ! (Score:4, Insightful)

    by zymano ( 581466 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:17PM (#12395945)
    Return the airwaves to the public. We could use those frequencies more efficiently with muni wifi !

    Get rid of the FCC. Pure shills for monopolists.
    • Get your amateur radio license and read the ARRL handbook cover to cover, and then come back and explain to us exactly how that is supposed to work.

      Like it or not there has to be frequency police out there. The EM spectrum is a limited resource -- consider that the twenty MHz allocated to the FM broadcast band would be swamped by three TV channels, and then consider that the entire AM band is about 1.2 MHz wide. There simply isn't the room to "return the airwaves to the public" -- the FCC is having enough
    • BTW, FCC ISN'T responsible for the creation of Clear Channel and other monopoly like radio. That would be the SEC approving thier purchases.

      WiFi operates in the 2.4 GHz band. It likely would not work well in the AM Broadcast band because noone makes equipment for that band yet! ;) Even if they did, I personally don't think it would work too well.

      The FCC is a necessary evil. If it wasn't for them, your radio would be useless as well as your cell phone, your wifi and anythng else that uses RF. They exi

  • This is BRILLIANT (Score:3, Funny)

    by melted ( 227442 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:23PM (#12395978) Homepage
    Supply us with your programming for free, we'll intersperse it with ads and put it on our site. I wich I could come up with schemes like this. :0)

  • Yeah... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by rampant mac ( 561036 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:27PM (#12395994)
    "no OGG support by someone who's so accepting of open source"

    Does EVERY fucking article concerning compressed audio have to stick this little jab into each headline?

    Slashdot's open source... "no WC3 conformity by someone who's so accepting of open source"

    • Re:Yeah... (Score:2, Interesting)

      by MoOsEb0y ( 2177 )
      It's all good. Just encapsulate the OGG in the AVI. AVI can hold almost anything. :)

      • This is a bit off topic, but so can QuickTime's .mov, as I found when I downloaded the Hitchhiker's (radio) Tertiary Phase in the (to me) non-useful .ogg format.

        Just grabbed the codec [sourceforge.net], QuickTime could then read ogg, so I saved it as a .mov, and iTunes converted it to AAC no sweat.

      • " It's all good. Just encapsulate the OGG in the AVI. AVI can hold almost anything.

        So, slashdot.avi?

        Baby Jesus cries. No. I'm crying. Except I gouged out my eye-balls with a spoon. My mistake, I don't have eyes. My basement is sooooo cold. Smeagol is tired. Smeagol sleeps.

      • I will post this just to break your parade.

        No, you can not place Ogg into AVI. What you meant is that you can place Vorbis into AVI.

        However, thank you, as I was specifically looking for the person who will point out that AVI is not a codec, but a container.

    • Re:Yeah... (Score:4, Interesting)

      by killjoe ( 766577 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @01:10AM (#12396404)
      "Does EVERY fucking article concerning compressed audio have to stick this little jab into each headline?"

      Yes it does. This is an open source web site. I come here BECAUSE slashdot (and only slashdot) does that.

      I have a choice os billion web sites to choose from and so do you. I chose to come here and read news with open source advocasy in mind. If you don't want to read about open source advocasy I might suggest gotdotnet or a million other web sites which are anti open source or don't give a flying donut about open source.
    • It's called advocacy and it's been a part of Slashdot from the beginning. OGG deserves a chance because it's open and it's good. Both of these things are good for you, even if you don't realize it. (Which a great many people don't.)

      From my perspective I see lots of sites on the web that always ignore ogg.

      Does ALMOST EVERY fucking article concerning compressed audio have to ignore ogg?

      Works both ways and there are more sites doing it your way than mine right now, so go read those or lighten up. I woul
      • It's called pointless whining. Bitching and bitching about it isn't going to get it accepted more. NICELY emailing KYOU about it will get you more then bitching about it on Slashdot. They other way is to use it yourself. No wait....if you do this noone will listen to you...on the otherhand....
    • Sure, why not.

      Let's come up with a list of possible reasons for Free Software supporting people/companies to not support ogg vorbis while supporting non-free formats shall we?

      1. Not as popular. Duh, but they are the ones who will make it popular if they support it. My take - not valid.

      2. Costs too much. Huh? My take - not valid.

      3. ???

      4. Profit.

      (Sorry, couldn't resist.)

      Now, I can think of a lot more reasons for someone/company who doesn't support Free Software to leave out ogg vorbis support.

      Plus, as

  • FCC (Score:5, Interesting)

    by mlc ( 16290 ) on Saturday April 30, 2005 @11:35PM (#12396026) Homepage
    What happens when someone says "fuck" in one of their podcasts?
    • What happens when someone says "fuck" in one of their podcasts?

      Probably the same thing that happens when you type it here on slashdot: people can still read it if they choose, even though it's a troll.

    • Re:FCC (Score:3, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward
      Wow - the fact you got modded as troll when you hit on the only problem with this scheme shows how little people here know about radio.
    • Or just begins podcasting some of the MC Hawking's finest.

      /I am a three-sandwich eating....
    • Then so does the company.
  • Could Apple demand a change? Besides, while the iPod is an incredible machine (calling it a "music player" really does it an injustice) there are other players, PDAs and soon cell phones that can handle "podcasts". I've seen "shiftcasting" and "peercasting" but I'm sure there are better suggestions.

    BTW, someone this year filed a trademark claim on "PODCAST" [uspto.gov], something that I'm sure will get disputed by someone.

    I just think there has to be a better name out there.

    • BTW, someone this year filed a trademark claim on "PODCAST [uspto.gov]", something that I'm sure will get disputed by someone.

      Yea, it's someone looking at making a quick buck. It was registered the day after the big podcast article was in USA Today.

  • ogg support (Score:4, Informative)

    by Cruciform ( 42896 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @12:19AM (#12396201) Homepage
    Canada's CBC radio supports OGG streams.

    Just check out Quirks and Quarks [www.cbc.ca], a weekly science show broadcast on Saturdays.
  • Does anybody listen to AM radio in cities? It's useful for covering big open spaces, but an AM radio station based in San Francisco seems pointless.

  • The Geeks Get Got? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by tomwhore ( 10233 ) on Sunday May 01, 2005 @12:27AM (#12396240) Homepage Journal

    Folks, at its best Podcasting is supposed to break us free from the crappy world of FCC filtered, Clear Channel backed pablum that has been hoisted on us. Podcasting is the RESPONSE to years of having our airwaves taken away from us by govermental force and used by a few corporations to tell us what and when to listen to the music they want to seel us or to listen to the news they demand we belive.

    Podcasting, heck any methodology that subverts the traditional communications paradigm of "We own you, you listen to what we tell you to" is a great and glorious thing. It gives us the possibility of finding our own voices, of putting out our own content and of sharing in these things across the whole of humanity.

    But now those same tradionalists who took the airwaves from us want to join in the revoltuion against them? Something smell fishy to you yet?

    Lets break the KYOU thing down

    Infinity looses its biggest ever cash cow (Stern) and is DESPERATE for a new "thing". So whats new? (not much you..that should get the nprheads)

    Podcasting, which is just mp3s passed around via automated apps (bashpodder being imnsfho the best) goes from 0 to Hyperspace speeds in under a year...

    Many podcasters are living on the steam that they are changing the course of history, that each and every days recounting of thier lunch choices is a signal to the world of paradigm shifting import that EVERYONE needs to hear..(ok so some podcasters are not into this ego shit eating contest and yes some podcasts are just that fucking damn good and should be listened to... but enough fit this description that the idea holds.)

    SO here is Infinity DESPERATE for Something New
    SO here are some Podcaster DESPERATE to be heard

    Hey look, linkup synchup dontcha just wana throw up..because...

    INfinity pays NOTHING for the content, they sell ads and make the revenue, and the content is filtered to FCC cleaness standards to boot.

    So the Podcasters have to be FCC filtered, thier works make revenue for Infinity alone, and man does this begin to sound like some radio execs wet dream or what?

    Folks, this is fishy at best and a subversion of what indipendent media is suppose to be about at worst. I say no thanks.

    Burn Radio Burn

    • Being FCC filtered? No. I just think you want to say shit, piss, fuck, cunt, cocksucker, motherfucker and tits on the radio. You know what? I DON'T want to here it if that's all you do the whole show. Sure, Adam Curry and The Dawn and Drew show drop fbombs here and there and may discuss things non appropriate for airing on the radio, but there use of any of the seven words are not always central to thier show. Heck the best Dawn and Drew shows are when they discuss what's in the P.O. Box...yeah!
  • So basically, they're trying to do for radio what Current [current.tv] is doing for video. The difference is no one is going to listen to what KYOU puts on the air, because there's already similar content all over the Internet. Current actually seems like something new and innovative, rather than a way to save a dying radio station.

    Regardless, the advancements that have been made in the digital age have lowered the barrier to entry for being a content creator. Personally, I think the next decade of audio and video is
  • Live365? I have to admit for a full fledged tech geek the pod-cast revolution has slipped right past me. Whats the difference between a podcast and a regular shoutcast/icecast/etc stream? Is it just that it downloads itself to a proprietary piece of hardware or is there really something different?

    I ask this as someone about a month away from launching a full-fledged 24/7 net radio site.

    I mean is it really as simple as the fact that the radio shows are pre-packaged and can be listened to at the users dis
    • streams suck for concurrency, the internet is designed to move static content.

      You get 200 listeners to a stream and the bandwidth starts to get expensive.

      200 listeners to a weekly podcast and no-one notices.

      tie it in with blogtorrent and you're scaling pretty well.
      • Thanks, I've got a pretty solid understanding of this thing now. The RSS tie-in is good, but taking advantage of pre-existing technology. The shows themself aren't a lot different then the streamed shows and the bandwidth costs are essentially the same until someone ties the torrent and rss feed together (or something similar).

        I read a good article about ASCAAP and their stance on protected recordings in podcasts, situationally its exactly the same as streaming broadcasts. Licensing fees, etc.

        If podcast
  • There's no ogg because how many portable MP3 players support ogg? Only one brand that I know of (iRiver) or possibly two. In any case, MP3 is a standard now, like it or not. If you submit a WAV, they will likely convert it for you. Every time I hear a but they don't support OGG comment, I just roll my eyes. If we want to ever make other people other than geeks aware of podcasting, we have to support the audio formats they know about. MP3's are what people know. When you say OGG and start talking about
    • I agree with the parent poster in principle; OGG just really isn't all that popular yet. They [the people operating the station] might not even be aware of the format; unless you are extremely cognizant of the Open Source movement you probably wouldn't even know about OGG Vorbis. Also, they may not have the equipment, software or people with the technical knowledge to be able to handle it at this time. Or they might feel that it is so small in terms of its interest it's not worth bothering with, or tha
  • How is this a "transformation" of the old station? They're "changing" the format, audience, medium, and content of the old station. Isn't Viacom just shuttind down a losing station completely, and launching an unrelated podcast website? And cranking the hype machine by casting it as "upgrading" a station?

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