Radio Ink Magazine – August 12, 2019

30 RADIOINK•COM AUGUST 12, 2019

vary widely, from buying into existing

podcast companies, purchasing them

outright, or creating their own. There

are some companies whose only interest

is repurposing their own radio content,

and others who have chosen to not

insert themselves into the lineup just

yet. Radio has recognized the impor-

tance of being there, but I’m not sure

that everyone is interested in all 162

games. Podcast is a long game, after all.

Tom Webster: Public radio is in the third

inning. The starting pitcher has settled

down, but there are still a lot of pitches

to be thrown. Commercial broadcast

radio is like a star cricket bowler who

believes their skill translates to base-

ball, and they just showed up to spring

training. We will see.

Elsie Escobar: If I may change the meta-

phor, since a baseball game implies that

there is one other team in those nine

innings. I’d rather use a marathon, if

we’re talking sports — that opens it up

a bit more. Some marathons have tens

of thousands of folks running. There are

runners that are there for the very first

time, running as a personal achieve-

ment, and neither time nor ranking

matters. There are elite professional

marathoners, long-distance runners that

train hard against their own personal

best as well as their evenly matched

competitors.

I view radio as an elite sprinter.

They’ve chosen to start running mara-

thons, and although they know how to

run, they are finding that it’s not the

same kind of running.

Marathon running requires a distinct

approach to training and a completely

different mental game. Radio, as a new

marathoner, is currently orienting itself

in this new environment, getting com-

fortable with the unknowns, but most of

all challenging itself to let go of what it

already knows, because truly, podcast-

ing is a marathon, not a sprint.

Tina Nole: Radio is the peanut guy.

Radio is what people listen to when

they want to hear the game while

they’re in the car. Public radio has led

the shift to long-form storytelling, and

they were smart to use their online

platform to enable streaming early

on. People will continue to use radio

for updates and local news, but as an

engaged platform, I wonder how long

it’ll sustain its audience.

On the other hand, public radio

is catching on, and shows like This

American Life had an app before iTunes

made the Podcast app native to the

iPhone in 2014. Public radio got the

hang of this game years ago, while com-

mercial radio was still running shock

jocks and mattress ads.

Mark Asquith: Just warming up —

there’s a little worry and fear, I believe,

due to the less predictable nature of

podcasting as a medium. The shifting

needs of the listener still haven’t quite

settled yet, as evidenced by the report-

ing that Edison creates. This makes it

difficult for radio to understand where it

fits in the space, but in order to succeed,

I feel that risks must be taken, in par-

ticular with content and with ad models.

Podcasting, though audio, is not radio,

and just like TV, movies, and YouTube,

each differs in its approach despite shar-

ing a common visual format. Radio has to

try new and uncomfortable tactics to try

Mark Asquith, CEO & Co-Founder, Rebel Base Media