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Okay I admit it. I may be too old to get it. The young people I hang out with are constantly talking about advertising as if it were inherently evil. Yet, they are all interested in starting advertising-supported businesses!

So what’s the real problem? Reputation. Advertising has a bad reputation because, so often, it’s not well targeted. It’s not relevant. It’s not well done.

We’ve all heard the “content is king” line. That gives me an idea. What if the ads were in and of themselves CONTENT? Instead of scribbling a few words onto a script, reading it and recording it as a commercial, we spent as much time thinking about creating advertising that was itself content?

What could we change? Perception for one thing. Reputation for another. Our success rates most importantly.

We’re not bound by the same rules that hogtie radio and television. Podcasting is a new medium. We can make new rules. We can require that ads be relevant, targeted and well done. But most importantly, we can require that they be content, in and of themselves.

If you’re old enough to remember the Texaco Star Theater you’re on the right track. If not, study what those folks put together. They fit the content and the ad together in a way that simply doesn’t happen today as often as it should. That’s one possible answer to the problem.

Popularity: 18% [?]

On Thursday, January 11, 2007 from 6:00 to 7:00 PM, I’ll be joining other podcasters who cover the Apple Macintosh space at a special podcaster meetup. We’ll be podcasting from the Apple Store San Francisco, and we’ll talk about the most recent developments in the Mac universe.

Following that, we’ll all be moving to Jillian’s from 8 PM until Midnight where we’ll get to know each other in a social setting, and share some refreshment.

Each event is open to the public, but you must be a badge-wearing Macworld Expo attendee to come to the after party at Jillian’s.

For more information, go to the Mac Podcaster Meetup page run by Adam Christianson.

Popularity: 15% [?]

Congratulations to my pal and MacBreakWeekly co-host Leo Laporte. TWIT was named by Time Magazine as one of the top ten podcasts of 2006.

You can see the entire list at the Time Magazine site, and congrats to all the podcasters to receive this honor.

Popularity: 18% [?]

2006 is winding down. Here is a list of important trends that came about this past year.

1) Venture Capitalists show love for podcasting - several venture capital firms along with untold angel investors, spent millions bankrolling podcasting-related startups.

2) Podcasting conventions, seminars and expos were big hits - the Podcast & Portable Media Expo was a hit - period. And several other podcasting shows including the Podcast Academy and the Podcamps were well attended. NAB even had a podcasting track.

3) Podcasters are starting to cross over into mainstream media with some success - Amanda, Cali, Heather and more.

4) News media coverage of podcasting explodes - almost every major newspaper in the country as well as several prominent business magazines and even TV news covered podcasting in 2006.

5) Software and hardware improvements made it easier to podcast - whether it’s improvements to GarageBand or the availability of high-quality USB podcasting mics, 2006 brought us gear that made podcasting easier than ever.

6) Ad agencies started buying podcast ads - over at TWIT, big buys from names you know like Dell and Visa. Podshow and Podtrack also scored big ad buys.

7) Podcast production quality started to matter - while home-brew podcasts dominated the early podcasting landscape, podcasters universally started treating podcast production quality as a priority in 2006.

Popularity: 25% [?]

By Scott Bourne

If you have a podcast, you will eventually need an audio ID - also called imaging.

You may want to do a complicated intro and outro package or a simple music bed with sound effects and a basic liner announcing your show.

Whichever method you select, here are some very basic tips to get you started.

1) If you’re new at this, start small. Keep it simple. Don’t try to take on too much.
2) Pick the right music. If you’re building a podcast for the local conservative bank, don’t use head banger music in the background.
3) Have a tag line and use it.
4) Repeat things that are important like URLs or phone numbers.
5) When possible - use the same voice for all your imaging.
6) Use sound effects but don’t overdo it. If there’s an effect, know why it’s there and what its job is.
7) Compress the vocals - not the music or effects. And I am talking about AUDIO compression here, not file compression.
8) Use silence to make your point. Consider inserting silence right before or after something that you want to highlight, then use a stinger or sweeper to get back into the ID.
9) Have fun. If you’re not happy, your listeners won’t be happy.

Popularity: 21% [?]