Why podcasting threatens mainstream radio
Did you catch the quote from Howard Stern that the Associated Press reported this week? It was in response to reports that terrestrial radio networks were trying to get Stern to ditch the satellite show and come back to poppa.

"'I'm very flattered terrestrial radio can't let go of me,' Stern said Wednesday on his morning radio show. 'But I would throw up if I had to go back. I'm never going back.'"

The quote sounded so familiar to me, so I went back to the notes from my January interview with Adam Curry, the former MTV VJ who's one of the pioneers of podcasting. Here's what he said:

"When you’re in a “professional” broadcast environment you’re always thinking about rules you have to adhere to, such as language, corporate rules. With podcasts, your filters are all self-imposed....This is why I’m doing this stuff. I’ve always had the man above me telling me what I can and can’t say...Listeners get tuned in and they love [podcasts]. They’re walking away from radio and turning to podcasts because radio has been relegated by marketing and packaging into something that’s very tightly formatted. It’s so homogenized that people just said 'screw it.'"

So here you've got two notable, successful, in-demand broadcast personalities who are saying no to big bucks and big audiences because they don't want to deal with the hassles of sponsor pressure, corporate suits and the FCC. If you were a mainstream media executive, do you think this would make you just a tiny bit nervous?

I'm not a zealot about social media and I don't believe mainstream broadcasting is going away, not now and not ever. But it is going to have to change if it's going to continue to attract the kind of talent that will keep it innovative and in-touch with its audience. A lot of that talent is bleeding away to alternative outlets.

Just as a kicker, last week I spoke to Paige Heninger and Gretchen Vogelzang, hosts of the phenomenally successful Mommycast podcast program. They have also been approached by commercial radio about taking their program to the airwaves and they are resisting. The reason? They don't want to lose control.  ¶ 4:04 PM