For Gil Asakawa, executive producer of the DenverPost.com, the decision to begin offering Post Podcasts was easy: “It seemed like a no-brainer,” he said, particularly since the Post has a “commitment to incorporate new technology” in order to bring the news to a wider audience.
Like many newspapers and media outlets, the Denver Post started podcasting to offer listeners who lack the time to read a newspaper the chance to download audio content and catch up on the latest news and features on their MP3 players.
But just because the jump to podcasting was a no-brainer doesn’t mean it has been easy. Compared to the podcasts of major news organizations like CNN and ABC, Asakawa said that the Post’s podcasts are still “rough.”
Denver Post’s “Pod Squad,” Ian Neligh, Noelle Leavitt and Armando Manzanares, wake up at 4 a.m. to select and record the top five stories from each section on the website, explained Asakawa. They then package and produce the podcasts at home using freeware on their personal home computers. They have the podcasts uploaded to the site by 7 a.m.
Podcasts include: Daily Top Headlines, Entertainment Beat, and Events & Features Podcasts. Features podcasts include brief descriptions and are sometimes accompanied by a video or a photo slideshow.
Offered exclusively online, the Post’s features podcasts give listeners an opportunity to experience major events and news through sound from interviews and background ambient sounds. Some examples include a visit to a Harry Potter book release party at a local bookstore, speaking with a Children’s Hospital volunteer and an interview with a photographer who volunteered to rescue animals in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Online editions for print journalism have been slow in taking a serious look at podcasting, Asakawa said. Many are only now seeing some of podcasting’s potential to reach new audiences.
Future plans for the Post’s podcasting, Asakawa said, include adding more Web-only available content such as the features podcasts; Scenester, which lists upcoming entertainment events; and weekly movie reviews by the Regular Guy movie critic.
