Watch out Sean, Rush, Randi and Ed. Talk radio no longer just belongs to the broadcast airwaves — or even the relatively new frontier of satellite radio.
Blog talk radio, which has been around for a bit but seems to be gaining more participants and listeners, seems to be taking off. And what better indication do you have of it than Blog Talk Radio hiring one of the blogosphere’s top and most thoughtful conservative bloggers to work for them full time? The blogger: Ed Morrissey:
Just a little over three and a half years ago, I began this blog as a creative writing outlet and a chance to hone my skills. When I launched Captain’s Quarters, I had no idea how it would grow, that it would attract this wonderful community of readers and commenters across the political spectrum, or that it would change my life.
Today, with the support of family and friends, I made the transition from hobbyist to full-time worker in the New Media. I have accepted a position as Political Director of Blog Talk Radio, an exciting new venture known to the CQ community but one which I hope to help expand exponentially. It’s a chance to work full time in the field which I have grown to love, and an opportunity to help others literally discover their voices.
Why Blog Talk Radio? After weeks of interaction with the owners and the staff, I have come to believe in the product and see it as the next frontier in the democratization of media. In a way, it has even more accessibility and enterprise than blogs did when they first began. For no cost, anyone with a decent broadband connection and a phone can host their own live “radio” show, streamed on the Internet, and accept callers and conduct discussions. When we start adding advertisements, hosts will earn money for their work in a revenue-sharing arrangement with Blog Talk Radio. To top it off, the show automatically podcasts itself and the replay stream is available within minutes of the end of the broadcast.
Yours truly and other TMVers have been on a blog talk radio show and even considered doing one (although in the end TMV may cooperate with a host who’s already doing it).
And Morrissey points out that it isn’t only bloggers who are inching into this new aspect of the new infomedia:
It’s on the cusp of breaking into the mainstream. Last night — opposite my show, of course — Blog Talk Radio featured Jennifer Hudson in her own show. The Academy Award-winning actress and singer could interact directly with her fans and talk about her life and her experiences in Dreamgirls and on American Idol. The show attracted over a thousand live listeners and at one point had 125 live callers waiting to talk with Ms. Hudson.
That, by the way, happened with just hours of promotion time available to plug it.
How serious is Morrissey about this new job and the potential of blog talk radio?
VERY. He is quitting his job as manager of a call center. And his new bosses want him to blog more than ever and continue is steady ascent into not just blog “hits” but also being a key member of this new info frontier. Morrissey’s huge pluses (aside from his blog and writing skills) is that he has done an internet talk show for some time and he also enjoys warm ties to many bloggers of many political viewpoints.
Can talk radio on the internet ever really compete with broadcast? It’s really too early to tell.
Computers, the Internet and blogs are really in the Fred Flintstone age, even though most people involved with them want to believe they are now on the cutting edge. This era is to the new technology and new media what silent films were to today’s movie industry.
And, now, Morrissey is leaving his secure job to become one of its highest profile pioneers.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.