CSUN On Point

The popularity of podcasts is on the rise. Whether listeners are looking for comedy, politics, sports, or crime stories, there are podcasts for all tastes, and companies are expanding the medium by focusing on different genres and markets.

“There is money to be made in making podcasts, so a lot more podcasts are being made, so you can serve smaller audiences,” said KCRW’s “Below the Ten” podcast host David Weinberg.

Edison Research reports about 73 million people of all ages listen to podcasts regularly. The number of podcast streams per person has risen from an average of five to seven each month — just in this past year. The on-demand nature of podcasts has contributed to their popularity, because it’s easier for listeners to fit podcasts into their schedules.

“A lot of [the popularity of podcasts] is that Netflix mentality: ‘I want to watch what I want to watch, when I want to watch it’,” said KFI News Anchor Aron Bender.

Podcasts from smaller companies outnumbered podcasts from bigger companies on Time’s top podcast list this year.  Some radio stations are also trying to tap into the popularity of podcasts.

“We take our shows and we podcast those shows,” Bender said, “and do so in such a way that people can consume them, so we take out most of the commercials, if not all the commercials.”

Podcasters are not limited by time constraints or FCC regulations the way live radio is. Podcasters have complete creative control over what they talk about, but making a living from podcasting is harder than in traditional radio.

“If all you want to do is make a podcast, then it’s going to be tough,” said Weinberg. “They say – I don’t know if this is still true – that you have to have 20,000 regular listeners to get advertisers to take your call, and even at that level you’re probably not going to be making enough.”

One common mistake new podcasters make is not being focussed and consistent. With more podcasts flooding the market, podcasters have to find a niche. If podcasters don’t post new episodes consistently, tailored to fit their audience, they can lose steam and stunt their growth.

“Try to drill down and focus,” Bender said, “so you can find that niche audience, and once you have them hooked, they’re going to start telling all their friends who are probably interested in that as well, and that’s how you grow a podcast.”

Podcasters have a farther reach than traditional radio. Podcasts can be heard worldwide on the internet, while radio shows can be heard only in the region they’re located.

“Even if it’s just one person listening,” Bender said, “there’s got to be chemistry with that person, and the microphone, and the listener. They’ve got to connect somehow…Even Seinfeld — he’ll say he’s got a show about nothing, but no it’s not about nothing. You’ve got this character-driven show… [The audience] likes to hate these characters, and the choices they’re making.”

Celebrities podcasters have the advantage of a built-in audience. For non-celebrity podcasters, figuring out how to stand out is important.

“The key difference between a good and a bad podcast is editing,” Weinberg said. “Through that refining process, is how you make things really good.”

The rising popularity of podcasting has made it more viable for some podcasters to make it their full-time job.

“Now, podcasting is a cool thing to do,” Weinberg said. “I think if someone said to me ‘you’re going to get this job where you get to fly all over the world to talk to people and get paid’, I would say ‘yeah! I’ll do it’.”

Moderator: Manuel Fuentes

Producer: Ahmad Akkaoui

Anchor: Sandy Chavez

Social Media Editor: Tammera Magaña

Reporters: Ahmad Akkaoui, Sandy Chavez, Manuel Fuentes, Tammera Magaña, Mario Saucedo and Natalia Vivino

With today’s technology, listening to the radio has become a more personal experience. People can log on to apps such as Pandora, Spotify and Dash Radio to listen to their favorite music at a moment’s notice, without having to wade through commercials or artists they don’t like.

Every week, 86 million people listen to some form of online radio, according to a 2013 study by Edison Research.

Aron Bender, news anchor at KFI-AM and a journalism professor at Cal State Northridge, said while internet radio definitely provides more choices for listeners, it offers some advantages to radio stations as well.

“While listeners do have more control, it also gives us more control because now, we can cater to those people who are listening,” Bender said. “We can cater to the people who are consuming our product.”

But all-digital radio platforms provide something that commercial radio cannot — the absence of advertisements.  Danny Calderon, producer at Dash Radio, a commercial-free, mobile-based radio platform, said the ability to get content almost anywhere is contributing to the rise of online radio.

“There’s an app for everything,” Calderon said. “It’s easier now to listen to it online.”

For Calderon, running an all-digital radio station has its own challenges.

“[It takes] a lot of computers, a lot of servers, a lot of music,” he said.

Without commercials providing revenue for Dash Radio, Calderon said the station is funded solely by investors and sponsorships from record executive L.A. Reid, XXL Magazine and others.

“Since we’re fairly new and coming up and it’s buzzing, there are people trying to invest and be part of the movement,” Calderon said.

Traditional radio stations don’t have the same freedoms that a digital station has. DJ Fuze, an on-air DJ for Power 106, said he must abide by strict regulations while he is working.

“When I’m on air, I have no control,” Fuze said. “I have to play what’s on the list. If I play something that wasn’t on the list, I’d get in some serious trouble.”

When Fuze is not at Power 106, he is making mix tapes for use on the music-sharing app Soundcloud, accessible to listeners all over the world.

“That’s always a challenge,” Fuze said of catering to an international audience. “Sometimes I get listens from Australia, Europe. You have to think about what they like out there, too.”

Bender said the key for all radio stations nowadays is the immediate feedback platforms like Twitter provide. Fuze said there are two sides to that.

“If you ever mess up, people on Twitter and Instagram are quick to give you negative feedback,” Fuze said. “It goes both ways.”

While digital radio is seemingly taking over from the more traditional broadcast format, Bender said both platforms are here to stay.

“When TV came in, they said that radio was going to die,” Bender said. “And when Internet came in, they said TV and radio. But, there is enough out there for everybody.”

Moderator: Lauren Llanos

Producer: Dean Perez

Anchor: Carly Bagingito

Reporters: Zulay Saldana and Alex Vejar

Social Media Editor: Katie Fauskee

On Point’s Tiaira Nowlin talks to CSUN Journalism program graduates about their careers. KCSB/KCAL-TV reporter Melissa McCarty, KFI-AM’s Aron Bender and KMTV’s Adam Racusin give advice about resumes, reels, balancing career and family, and coping with new technology to current journalism students.