Thanks, Tim

Does cable radio allow you to do a remote show via cellphone? Does cable radio record and archive the show, making it available for future listening, downloading or email? Does cable radio provide a widget that you can put on as many websites as possible? Does cable radio allow you to do seven shows a week, each on a different day, at a different time, and, a different length? It isn’t just the free aspect that I find of value, I really like the flexibilty of the BTR platform.

It’s unlikely I will find someone to pay me to do a BlogTalkRadio show. It’s unlikely that I will find sponsors for my specific show, although I can participate in a revenue-sharing program. I might find someone, however, that will pay me if I can get them ranked at the top of Google for specific keywords.

In the last few years, I’ve shifted my thinking about internet radio to make it more of an online marketing component. The BTR platform is unique in that it provides a blog element that Google, and other search engines to a lesser degree, index and rank very well.

I remember sitting in a studio for which I was paying $300 per hour, asking myself, “is anybody out there?” Once the program was done, it was gone, unless I recorded it on an audio cassette, which I had to buy. I was giving cassettes to potential sponsors, asking them to listen. Few did. One day, a looked at me and said, “I don’t have a cassette player anymore, just CDs.” I realized then, how things were changing.

Now, I can email a mp3 file of the show to you. Or, I can send a link and you can listen when you want to. You can subscribe to an RSS feed and be notified when I do a show. You can get from iTunes. And, it doesn’t cost me anything.

I truly hope there are some success stories. I’d like nothing better than to be one of them. BTR says that more than 3 million people have listened. They are able to sell banner advertising and set up a couple of indendent channels, and attract some venture captial, so there must be something happening.

There are talented people trying to develop a show, and some that aren’t so talented. Just check out the ON AIR page at any given time. Today, for example, there are 655 shows scheduled. In the next two weeks, more than 6000 shows will be on the platform. There are experienced talk show hosts, who have lost their microphones to younger people, but not their desire or talent. They simply lost a ’sponsor.’ The station might have switched to all-sports, or classic rock, or such. They may be too old to relate to 18 to 25 year-olds. Whatever the case, for an hour a week, on Blogtalkradio, they’re back on the air, doing what they want to do. Their problem, however, is in developing an audience.

This isn’t radio as most people think of it. It is, however, communication, in its basic form. I talk and, hopefully, someone listens. Just like marriage.

I can talk about coral reef decline, shark-finning, reforesting Haiti, and, Web2.0 applications, without the need to find sponsors for those narrow topics. I can ask people to donate, encourage them to buy, or simply provide some information about the enviroment. While I may not become the ‘king of all media,’ I know I can have an impact on a few people, who may have an impact on a few more. I’ve been able to tell people about the ecological devastation caused by deforestation in Haiti. I think that’s pretty cool.

At the end of the show, so to speak, I think the money will come if I can effectively use the internet to sell something via Blogtalkradio. I don’t expect it to come directly from sponsorship. If I have access to an email list, I have a potential audience. If not, it’s a much more difficult task, but the only real cost is my time. And since I’m the one who places value on it, the only question I have to answer is how long do I want to do it before I see a financial return?

Thank you for asking the questions.

Where are the BlogTalk success stories? Who has actually made it to the “Big Time” using BlogTalk? How many people does it reach? Where does all the talk go? What copyright protections are offered? Can people actually get paid or is this just another “Labor of love” like cable radio? Why is BlogTalk better than Cable Access? Isn’t cable access free except for the training? Isn’t free better than paying if the end result is about the same outreach…zero listeners? Where are the successes?

I just want to add that I will never, ever forget him. Or January 1st.

Nice info, thanks.