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  Big Business VS The Grassroot Independent Podcaster Here is a continuation on our look into the Big Business vs Grassroot Independent Podcaster difference:

After a rollercoaster year for Podcasting, independent podcasters are finally learning to develop further and stretch deeper into music programming and earning money from advertising.

For some -- including the flagship Dawn & Drew Show, made by a couple on their disused dairy farm in Wisconsin -- creating a Podcast is still just a personal experience. For others, such as American technology writer and broadcaster Leo LaPorte, it is effectively another extension of their own personal, professional brand.

“Independent podcasting has been driven by an insatiable desire for better listening,” says Adam Curry, a former MTV presenter who has been one of the pioneers of the format. He thinks the failings of traditional radio -- particularly in the United States -- have left people looking for vibrant, new solutions, and finding these through the Internet; hence, the Podcast.

While independents are exploring new ways of using a podcast, media organisations have been among the first to latch on to its benefits, for obvious reasons. Many already have expertise in producing high-quality audio material and creating a Podcast would be a natural extension for these businesses.

The BBC, for example, makes many radio shows available via newly created Podcast s-- and is set to begin doing the same with video content, too. But, basically, it is repurposed, time-shifted radio -- TiVo for MP3 players.

“For the moment, that’s true, but I would see it changing,” says James Cridland, head of new media at Virgin Radio, which was the first United Kingdom radio station to produce a podcast. “In the next few months, we are going to be using some of our archive material, and I would only see that type of thing increasing. And new presenters and new talent might eventually come from podcasting, not from hospital radio or overnight slots on local stations.”   ¶ 09:10