Radio Broadcasting Association Buys Podcasting

Top of Curry's list is confusion over licensing. "We're working with the RIAA and Apple to come up with a DRM-enabled podcasting solution. We've got some top artists on board, so be prepared for an explosion of great podcasts!"

The Broadcasting Organization's move comes as podcasting has emerged as an viable alternative to traditional radio. By purchasing the rights to podcasting, traditional broadcasters can have a turnkey solution for putting broadcast content onto portable media players.

Podcasting to Fork?

The Broadcasting Organization's move may prove to be controversial, because it involves forking one of the basic podcasting standards.

"The Organization did a focus group on podcasting and found out that RSS was just too complicated for people to figure out," noted Winter. Winter's solution was to come up with a new XML-based format, Really Really Simple Syndication, or RRSS. "I call it arse," jokes Winter, "because an arse can figure it out!"

RRSS is a simplified derivitive of of RSS 0.92. "RDF is back in, but we've figured out a way to make it easy!" notes Winter. "That should make the RDF folks happy."

RRSS is already generating its share of controversy, though. According to Mark Puritan, one of the gurus behind a competing syndication format, "When Winter announced RRSS, I was completely open-minded about it. Unfortunately, RRSS is a mish-mash of a spec, and the mother of all forks for content syndication. This is one format I'm not diving into!"

Winter responded to the criticism, "He called me a mother forker! How can you have a dialog with somebody like that?"

For Your iPods Only

The new syndication format isn't the only controversy associated with the purchase. The Broadcasting Organization has cut a deal with Apple to make iPods the official platform for podcasting.

"The first question people always have about podcasting is whether they need an iPod." notes Curry. "They ask, 'I've got a iRiver, can I use that?', or 'What about a Creative Zen - can I use that?'"

"The answer is now officially 'No!'" Curry adds. "We decided that we should just get rid of that problem and standardize on iPods."

Plans are also in place to use a proprietary alternative to MP3 that will support digital rights management. This should address concerns raised by the major labels about podcasters running wild and using copyrighted material in illegitimate ways.

Apple's new ForePlay technology is a likely candidate. Apple had no comment. "Just one more thing," noted Apple in a statement. "We never comment on unreleased products. If we see anything in the blogs about this, we can get real user-unfriendly, real quick!"

New Image for Podcasting

To go along with the transition from the anything-goes, "wild-west" attitude of podcasting's early days to a more professional culture, the Broadcasting Organization is considering new branding for podcasting.

According to founder Hilary Ricin, the name 'podcasting' comes with some liabilities. "We ran the Armitron numbers on it, and it was clear that it was time for a new name for podcasting." said Ricin. "Since Curry's the most famous player in the podcasting arena, we're re-branding it as spiceCasting."

"It's spiceCasting now, baby, because it's so damn hot!" added Curry.

Ricin says that U2's already on board. "Uno, dos, tres, catorce... Bam! They're ready to spiceCast!"

The re-branding efforts go beyond simplying renaming podcasting. Plans are in place for a deep-penetration marketing effort, spearheaded by Curry.

Curry was visibly excited when he announced their new marketing catch-phrase, "Is het besmettelijk?".

Curry explained the intriguing play on words. "It's a Dutch phrase that translates roughly into 'Is it contagious?' When I heard that phrase, I thought it was perfect for podcasting, because podcasting is catching, and you can't make it go away!"

"It's like VW's "Fahrvergnügen!" added Curry. "People will be asking 'What the f### does THAT mean?' And when they find out, they won't be able to forget it!"

Will Podcasters Make the Jump?

The biggest obstacle facing the Broadcasting Organization is the inertia of podcasting itself. It remains to be seen whether or not podcasters will take to spiceCasting.

Dru Minnelli, of the popular D'n'D (Don and Dru) show, is excited about the changes. "It's awesome - we're thinking about changing our show name, too!"

"People seem to think our show's about fantasy gaming, or some shit like that. Then they listen to our podcast and they're totally like "What this?""

Minnelli added, "Don wants to call it ' The Don and that Crazy Beeaatch Show', but that AIN'T gonna happen!" She whispers, "Don't tell Don, but I've already vetoed all his ideas."

Podcast Road's Chris McGiver was unimpressed with the announcement. "They can call it Spice Girl Casting, for all I care. As long as people can vote on it, I'm cool with it."

Podcasting News' own Elle Webb is resigned to the change. "We're checking into the spiceCastingNews domain. Maybe people won't complain about the orange color at our site so much, if we can come up with a cool spiceCasting logo. We're thinking about a Southwest, 'Kokopele' sort of look."

Webb added, "This B.O.G.U.S. news really took us by surprise, but at least we got story before the mainstream media picked up on it."