Audio Streaming Information

By George McKenzie

The buzz is all about blogs this year, with thousands being created every day. Websurfers have realized that anyone with a bit of information, an opinion or an idea can attract an audience--sometimes a very large audience.

But now blogs may not be the only mass medium that's going "micro."

Here comes Internet Radio...

"It's hard to believe," says Randy Gilbert, host of "The Inside Success Secrets Radio Show"--an Internet radio broadcast which has been "airing" for several years. "Now anyone with a computer, an internet connection and a microphone can create an Internet radio program. And tt's not nearly as hard as most people think. You really don't have to be some kind of techno-geek to do it."

A number of established media giants, like Entrepreneur Magazine, already "broadcast" business-related programming over the net. But it's the opportunity for "the little guy" to start producing programs that intrigues Gilbert.

Will Internet Radio Replace Blogs?

Blogs have "leveled the playing field" in the world of print media. Some blogs have more daily readers than many medium- sized metro newspapers.

Single individuals, sitting at home in front of their computer in their pajamas, can compete with media giants in the battle for the minds and hearts of hundreds of thousands of websurfers.

Bloggers may have even had an impact on the last presidential election.

Bloggers were the first to zero in on suspicious information in CBS' now-infamous story about President Bush's military record. The inaccuracies in the story, and the embarrassment that followed, may have hastened the departure of Dan Rather from the evening anchor chair.

"Lots of radio and TV news programs now regularly report what's being written in political blogs," according to Chip Tarver, an Internet expert whose business-to-business publicity blog regularly appears at the top of many search engine rankings. "Some cable network news shows even have regular daily segments where they talk about what bloggers are saying."

Some experts have speculated if a similar phenomenon could happen soon with Internet Radio: a traditional mass medium which is becoming a "micro medium" as more and more people are producing up their own Internet radio programs. But Gilbert doesn't think so.

"Internet radio will probably never become as popular or as 'grassroots' as blogging has become," he says. "And you may not have Internet radio stars who will compete with over- the-air personalities like Rush Limbaugh or Bill O'Reilly. But radio is a very conversational and intimate medium. You can not only show people what you know, but you can also give them a glimpse of who you are in a way that's hard to duplicate in a print interview. If you have something worth saying, radio is a great vehicle for saying it."

"Best of all," he continues, "there's practically no expense involved. You can do it for pennies."

And Internet Radio Can Make Money Too

Gilbert adds that online "micro-broadcasters" are finding ways to add to the bottom line, like over-the-air stations. "You can be extremely profitable with as few as five thousand listeners," he says.

Gilbert also teaches a course for anyone who wants to learn to make money by creating their own Internet Radio Show.