Do you know what a “Netcast” is? Most of you probably do because the name alone pretty much describes it. Basically it’s an internet-based “radio” show that is done in the same way as a traditional over-the-air broadcast, but the internet is the medium instead of radio waves. Netcasting is a fast-growing medium that is one of the many reasons that legacy broadcasting is going the way of stagecoach travel.
There are two big advantages that netcasting has over vintage radio, one of which is availability. Netcasting is virtually world-wide in its reach since the internet is universally accessible now, and with the growing wireless connections it reaches almost anywhere you are. The other advantage is the ability to archive the netcasts making them readily retrievable at any time for listening. You don’t have to tune it at the precise moment of the event. Instead, you can navigate to the webpage of the netcaster and select the program you are interested in and listen at any time that is convenient for you, more than once if you desire.
Two of our FireEMS Blogs colleagues have grabbed ahold of this budding technology and have set up a dedicated channel called, appropriately enough, Firefighter Netcast.
John Mitchell, publisher of Fire Daily, and Rhett Fleitz who posts Fire Critic have teamed up to launch this programming adventure and they are off to a very successful start. They use the popular netcasting platform called BlogTalk Radio which is an exciting concept in itself. During the “live” netcast there is an open forum that shows up on your screen where anybody and everybody can log in and chat along with the netcasters or among themselves while the show is in progress. This permits you to interact directly with the hosts or the guest by asking questions or adding comments as the program goes along.
Rhett Fleitz (l.) and John Mitchell (r.) work the mikes at the FDIC
interviewing Christopher Naum (center).
The netcast is still in its infancy and Rhett and John are refining it as they go, but primarily they try to go “live” on Thursday nights. But as I mentioned earlier, you can listen in anytime later by going to the archived shows on the website HERE. Recently they have expanded the operation by introducing two new shows hosted by other fire service personalities and are done live on other nights of the week. You can imagine the long-term possibilities with this project. This is great stuff, so make sure you get acquainted with this new medium now and set Firefighter Netcast in your Favorites folder.
Now it’s time to “tune in” to the daily Equipment Check show and get started on that. I’ll go start the coffee.
Also on FireGeezer…
- A Netcast Interview That You Won’t Be Hearing – August 13, 2010
- Upcoming Netcasts – July 20, 2011
- Morning Lineup – August 4 – August 4, 2011
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