We wanted to make sure everything was up and running smoothly before we patted ourselves on the back... but folks, we're doing it! KUJH-TV News is providing video podcasts of the nightly news. Now, we just need to get the word out.
You can subscribe to the KUJH-TV podcast through iTunes and/or Google.
Thanks to the wizardry of Katie (sorry folks, she has already been promised to The Spokesman Review after she graduates in May), we have a fully-functioning feed and a slick little branding image to boot. The best part is, it's not rocket science. Creating the podcasts is no harder than exporting video from Final Cut. In fact, Final Cut has a pre-configured setting for podcasts. Voila! It's an extra 30 seconds to export both the .MOV file for the web and the .M4V file for the podcasts.
Today, one of the reporters asked if it was hard to "get" a video podcast. No, it's not hard at all. Click on our subscription link for iTunes and/or Google and the feed will automatically download the latest stories. Most people probably don't have a clue what to do with a podcast. This is where the diffusion of innovation theory kicks in. It will take time for people to become comfortable with video podcasts.
The same reporter also wondered why he should download the video podcasts. Katie had a quick and thoughtful explanation. "It's time-shifting. You can watch whenever you want, regardless of when the show is broadcast. It's not the novelty of having it on the iPod that makes podcasting successful, it's the fact that you can tune in whenever you want."
I'm not convinced that video podcasts are "all the rage." Not today, anyway. But tomorrow they might be, and now that we've learned how to do it with the nightly newscast, it will be easier to experiment with other content. Look at TiVo, for example. It took awhile to catch on, but now all the kids are doing it. Who wants to rush home to watch Lost when you can TiVo it or buy it from iTunes and watch it whenever you want.
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