Richard Bluestein doesn’t care what people think of him.
The voice of Madge Weinstein–a popular Chicago Internet personality–is at ease when a little old man looks him over in the elevator. Dressed in the muumuu and makeup of his on-air persona (a 56-year-old lesbian), Bluestein explains why two journalists and a dog are following him around.
“I’m doing a photo shoot,” he tells the man. “I don’t usually dress like this.”
The old man just smiles and nods.
It was an odd encounter for Bluestein, who usually speaks for Madge from inside his Uptown apartment. The boisterous and foul-mouthed character is the foundation of Bluestein’s “Yeast Radio” podcast, a sort of Radio TiVo service that offers an alternative to traditional radio.
Podcasting technology allows anyone with a microphone and some computer know-how to tape and post a show and have it sent automatically to fans’ MP3 players via their personal computers. Listeners get free shows like “Yeast Radio” and receive regular updates on their players, getting uncensored radio on demand. Because the shows are not broadcast on the airwaves, they are not subject to FCC regulations.
Bluestein’s been podcasting since late last year.
“As soon as I researched things, I realized it was going to be huge,” he said. The average iPod playlist, according to Bluestein, features just a few legal downloads. “The rest is illegal music or unused space, so there’s just this huge opportunity,” he said.
More than 29 percent of the 22 million Americans who own iPods or MP3 players have downloaded podcasts, according to a recent poll by the Pew Research Center, which tracks the social impact of the Internet. That amounts to more than 6 million people tuning in to a growing number of eclectic broadcasts.
“Yeast Radio” is one of the odd ones. The show features the foul-mouthed Madge waxing diabolical on everything from sex to politics as she trumpets the importance of whatever strikes her fancy that day. It usually takes a cynical tone, peppered with the host’s explicit language.
“Being a lesbian, I’m quite technical,” Madge said on a recent podcast. She narrated her movements as she walked through the kitchen, grabbing coffee spoons and indiscriminate pill bottles: “I take the Zoloft. I drink the coffee. I drink the water and this is my life.”
Madge’s daily routine has become Bluestein’s life too. An IT project manager for a local hospital, Bluestein has been trying to make the move toward doing “Yeast Radio” full time. He has some good connections in that effort.
Bluestein was one of the original personalities on podshow.com, the brainchild of former MTV VJ Adam Curry, who came up with the idea of podcasting technology and is known in some circles as “The Pod-
father.” Bluestein still contributes to podshow.com, available now on satellite radio.
He has a contract to have his podcasts posted on Podshow, and he might soon produce other up-and-coming podcasters.
“Adam is really smart,” Bluestein said. “He basically said, ‘We want to invest in some podcasters for the long haul because there won’t be very much money in it for a while.’ “
The number of podcasts out there varies depending on whom you ask, but it is growing. The newly installed iTunes podcast directory lists more than 3,000 programs.
Podcastpickle.com, another directory site, lists more than 1,000 choices. Curry’s Web site posts new programs every day. While most are pretty mundane, not unlike the majority of blogs, the trend continues to gain steam with people who are tired of federally regulated commercial radio.
“Part of the reason people are getting into podcasting is because of the ultraconservative backlash by the FCC,” said Fausto Fernos, co-host of the Andersonville-based podcast “Feast of Fools.” He and his partner, Marc Felion, were introduced to podcasting by Bluestein. Their show covers news, culture and gossip, but the language isn’t as bad as Madge’s. Still, the program probably wouldn’t fly on commercial radio.
“Feast of Fools,” like most podcasts, offers programming that probably couldn’t pay for itself on traditional media. Because of the ease and low cost of producing these programs, podcasts have become a way for amateurs and professionals to break into other markets and expand their audiences.
Chuck Mertz, host of the “This is Hell,” broadcast from Northwestern’s studios, posts digital recordings of his broadcasts, and his listenership has been rising steadily, he said. Weekly downloads of his nontraditional political talk show are around 6,000, he said, and listeners come from around the world.
“We’ve had posters sent to 15 countries,” he said. “And for some odd reason–I don’t know why–we have fans in Senegal.”
Back in Andersonville, “Feast of Fools” has been online for only a few months. The hosts are preparing to expand the program, and Fernos is heralding the technology as the new lifeblood of communication and culture.
“2004 was the year of the blog,” he said. “2005 is the year of the podcast, of the audiocast.”
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Chicago sounds off
It looks like podcasting is blowing up across the country–and around the world. A look at some based in Chicago:
Radio Tiki
www.radiotiki.com
A bunch of friends who met in college get together every Friday for this irreverent and sometimes irrelevant comedy show. The team podcasts its two-hour spots from the West suburbs and provides banter, commentary and a bit of insight into the goings on in the world.
Feast of Fools
www.feastoffools.net
A one-stop shop for the scoop on alternative gay urban culture, hosts Marc Felion and Fausto Fernos interview an array of Chicago characters and shed light on some of the lesser known people and places in the city on this daily podcast. “We don’t just sit down at the table and say, ‘So what’d you do today,’ ” Felion says.
Yeast Radio
www.yeastradio.com
This podcast has received national recognition and is listed on podcastalley.com
as one of the top
50 broadcasts.
The grumpy Madge
Weinstein swears up a storm and takes aim at everything from daily life to politics. “I don’t care what anybody thinks of me,” says Richard Bluestein (above), the voice of Madge. “I can use whatever language I want.”
This is Hell
www.thisishell.net
Host Chuck Mertz says this podcast, a digital recording of an Evanston radio broadcast, offers an alternative to traditional political talk radio. “I realized when you’re watching the news that it’s the same usual suspects–people from big politics and big business,” he says. His guests have included Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore and a former nuclear scientist for Saddam Hussein.
Viking Youth Power Hour
www.thefeedlot.org
(the Web address as published has been corrected in this text).
Every Friday a group of old friends getstogether in Humboldt Park to chat about God, sex, politics and whatever. They like to drink a little bit too. A recent show featured co-host Brian Buckman wearing only a sport coat and clown shoes. “The clown shoes took the focus off my genitals,” he says. “It was weird.”
— Jim Walsh
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An idiot’s guide
New podcasts pop up every day, so finding a good one can be tough. To ease the burden, Apple last week announced software that lets listeners browse and listen to more than 3,000 free podcasts through iTunes. The company reported more than 1 million subscriptions in the first two days the service was available.
For those who like the old-fashioned approach, there are other options.
– www.ipodder.org is the “official podcasting site,” maintained by creator Adam Curry. It has a directory of podcasts and also the software that grabs the podcasts you want, so you can listen at your convenience on an audio player, like iTunes or Windows Media Player, or on a portable MP3 player.
– Download free podcast software. A list is available at www.podcastingnews.com/topics/Podcast–Software.html. Then paste in the address of the shows you wish to subscribe to or choose from the lists provided. You also can download new episodes on demand.
– www.podcastalley.com features a podcast directory, listener-voted top 10 podcasts and a discussion forum.
– www.podcast.net has directories of podcasts by topic and location.
–NEWSDAY, KRT, REDEYE
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jxwalsh@tribune.com
