I can also set up a separate feed for Scripting News podcasts, and I'm definitely going to do that too. If this idea catches on I'd like to collect and share interesting podcast0's.#
Here's a screen shot of the post from 2004 in Pocketcasts. The arrow points at the date. It's cool that a podcast from 20 years ago appears to work. I wonder how it'll sort in the Most Recent lists? #
I was talking with a friend over the weekend about the origins of podcasting, and how, in June of 2004, I finally decided to do an audio post, to get my feet wet, and to prove all you needed was a laptop and a little software and you could be doing radio almost as easily as writing a blog post. #
Then it hit me, it's June 2024 now, it's been twenty freaking years. #
In hindsight, that podcast was the start of the bootstrap that saw a dozen shows by September and then hundreds and thousands, and now here we are, podcasting has been through quite a few bursts of growth and it's still as open as it was back in June 2004. #
Anyone with a laptop can do a podcast. That was the goal. You don't need anyone's permission. That was a breakthrough in radio. Prior to that, you had to get a lot of approval, and every step made it less real and less interesting, imho. #
So I thought, why not do a Serial-like podcast over the next few months, with the actual programs from 2004, along with the Trade Secrets shows. I think I have them all archived. And it would be great if Adam did the same with his shows, starting when they started. And Dawn & Drew, Dave Slusher. This can go on forever if you like. (I promise mine won't.)#
I'm sure there will be a lot of cringeworthy moments, but what the heck. I'll hopefully have the feed up before the end of the day, and I'll register it with Apple so will hopefully be transcripts. #
I hope I can count on you to spread the word, this is how the podcasting bootstrap happened. If you want to learn how two weird geek hippie types like Adam and myself, can have an idea, and then by constantly trying out new approaches, eventually it sticks and becomes a new medium that's still thriving twenty years later. #
Here's a picture of myself and Adam at Gnomedex in the summer of 2004. And that's the laptop I used to make all these podcasts. I was living in Seattle at the time. #
I love the creativity of ChatGPT, some call it hallucinations, but maybe all the rest of this stuff is hallucinating, maybe only ChatGPT sees what's real? Could be. #
This was the prompt: "PODCAST0 from Dave Winer with occasional appearances by Adam Curry, all original 2004 podcasts, the very first podcasts in the galaxy, and possibly the universe."#
You know those obnoxious sites that pop up dialogs when they think you're about to leave, asking you to subscribe to their email newsletter? Well that won't do for Scripting News readers who are a discerning lot, very loyal, but that wouldn't last long if I did rude stuff like that. So here I am at the bottom of the page quietly encouraging you to sign up for the nightly email. It's got everything from the previous day on Scripting, plus the contents of the linkblog and who knows what else we'll get in there. People really love it. I wish I had done it sooner. And every email has an unsub link so if you want to get out, you can, easily -- no questions asked, and no follow-ups. Go ahead and do it, you won't be sorry! :-)