The Real Reason Why There Are So Few Philippine Podcasters

Here are personal opinions on why there are so few local podcasters compared to their bloggers. These can actually serve as the main reasons why podcasts are rarer than blogs, and a number of these reasons are quite obvious.

1. Unlike blogging, podcasting can be more expensive. Hosting fees, a microphone investment and other such expenses can turn you off, big time. So you lose even before you started.

2. Podcasting requires you to commit more. If blogging only lets you commit your ideas on the typewriter, podcasting forces you to commit your voice on the table, and rather forcefully as you can’t edit what you just said once its published unless you take the whole podcast down.

3. It sucks to talk to nobody. Finding a guest host or anchor can be a bit tedious. Talking to yourself can also suck. A solution here is to do what David Pogue does in his podcast — read your own blog posts out loud. Sorta like an interpretative oral reading contest.

4. Bigger language barrier. If blogs are much easier to do in English, this is not so with podcasting. In general, it would be more correct to say that the average Filipino in Manila speaks in Taglish, which is a combination of Filipino and English and this has been engraved in our culture, that it is very hard to change. Case in point is the Band of Bloggers podcast which does the show in Taglish.

All in all these are valid reasons why podcasting is sparse here. But then again, the real reason why podcasting isn’t so hot here is actually a misnomer.

5. People THINK that podcasting is very hard to do. When in fact all you need is a cheap ass microphone and a free recording software like Audacity. Once you start recording, all you need to do is be yourself — having a guest over would help but if you really are in the need for some divine inspiration, then San Miguel can always help. You can always find a free service to host your podcasts like Odeo, Twango, Gcast or Podomatic. Against all odds your first podcast may really suck – in terms of coherence or content. But a podcast series is always a work in progress. It may not be obvious to you, but check back on your old blog entries and see how far they have evolved since. The same thing works with podcasts. Just do it!

MAC TIP: If you happen to be a Mac user, you already have a built in podcasting studio on your MacBook or iMac. The easy to use Garage Band software, coupled with the built in microphone is more than enough equipment you will need. Don’t quote me on this, but the built in microphone beside the iSight camera seems to be a new and improved version of the original one from the iBooks and PowerBooks. They are almost – if not just as good as the omni-directional SHURE podcast microphones.