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The Media Science

Podcasting from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. 119

Posted by timothy from the spread-it-out dept.
AttheCoalFace writes "The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is piloting a podcast availability project. Quirks & Quarks, an hour-long weekly science review, is offered in the first, small list of programs." Q&Q is a great show, too.
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Podcasting from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp. More

Podcasting from the Canadian Broadcasting Corp.

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  • Extra features (Score:5, Funny)

    by SpartanVII ( 838669 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:11PM (#12608771)
    Do they include sounds effects of all the information in the show going right over my head?

    • Re:Extra features (Score:3, Informative)

      by baryon351 ( 626717 )
      Australia's ABC radio national is currently testing podcasting as well, and should have it available to the public in the next week or so. There's a little fine tuning going on, and working out how to work around copyright restrictions - some radio shows have content they aren't licensed to allow downloads of, only to stream, so the podcasted shows are often edited.

      Not a problem with their science & commentary ones, which are the most worth listening to IMHO.
  • It's an interesting concept, much like a news-on-command type of system where you can basically get the media feed you want any time you want it. However, because of the limitations in compression and the limitations in bandwidth, each podcast media file is simply too large for the average dial-up internet user. Text files of a few kilobytes can be downloaded relatively quickly, but a media file of several hundred kilobytes will be prohibitively expensive in terms of bandwidth.

    Naturally, once the file is
  • Brave new waves as a podcast. I love that show but it is very hard for me to catch.

    • Re:I hope to see (Score:2, Interesting)

      by Dancin_Santa ( 265275 )
      It's not really a podcast or anything, and it's in RealAudio format, but BNW occasionally has some interesting things on their online media [bravenewwaves.ca] page.
    • Of course, with all the music, getting liscence to put it in a downloadable form is a lot harder than to brodcast it online, afaik. Of course, the artists on BNW actually WANT to be heard...
    • >>Brave new waves as a podcast

      I was thinking the same thing. Brave new waves, DNTO, and "madly off" would be cool. Quirks and Quarks is a good start though.

      Hopefully they extend the pilot
    • Ya, that would be very cool. I used to fall asleep to Patti's voice as a teenager, then adult, then now lol. She's a true Goddess of radio. Ever get a chance to hear the "Worst of the Worst music ever" show she produced, this was a while ago.. great stuff.

  • Great Show Good Archive (Score:5, Informative)

    by Quirk ( 36086 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:23PM (#12608843) Homepage Journal
    Q & Q Archive [radio.cbc.ca] hours of interesting stuff.

  • Finally something to listen to... (Score:5, Funny)

    by nxtr ( 813179 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:24PM (#12608846)
    While I am out, lumberjacking and hunting for caribou, out of reach of radio.

    Note: I am Canadian. I'm allowed to make fun of my self.

  • Australian Broadcasting Corporation (Score:5, Informative)

    by awful ( 227543 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:30PM (#12608873) Homepage
    As is the ABC [abc.net.au]. And the BBC is doing it too [bbc.co.uk].

  • Q & P? (Score:2, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Q&P is a great show, too

    Wow, that must be a real funny joke, since I don't get it.

  • Podcasting from the BBC aslo (Score:3, Informative)

    by anandpur ( 303114 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @09:39PM (#12608921)
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/4566059.stm [bbc.co.uk]
    BBC podcast trial http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/downloadtrial/ [bbc.co.uk]
    BBC Collective guide to podcasting http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/collective/A3847737 [bbc.co.uk]

  • yawn (Score:1, Insightful)

    by maryjanecapri ( 597594 )
    Yet Another Waist of the Net

    CNET is starting to do trial podcasts. i just can't seem to imagine willingly downloading something to my ipod, listening to it once, and then syncing my ipod just to remove it.

    the way i see this - it's just another means for TPTB (The Powers That Be) to create something and convince the public they need it so they can eventually try to charge money for it.

    no thanks. i'll just keep using my ipod for its intended purpose - music.
    • Congratulations, for trying to dictate what parts of the net are "waists" you get the First Annual Internet Dictator Cookie.

    • Re:yawn (Score:3, Funny)

      by ergo98 ( 9391 )
      Yet Another Waist of the Net

      Personally I thought OSDN was the waist, and Slashdot was the anus. Google is, of course, the nipples.
    • CBC is publicly funded. Sort of like your PBS only members of our governing party cannot apoint someone to intentionally spin content.

      In other words, they cannot start charging for content for CBC radio content. They don't even have any ads on the radio version.

      The only exception is some shows like "Go" where there is far too much licensed content aired for the CIAA and RIAA to allow to be downloaded overthe internet.
    • It's an MP3 on a webserver. There's about as much vendor lock-in as any other website, so the "charge money" issue is pretty much moot.
  • The Australian Broadcasting Corporation has been trialling podcasting for a few weeks now. DIG, an Internet only station has podcasting ( http://www.abc.net.au/dig/podcast/ [abc.net.au]), Triple J, a youth orientated station (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/podcast.htm [abc.net.au]) and Radio National, content orientated to older audiences (http://www.abc.net.au/triplej/listen/podcast.htm [abc.net.au]) are all running trials for podcasting. Good to see the Candian public broadcasters are joining the Aussies ;)

  • CBC rulez (Score:5, Interesting)

    by MSBob ( 307239 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @10:02PM (#12609036)
    CBC radio is without question the best radio station I've had the chance to listen to on a regular basis. Their programming is very diverse and there is a good representation of all points of view though they tend to lean slightly to the left.

    Quirks and Quarks is excellent as is Northern Lights and Dispatches and Ideas and tons of other shows that are directed at an above average IQ listener. They are federally funded and unencumbered by the requirement to "have the numbers" and don't have to stoop to the lowest common denominator.

    BBC is often hailed as the pinnacle of independent jounralism but I find their broadcasts have a very condescending patronizing bias when they report from "lesser" places such as Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa. Somehow, CBC manages to bring lots of news from all over the world while avoiding that annoying condescending tone that permeates the Beeb.

    You can listen to CBC live. The links are on their website.

    • This message brought to you by CBC.
      • Yeah. Whatever you say, buddy... Incidentally CBC does not advertise itself or play adverts on their tv/radio channels. They are fully subsidised by the Canadian government and don't give a toss whether anyone listens to their broadcasts or not. Incidentally, most Canadians do because the quality of CBC's programming is very, very good.

        • Re:CBC rulez (Score:2, Informative)

          by ergo98 ( 9391 )
          Incidentally CBC does not advertise itself or play adverts on their tv/radio channels. They are fully subsidised by the Canadian government and don't give a toss whether anyone listens to their broadcasts or not.

          ??? The CBC televsion channel that I receive (here in the outskirts of Outer Southern Ontario. Maybe some pirates are manipulating with the signal) is jam packed with as much advertising as any other channel. The CBC most certainly does give a toss whether they have viewers, as the government cont
          • It's true that the CBC television has commercials but not nearly as many as most American channels.
            • That's because we have rules of how many minutes of commercials you can have. If you watch an American show on a Canadian station you'll notice they have to fill the gap with non-commercial advertisements once the time limit is met.

          • Re:CBC rulez (Score:3, Informative)

            by srcosmo ( 73503 )
            CBC Television has advertisements (though it didn't always, if I recall correctly). CBC Radio does not have ads.
        • dude!

          He was like, *totally* joking...

          Also, CBC TV is chock full of adverts, those damned politicians cut the funding for ad-free tv a long time ago. Radio is still ad-free thankfully...

          l4h

        • "They are fully subsidised by the Canadian government"

          No it's not. It's partially subsidised by the government, but since trudeau they've been slowly turning off the tap, leaving the CBC to try to pick up the slack with advertising
    • "shows that are directed at an above average IQ listener"

      I humbly disagree. Consider their market. ; )

      Cheers,
      -b

    • Re:CBC rulez (Score:1, Informative)

      by Anonymous Coward
      If ya want an interesting podcast centered around news in astronomy and theoretical physics, intermixed with some unique music, check out Red Giant Radio at http://www.slanderbox.com/ [slanderbox.com]
    • BBC is often hailed as the pinnacle of independent jounralism but I find their broadcasts have a very condescending patronizing bias when they report from "lesser" places such as Eastern Europe, Asia or Africa. Somehow, CBC manages to bring lots of news from all over the world while avoiding that annoying condescending tone that permeates the Beeb.

      You don't state that you're Canadian, and your email address isn't public so there's no clues there.

      But assuming you are, or at least that you're not English,
  • but I couldn't find out what kind of software I need for this xml and podcasting to work, can anyone enlighten me?
  • Since we're on the subject of podcasting...

    What is the preferred podcast client of the /. masses?
    • I prefer the Doppler http://www.dopplerradio.net/ [dopplerradio.net] clinet over iPodder or anything else.

      It's a smart little thing. Having space savers, bittorrent, and many other features which is ideal for any podcast client.

      My favourite feature about Doppler is that it can resume files, which is extreamly lacking in all other clients.
    • Blogmatrix Sparks!
    • I have been very pleased with Doppler Radio. It has a very clean UI, works out-of-the-box with BT, and allows for authentication.

      The later is a key destinction between Doppler and Ipodder or other offerings. Let's be honest... the majority of podcasts by Joe and Jane Public aren't terribly good. But you can subscribe to some really great radio shows from all over the world, some of which require membership fees since they are offering the commercial show without commericals.
  • How much more mac does there need to be in the world? Back in the good ol' days we used to call this sort of thing archiving (! The wiki page doesn't even contain the word, so I must really be extinct by now). Pretty soon we'll just get pod-ears (tm) and then we will never have to listen to another moment of unscheduled audio... EVER!

    Streamripper [sourceforge.net] is a great way to archive your own content if your broadcaster of choice can't afford to serve what you want on demand.
    • it's the RSS, the readers, and the mp3 players that make it special.

      from a user point of view:

      - add the feeds you like
      - plug ipod into computer in the morning
      - get new content automagically.

      simple yes, should have thought of it years ago? maybe.
    • How much more mac does there need to be in the world?

      Podcasting requires neither Mac, iTunes nor iPod.

      Any MP3 player will do, and it's in the RSS that the magic lies.

      There are key differences between podcasting and archival:

      (1) A podcast is not necessarily kept available long term.
      (2) A podcast is meant to "magically" appear on your portable MP3 player as part of your routine syncing/charging activity.

      I don't like the name either -- it wrongly implies reliance on an iPod, and gives Apple free marketi
  • One of the radio stations I work for (see http://ksl.com/ [ksl.com]) is still the only real radio station I know of that makes large portions of its own daily programming available in podcast format.

  • Details on Q&Q (Score:4, Informative)

    by saskboy ( 600063 ) on Sunday May 22, 2005 @11:52PM (#12609558) Homepage Journal
    Quirks and Quarks has been on the air as long as I can remember, first with another host that does CBC work still, but Bob McDonald has done the radio show for about the last decade. Before that you could find him hosting Wonderstruck, a science program for kids shown on CBC Saturday morning TV, and was definitely on par with Bill Nuye the Science Guy shows. Bob also does science segments on The National, Canada's nightly nationally broadcast news on CBC's primary station available to nearly anyone with a TV set.
    Q&Q has been available online in Real Audio format since about 1997, and you can find a great deal of very interesting and informative stuff in the CBC archives. If you've not been listening to Q&Q for the last 15 years, you've got a lot of 1 hour, comercial free shows to catch up on.

  • Choice of shows (Score:3)

    by slim ( 1652 ) <john@hartnupBLUE.net minus berry> on Monday May 23, 2005 @06:21AM (#12610625) Homepage
    While I'm sure these are terrific shows, it seems a shame that the for the pilot they chose "geek" shows. It's like the profiled the "kind of people who might manage this tricky technology", narrowly profiled their interests, and gave them something targeted to that stereotype.

    I love the way the BBC's trial is wide-ranging in the scope of its programming: there's sport, film review, current affairs, history, documentary, as well as science and technology.

    By podcasting "In Our Time" (sample topic: Imperialism and Archaeology), the BBC potentially brings tech geeks to history, and history geeks to technology, broadening everyone's horizons.
  • Come on.... MP3 players have been out for quite a while. Ppl were downloading music b4 the iPOD. All of a sudden Apple markets an MP3 player and all MP3 players start to be compared to the iPOD and iTunes...
  • I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings but this is kind of old news. The BBC podcast has been going on since the beginning of '05. And the CBC podcast trials are at least three months old as well.

  • Response from the CBC, re: podcasts (Score:3, Informative)

    by Qwavel ( 733416 ) on Monday May 23, 2005 @09:35AM (#12611332)
    The CBC radio content is great (and no commercials) so getting this content in podcasts would be fantastic.

    A few months ago I was looking for an episode of the program 'ideas' that I had missed. I e-mailed the CBC asking whether they might make this stuff available as a podcast. Here is there response, but please don't hold the CBC to anything in this e-mail. Don't make them regret being so detailed and honest in their response...

    "Thank you for taking the time to write to us.

    There are a series of legal, financial and resource issues which have forced CBC Radio to change its policy about offering audio files on-line, after a program has aired. These issues have to do with copyright, contractual agreements, bandwidth and staff resources. For example, the musicians association would like to be compensated if we play their music on our website - understandable, but expensive. And so at this time CBC Radio has decided that resources need to go into programming rather than into websites.

    We are also frustrated by this decision. We'd like to have as many people as possible listen to our programs.

    We have begun to post programs which are clear of music rights/copyright issues. However, there are few IDEAS programs that fall into this category. We use short pieces of music in most of our documentaries, most of which is mixed under narration. We have been told by our business affairs department that any piece of music, of any length, that is posted on-line, needs to have a music license agreement with the music publisher. To acquire music licenses to post these programs would fall well outside of what our show budget can afford. Other programs like Quarks & Quarks can post their programs because any recorded music is cut out of the show. This is easily done for talk/interview format programs.

    One of the reasons other broadcasters like the BBC and NPR post their audio on-line is that public that they have different agreements with the different stake holders (ie, Unions).

    Our legal and business affairs staff are doing what they can to resolve these issues, and we hope that we will be able to continue the on-line service in the future.

    We do offer audio copies and transcripts for sale, but I hasten to add that this is a service, not a profitable business. The fee covers the costs of employing the small staff that makes the copies and fills the orders. Any extra money goes directly back into radio programming. I have been told that some of our programs will be available for download, for a fee, by puretracks.com in the future.

    So, again our apologies. We hope to be able to offer more of our programs for on-line listening in the near future."
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion
  • Swedish state controlled radio are also jumping on the podcasting train:

    http://sr.se/podradio [sr.se]
  • CBC's Audience Relations department is critical in gauging a project like this as successful or not. Why don't we all contact and thank them for doing this. Contact them here: http://www.cbc.ca/contact/index.jsp [www.cbc.ca] I also encouraged them to experiment by broadening beyond science/technology shows to their flagship shows. Every response they get will be read by the read people responsbile for this project.
  • This Week in Science is another good science podcast to check out. The hosts are pretty entertaining and pick cool science topics that they procede to rant about like deranged weasels.
    I've been listening to the podcast for the last few months and it looks like they also have a couple years of older shows archived for download too. http://www.twis.org/ [twis.org]

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