Communications department offers online ‘podcasting’

 

By Brian C. Louwers

C & G Staff Writer

     WARREN — As far as city-sponsored media programming goes, Warren residents have the TV Warren News on local cable and a low-wattage radio station at 1690 AM.

     Now, thanks to “podcast” technology, residents will be able to download pieces of city programming and listen to them at their convenience.

     “I think it’s sort of interesting. We’re one of the only communities in the entire nation that’s doing this,” Warren Communications Director Joe Munem said. “We’re going to do regularly scheduled shows and post those. It’s like TiVo for radio.”

     Essentially, podcast programming is recorded in the same manner as a radio broadcast, then uploaded to a Web site where it is made available for download. The city’s first podcast program, posted on July 8, features a lengthy interview with outgoing Warren Deputy Mayor Mike Greiner.

     Munem said initially, new programming will be made available every other week or so. If the technology becomes popular with residents, the city can update programming more frequently. He said anyone who uses an mp3 player to download podcasts can alter the settings to download new city programming automatically.

     Because the city is using equipment it already owns to record and post podcast programming, making the material available to residents over the Internet comes at no additional cost.

     “All we had to do is take the audio track and compress it into an mp3 and put it onto a Web site that we already have,” Munem said. “It’s just a logical extension of equipment we already have.”

     Munem said some programming — Warren City Council meetings, for example — will not be made available through podcasts because they are too long.

     The city’s first podcast can be downloaded through the city’s Web site at http://www.cityofwarren.org.

     You can reach Brian C. Louwers at brianlouwers@candgnews.com