Comment on Shooting an Elephant: " Making Hyperlocal Work"

Here's a commment I left on - Meghna Chakrabarti's blog: Shooting an Elephant, on her request for ideas about local radio.

First of all, forget about the radio as the medium, or don't worry so much about the medium. Radio or Internet, it doesn't matter. The content matters, and some consistency matters.

I really love what Leo Laporte is doing with all of his TWIT podcasts. He's build a one-man radio network using the Internet as his medium. I must spend five hours a week listening to his shows.

What I like about his approach is it's very consistent. He has shows that come out reliably, usually weekly. There's a core set of talent, usually Leo and one or two others, and then guests. The quality is first rate. I don't know how many podcasts, like the Gilmore Gang, I have stopped listening to because of poor sound quality. I have earbuds in my ears. I can't listen to a cell phone conference call. Think about the user experience.

Leo is very focused on technology, and I think this same model could work for local. Local, regular podcasts, with you and an interesting co-host, and then a different guest or two. I also think Leo has taken a very long view of what success means. For now he's just building an audience with the faith that money will follow.

Here are some suggestions for shows:

Boston Week in Business

Boston Week in Sports

Boston Startups

Boston Fun