BlogTalkRadio

Myspacer's Find A New Outlet At BlogTalkRadio

2006-10-10T08:39:00.000-04:00

This blog is going to cover the Myspace phenomena and how BlogTalkRadio is now giving Myspace bloggers a voice. Myspace, a social networking site that has reached millions of people, bringing the young together with the older, all in a way we have never dreamed possible. Seasoned poets mentoring young poets, comedians and musicians getting cozy and exchanging banter with their fans, and friends getting in touch after many years of being apart. The one thing though, that has become a phenomena on Myspace, is blogging. People who have never wrote more then the name on their checks are now penning short stories, poetry, music lyrics and some have even gone as far as posting a chapter of a novel every week. People blogging as a diary, spilling their inner most thoughts for hundreds of people to read, they do it all, and are able to get feedback from their readers, something they could not do in a spiral bound notebook or in Word for Windows. But there is something "new" now that has been thrown in the mix, myspace bloggers have been caught up in this new medium called BlogTalkRadio that will surely revolutionize the way bloggers interact with their readers. In the past few weeks we have seen Myspace's "The Spork" aka as Georga, and "The Awesome Zara" and "Pony Boy" take on BlogTalkRadio as a way to reach the readers who come to their blogs every day to laugh and have fun. Their readers are now able to call in and talk to them, compared to leaving a comment in a blog. Interactive blogging!! It truly has been amazing. The Awesome Zara, The Spork, and Pony Boy, whom I have been reading for months, now have a voice and can relay their thoughts with the emotions and sarcasm we have only been able to read till just a few short weeks ago. Bloggers are taking their love of blogging and bringing it to a whole new level on BlogTalkRadio. All I have left to say is "who is next"!!! Which bloggers that I have been reading will now give their blog "a voice". Amy Domestico www.blogtalkradio.com www.thebluedoodle.com

Notice Our Wierd Facelift?

2006-10-09T17:31:00.000-04:00

For the next hour or so, you may find our typical BTR look changed quite a bit here on our blog. This is because we're in the process of changing over to a new blogging platform and in working with importing posts, we had to temporarily change our template (look of the site). Everything should be back to normal (and better than ever!) shortly.

Some thoughts from Podcast expo

2006-09-30T18:13:00.000-04:00

I am sitting in the Long Beach, CA airport waiting to board a flight to JFK after just leaving the 2006 Podcast Expo in Ontario, Ca. The show had a lot of excitment and buzz. It's always the case with new and emerging industries. I saw the same thing in the mid 1990's in the European Telecom space. The podcasting industry is so new and you can clearly see that the space is gaining momentum. Blogtalkradio did not have a booth at the conference because by the time we launched our company on July 25th, 2006, I didn't even know this show was taking place. Podcasting companies like Podango, Podcast Show, Podtech all had a prominent presence at the show. Other companies, most of which I can't recall displayed podcasting equipment, Ipod accessories, podcasting magazines, etc. I checked out most of the exhibits and I must admit that I have no idea how these various podcasting content facilitators and aggregators can differentiate themeselves. A feature here a feature there, an exciting host here and another there. Everywhere I went throughout the exhibit hall, break out sessions, panels, etc. I was looking for a discusison on introducing a "live" element to the podcast. No one, and I mean no one uttered such a word. Live, what do you mean live??? The reason for this is quite simple and that is because no conventional podcasting companies record a live broadcast where the host can engage their audience live. Personally, I believe that a live interactive format is far more engaging and entertaining than a prerecorded broadcast. Many people I spoke with at the conference (apart from the podcasting companies) seemed to agree with my assessment. Finally, the blogosphere has exploded because it's free, it's open, it's easy, it's sharing, it's forgiving (you can make a typo), etc. etc. It seems to me that the podcasting space is moving in an entirely different direction. It's expensive, it's complicated, it's closed, it's not forgiving, there are station managers, directors and producers. It's anything but viral. I think we get it at Blogtalkradio and I encourage anyone with a phone, something to say, something to share or an inquiring mind to visit our site and take a look around. Alan

Endless Possibilities

2006-09-28T10:05:00.000-04:00

For a little over a month I have gotten to know the in's and out's of BlogTalkRadio, its been a fun experience examining all of the endless possibilities that BlogTalkRadio has to offer the public. Alan Levy and Bob Charish certainly have a gem on their hands here, and I am enthralled to say the least. I have had the amazing opportunity to deal with people in all aspects of the blogging world over the past weeks. Comedians, political groups, journalists, writers, musicians, college students, special interest groups, and then of course your all around blogger. What I find so amazing is the opportunity BlogTalkRadio gives to the public. If you are a comedian, you can come onto BTR and set up a show and you can do one of many things, you can try out new material, its all archived and available for download after the show so you get to hear what you recorded and tweak your act. You can also do a live show, and take calls, and interact with your audience, Mike Trainor who is just one of our comedians here at BTR has been doing that, and he has done a phenomenal job. He has fun and gets to hear from fans from all over the country who may not get to talk to him otherwise. Political use in endless I can go on about that for pages, but I will condense as best as I can. Town Hall Meetings, a local politician can host a show on BTR and do their Town Hall Meetings live on the air. They can take live calls from citizens and interact with them right on BTR. It would bring the Town Hall Meeting to people who might normally not be able to get out of the house, due to transportation issues, illness, bad weather, or just poor timing, and once again its archived and can be downloaded and listened to well after the Town Hall Meeting is over. Campaigning, where else can a politician come onto a platform such as this and reach potentially millions of people without paying big bucks for for air time. They can let their voters know how they stand on the issues, rebut other politicians campaigns, take live calls, and all of it is once again archived and they can use it as a podcast later to play on a website or use in another form of their campaign. Debates, opposing parties come onto BTR and have a live debate on the air, once again, archived. I could speak on this subject endlessly like I said before but I think you get the idea. Lets move onto writers, we have a few people coming onto BlogTalkRadio to do book reviews and they will be interviewing authors. This is free press for an author who normally would never be able to get air time on a radio station due to cost in advertising. This opens a whole new door for them in marketing their books. Once again, can be played back from an archive to use at a later date also. Journalists have taken BTR by storm and are seeing the utility in this platform, they are taking the opportunity and getting interviews with people and getting them on a podcast and playing them directly from their websites and blogs. College students using BTR to get their feet wet in media, and creating shows whether it be political genre, comedy, special interest group content, or whatever they could dream up, once again the possibilities are endless. The typical blogger, this is the part that gets me so excited, being I'm somewhat typical. I have had the opportunity to create two shows, one is just what I like to call Coffee Talk, conversation if you would, a half hour of two people discussing current events and life. I have also had the opportunity to interview on the air some pretty amazing people, comedians, actors, singers, authors, journalists. Where else in the world, can someone like me, the typical blogger get an opportunity like this? You cant, BlogTalkRadio is it. Its live, it reaches millions of people worldwide, and is a tool that is beyond ingenious. I actually used BlogTalkRadio's platform one day to record an interview I needed for a written piece, downloaded it to my computer, and then was able to translate the interview into written form. I didn't need to go out and buy a fancy tape recorder. I did it right from my phone and PC. All of us at BlogTalkRadio want to thank our many hosts for using this new medium and we look forward to realizing these endless possibliities.

We Interject Some More Comedy Into Alan's Wednesday Show

2006-09-24T16:04:00.000-04:00

Amy Domestico here from Thebluedoodle.com, while Alan is off this weekend for the Holiday I thought I would catch you all up on Alan's upcoming show. 9pm est this Wednesday Alan will have on former rock and roll bad boy drummer from Saigon Kick and Skid Row "Phil Varone". Phil has made the leap from music to stand up Comedy, has a movie coming out at the end of January and is working on a new sitcom that is "to be announced". Phil has taken his offbeat sense of humor, or as he likes to call "his rotten brain" and turned it into his new career. Alan will delve a little into what brought Phil's career as a rock star to an end, and mostly what an amazing leap he has taken onto the comedy scene. We saw how much fun Alan had on one of his last show's with comedian Mike Trainor and we decided it had to be repeated. Watch out Stern.........Alan Levy is on the air waves! To Bob and Alan from all of us over at The Blue Doodle "Happy Rosh Hashanah"!!! Alan we will be tuning into you on Wednesday!

Republican National Chairman to Talk Politics with Rob Port on BlogTalkRadio.com

2006-09-22T11:04:00.000-04:00

Republican National Chairman to Talk Politics with Rob Port on BlogTalkRadio.com U.S. Politics Go Global with International Radio Platform New York, NY – September 21st – Ken Mehlman has served as Chairman of the Republican National Committee since January 2005. But he’s been on the bleeding edge of this nation’s political landscape since 1992. He has played an integral role in both Bush presidential campaigns, as well as serving as congressional Chief of Staff for Congresswoman Kay Granger’s (TX-12) and as Congressman Lamar Smith’s (TX-21) Legislative Director. SayAnythingBlog’s Talk Show airs Friday, Sept. 22nd at 3:00 EST on http://www.blogtalkradio.com/, where Rob Port will interview his guest, RNC Chair, Ken Mehlman, and take live incoming callers. Mr. Port, who has already been maintaining a popular blog on politics, finds being able to host live, interactive broadcasts adds an integral element to his blog. "Blog Talk Radio has added a whole new dimension to my blog,” says Port. “It is nice to know that I have a tool at my disposal which will allows me to schedule interviews and shows when I need them to happen, without having to worry about getting specialized equipment to work." In particular, Mr. Port is enthused about interviewing Mr, Mehlman, as he has occupied some of Washington’s most challenging positions to support this and other administrations. Visit SayAnythingBlog’s Host Channel at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=2515 About BlogTalkRadio.comBlogTalkRadio.com helps bloggers and other individuals extend their reach through hosting their own live talk show. People can listen live and call in to comment, interact, and engage the host. All in real-time and all for free. Each host is provided a dedicated phone number for the show and listeners can use any phone, whether land line, cell phone, VOIP, etc. to listen in or to participate. BlogTalkRadio enhances traditional podcasting, by allowing live interaction recorded in a downloadable format complete with RSS feeds. To learn more about the website and upcoming news, visit www.blogtalkradio.com

Blogtalkradio - kicking into gear

2006-09-21T10:36:00.000-04:00

Well, we are getting close to our two month anniversary and it has been quite an exciting ride. Before launching Blogtlalkradio, my partner Bob and I had a few questions. We wondered if bloggers and others would enjoy hosting their own live call in talk shows? We wondered if people would come to our site to not only host shows but to listen to shows? Would they listen to both live and archived shows? Would we be able to attract hosts from different genre's or countries? Would hosts come back to BTR and do more shows? So now that BTR is just about to reach its two month anniversary, consider the following: More than 650 people have joined BTR as hosts, from over 56 countries, produced in 10 languages, covering more than 40 genre's! I think you will agree that we have answered some of our questions!! Now of course, it's time to pose new questions. We thank those of you that use Blogtalkradio to host shows, call or listen to live broadcasts or simply listen to archvived shows. We are getting great feedback from all sources offering suggestions as to how we can refine the service and make the experience as good as it could be. This platform has so many possibilities and we look forward to working with each if you to get there. See you "on-air" Alan

BlogTalkRadio Goes On Campus

2006-09-19T16:49:00.000-04:00

Driving home today in my car I had an idea. BlogTalkRadio is a new medium in the blogging world, and we all know that taking blogging to another level is just too good to be true, us prolific bloggers all need to experience Blogtalkradio to appreciate the new level that it takes you to. My idea was this, college students, utilizing BlogTalkRadio. Whether it be for their own internet radio station, a special interest group, or political campaigning on campus etc. How wonderful would it be if you were a journalism major, and you could actually log onto BlogTalkRadio, set up your own show, and get your feet wet in the field of radio broadcasting. Or if you are in a special interest group, being able to reach virtually millions of people with your cause, or even a point counterpoint session between two political groups on campus. BlogTalkRadio allows up to 5 people on the line at the same time. The possibilities are endless. A professor can also hold a special lecture on BlogTalkRadio, and not only can he take calls for a question answer session, his students can download for podcasting later. Even reporting live from a College football game is possible. All you need is a phone, and someone manning a computer. For the next few months we will be heading up a big endeavor to get the word out to college campus's. If anyone feels BlogTalkRadio would benefit their school, feel free to Email Alan Levy at alanlevy@blogtalkradio.com or yours truly Amydomestico@blogtalkradio.com. Lets talk!! Because that's what this is all about after all, hearing from you the people. Thanks Amy Domestico www.thebluedoodle.com www.blogtalkradio.com

Blogtalkradio - -a new medium

2006-09-14T11:04:00.000-04:00

medium (see individual senses for plurals) (pl. media) A format for presenting information. I took the liberty of posting the definition of “medium” from wikipedia. The other day I spoke with Richard Laermer. Richard is a terrific pr guy who worked with me in the past when I was president of Destia Communications. Richard has been around awhile and in addition to keeping his busy schedule, posts at his blog http://badpitch.blogspot.com/. Anyway, when I talked to him about Blogtalkradio he told me that he felt we were creating a new medium. After he told me that I went to Wiki to get further clarity. Blog’s are limited by a number of things. First, they are historical in nature. Whether the post is 1 minute, 1 hour, or 1 day “old”, the conversation is historical in nature. Second, although posts can and are commented on, this form of two way interaction is less than ideal or interactive. Our platform is not intended to replace the blog, never was and never will. Blogtalkradio “extends” the blog and the traditional podcast by allowing the host to interact with their audience in a live real time manner. Sure, the host’s shows are stored and can be podcast at a later date, however, our “medium” allows the host to speak directly with their audience. Cool concept. Alan

Blogtalkradio - 9-11Tribute Show

2006-09-13T17:38:00.000-04:00

On September 11th, 2001 the lives of the American people were changed forever. 2996 Lives were lost that fateful day. This year, on the 5th anniversary of what we have all come to know as 9/11, Blog Talk Radio and The Blue Doodle got together and paid tribute to the 2996 people lost on that day. Alan Levy of Blog Talk Radio and Amy Domestico from The Blue Doodle hosted a night of readings that included personal tributes, poetry, and music, all dedicated to the victims of 9/11, and the people who risked their lives to help in the aftermath. Hero's every single one of them, who deserve the highest honor we can give to them, and they, nor their heroic acts should never ever be forgotten. We want to take this opportunity to thank the people involved....... Special readers included: Dale Roe creator of the 2996 project Jaime Mintun Lamont Carey/spoken word artist One Wise African/spoken word icon and motivational speaker Rene Reyes International Poet Laureate The Pod Poet from Hellicane Dr Jim Messina from Coping.org Doyle Armstrong from 9/11 hero's And honored we were to be joined by Brian Humphrey from the Los Angeles Fire Department. Last but not least two people behind the scenes Bob Charish and Kate D, who with their expertise, we were able to bring to you this show. Of course also a special thanks to the people who spent the countless hours getting to know the person they paid tribute to, and for doing such a fine job. Click here to listen to the show.

Join Us on 9/11 For a Very Special Tribute

2006-09-10T22:11:00.000-04:00

We, here at BlogTalkRadio, in conjunction with The Blue Doodle, the 2,996 Project, and many incredible individuals, are hosting a very special tribute Monday evening in honor of the heroes and victims of September 11, 2001. We will have several volunteer readers between the hours of 7PM and 10PM reading tributes, poetry, and first person accounts. We invite you to listen and will make time throughout the event to take live incoming callers so you can share your own stories, comments, and tributes. Event Details: When: Monday, Sept. 11th, 2006, at 7PM EST Where: Dial (212) 444-9911 or stream live from our tribute host channel - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=1882 Confirmed Readers: Amy Domestico, The Blue Doodle Dale Roe, 2996 Project Alan Levy, BlogTalkRadio Jaime Mintun, BlogTalkRadio Brian Humphrey, LAFD Lamont Carey, Spoken Word Artist Dr. Jim Messina, Coping.org Phil Mulshine, Op-Ed columnist Newark Star Ledger Doyle Armstrong, 9-11 Heroes Fund Rene Reyes, Poet Laureate One Wise African, Spoken Word Artist PodPoet, Poet Fannie Mancini, StandUpFortheUSA.net Participating Websites (Including Those That Provided Content) 2996 Project http://www.dcroe.com/2996/ 9-11 Heroes.us http://www.9-11heroes.us/ September11victims.com http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/ Survivor recounts Coping.org http://www.coping.org/911/response/content.htm Jontzen 9-11 Tribute Site http://www.jontzen.com/tribute.htm Stand Up For the USA http://www.standupfortheusa.net The Blue Doodle http://www.thebluedoodle.com

Press Release: Lamont Carey on BlogTalkRadio.com

2006-09-08T13:05:00.000-04:00

Lamont Carey Sets Fire to the Airwaves with New Talk Show on BlogTalkRadio.com Spoken Word Poetry, Celebrity Guests, Industry Talk: Recipe for a Different Kind of Show Washington DC – September 8th – You’ve watched him on HBO’s The Wire and listened to his velvety vocals on XM Satellite Radio, Channel 169. But what you haven’t experienced is the man at the core of Lamont Carey. And he’s baring it all on live talk radio. Da Lamont Carey Show airs Sundays at 6:30 EST on www.blogtalkradio.com, where he will engage other artists and discuss business, the creative process, and more, while allowing fans to call in live and “rap” with each artist. Carey and his guests will perform during each show as well, giving fans a unique opportunity to attend intimate, “unplugged” performances from the comfort of home. The show is hosted on internet live talk radio website, BlogTalkRadio.com, allowing Carey to reach his global audience. Listeners can tune in live, or download the recorded podcast afterwards. They can also visit his Host Channel page to get the latest news about upcoming guests, show topics, and more. Carey believes his new talk show will help his audience attain their goals and realize their dreams. Until now, there had never been a medium in which open collaboration and conversation were so easy and accessible. As Carey says, “Blogtalkradio has allowed Da Lamont Carey show to bring writers closer to their dreams of being successful. Opportunity is what every person with a dream hopes for and my show will bring writers of all genres together with people that will give them direction to take their writing to the next level.” About Lamont Carey Born and raised in Washington, DC, Lamont Carey is a blend of powerful social activism and creative passion. He is a creative writer, actor, artist manager, acting instructor, spoken word artist, and entrepreneur. Carey has toured the country performing at major events such as the HIP-HOP Festival and AIDS Relief for Uganda. He has also appeared on the HBO series The Wire. He has recently released his debut spoken word CD IMAGINE, and runs a nonprofit that assists ex-offenders in transitioning back into the community as productive members of society. Visit his Host Channel at: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=1898 About BlogTalkRadio.com BlogTalkRadio.com helps bloggers and other individuals extend their reach through hosting their own live talk show. People can listen live and call in to comment, interact, and engage the host. All in real-time and all for free. Each host is provided a dedicated phone number for the show and listeners can use any phone, whether land line, cell phone, VOIP, etc. to listen in or to participate. BlogTalkRadio enhances traditional podcasting, by allowing live interaction recorded in a downloadable format complete with RSS feeds. To learn more about the website and upcoming news, visit www.blogtalkradio.com

9-11 Tribute Show Update!!

2006-09-07T12:32:00.000-04:00

Posted on behalf of BlueDoodle.com's Amy Domestico: WOW what a week it has been, a flurry of activity from all over the country trying to pull this show together. Its something that has touched the people at Blog Talk Radio, Alan, Bob, Jaime, and me--Amy very deeply. I know Alan lives in Jersey and is just 10 miles from Manhattan and watched as his neighbors had to walk home that day, the emotion and sadness as people made their way back home on foot. I myself grew up 13 miles outside of the city and had many relatives working in NYC, the panic we all felt till people were accounted for was indescribable. My husbands best friend's brother had made his way down 34 flights and walked home to Greenwich Ct. He arrive home till around midnight, and their were tears of sadness and joy the moment he came home. It was a bittersweet moment. So sad for everyone who did not make it home, and there were many. That is what this show is going to be all about, paying tribute to the men and women, who did not make it home to their families that day. We will forever remember, and as long as people like the people at Blog Talk Radio bring these tributes to the world, we will never forget. The response has been wonderful and so far the lineup of hosts is pretty extensive, and the outpouring of people to call in and read their own tributes has been fantastic. Poets, bloggers, spoken word artists, and writers spent countless hours putting together some of the finest written tributes. We will bring everyone together on 9/11 starting at 7 pm to honor the people of 9/11 Ill check in over the weekend as thing progress!! Here is a list of contributors to the Blog Talk Radio 9/11 Tribute Show. 2996 Project http://www.dcroe.com/2996/ 9-11 Heroes.us http://www.9-11heroes.us/ September11victims.com http://www.september11victims.com/september11victims/ Survivor recounts Coping.org http://www.coping.org/911/response/content.htm Jontzen 9-11 Tribute Site http://www.jontzen.com/tribute.htm

Community Forums Launch

2006-09-06T11:56:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, we launched our community forums. Now you can connect with hosts and listeners to discuss interesting shows, network, chat about your specific topics of interest, and more. Hosts have access to private forums including:

Guest Interview Scheduler, where you can coordinate guests for your show
Host Tips and Strategies, where you can share ideas on how to be a good host, promote your show, and more.
Tutorials and Guides, where you can get the latest how-to information on using BlogTalkRadio and hosting your show

All members will also have access to company forums where you can make feature requests, notify us of bugs, and request technical assistance.

As with everything here at BTR, the community forums are free. When you sign up as a host, you are automatically registered for our community. Listeners can easily register by going to forum.blogtalkradio.com and clicking "Register."

Three Women Who Rock the Blogosphere: Our Winners

2006-09-05T20:33:00.000-04:00

While our families and friends enjoyed the Labor Day Weekend, we at BlogTalkRadio spent the weekend deliberating on how in the world we were to choose just three women as our series winners. However, it is clear that the women named below, and their winning blogs, are a testament to the power of the femine voice - not just in the blogosphere, but in each of our lives. These women are read by dedicated, loving readers who clearly feel enriched and engaged by each post. These women are transparent, real, and honest. They allow themselves to be whole and total in their relation to their readers and the blogosphere community. And they encourage us to be the same. Please join us in congratulating our winners: Dawn Rouse: TrueWife Confessions, for providing an outlet for women to vocalize their multifaceted love for their husbands - even when it's tinged with an honest bit of venom Susie Bright: Susie Bright's Blog, for being the enduring voice for sensuality, sexuality, and the freedom to be sacred Lena Lotsey: The Cheeky Lotus, for embodying the total woman: the mother, the friend, the fashion victim, and the passionate dreamer. For honesty in all things, even when the words don't seem to come. Each winner will be featured on our home page, in this blog, and will each co-host a show with myself regarding her unique vision of women in the blogosphere. Each winner will also receive a $250 donation in her name to the charity of her choice.

Blogtalkradio - Merging Old and New Technology

2006-08-31T09:40:00.000-04:00

A few weeks back, I published a post where I discuss whether or not Blogtalkradio is a Web 2.0 company. As you can see in the attached piece, I concluded that BTR is clearly a Web 2.0 company. On Tuesday night, Hellicane, a blog dedicated to the Katrina disaster was scheduled to host a show on Blogtalkradio. The show was scheduled to air on the one year anniversary of the disaster in New Orleans and surrounding cities and towns. A little more background if I may. When we launched Blogtalkradio at the end of July, just a little more than 1 month ago, Hellicane was one of the first hosts to sign up. The host channel read that the "podpoet", the organizer of Hellicane project would be reading original poetry submitted to his blog over the past year. I thought this was a great idea and terrific use of the BTR platform. The podpoet did in fact do one show, but the show was aired before our archive function was up and running. That was it, no more shows were scheduled and I had not heard from Hellicane or the podpoet for three weeks. This past Monday I saw that a new Hellicane show was schedueld to air on Tuesday evening, as I said before, on the one year anniversary of the disaster. I immediately put the show on the home page and we made sure that the show would go off with out a hitch. As the show goes on air, I hear silence, dead air. I have come to learn after one month that the worse noise is no noise. Obviously something is wrong here. I immediately call Bob and he tells me he is on the phone with the podpoet (we dont know his name). It seems that our host lost his internet connection just before he went on air. We all know that feeling of helplessness. This is where Blogtalkradio combines the old technology of basic telephone service and Web 2.0 characterisitics. The podpoet was able to host his show using his plain old phone. There was no need for an internet connection, no Skype, no softphone, no web. The podpoet continued his show and read some of the most touching original poetry contributed by individuals effected by Hurricane Katrina - Here is the link to the host channel - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=1531 Please note that we will be hosting a 9/11 tribute on Monday 9/11. We are working through the details as I prepare this post. The link for the upcoming show is here http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=1882 See you "on-air" Alan

Announcing Our 7 Finalists

2006-08-28T13:37:00.000-04:00

Wow. This was extremely difficult. Over the past month, I've fallen in love with every single blog I've had the pleasure to review for our Women in the Blogosphere series. Choosing our 20 semi-finalists was difficult enough for us here at BTR, but bringing that count down to 7 has been excruciating! We want to again thank each of our 20 semi-finalists for your wonderful blogs. Each of you has added to the quality of the blogosphere, and more importantly, to the quality of your readers' lives. I have taken great pleasure in visiting each of your blogs - I have caught myself in fits of laughter watching play toys act out a murderous act at Ikea via Dawn Rouse's Baleful Regards. I have found myself enriched and entertained by Susie Bright's informative and evocative posts, and even touched and saddened by her most recent tribute to Tee Corinne. I've reminisced about my own fashion faux pas with Lena Lotsey and forgiven my self and my body to come to a healthier self image through Body Impolitic. I've also felt strengthened and inspired by our business women bloggers, such as Mary Hunt and Mandie Crawford. So, without further ado, I'd like to announce our 7 Finalists: Hallie Suitt: Not the Boss Lena Lotsey: Cheeky Lotus Susie Bright Liz Rizzo: SexySmart Laurie and Debbie: Body Impolitic Kristopher Dukes Dawn Rouse: True Wife Confessions Congratulations, Ladies!!!

Blogtalkradio - Here and Abroad

2006-08-25T07:51:00.000-04:00

Now that the summer is winding down, Blogtalkradio is just beginning to wind up. Each day we are signing up more hosts, hosting more shows and getting all sorts of inquiries. Can we use BTR for this and for that? The answer is usually yes. Just yesterday we hosted a show from the UK and Denmark. Our UK host, Rob was able to secure as his guest a UK TV celebrity. They took calls from as far away as Denver and as close as London. We also were able to enjoy a show from Denmark. Karin the host is a very knowledgable podcaster and blogger in her home country. She and I had an opportunity to speak after her show and we talked about many things, mostly where she beleives blogtalkradio fits into the scheme of things. It's Karin's belief that not all bloggers will want to use the spoken word to communicate their thoughts and ideas. Furthermore, she went on to say, that there are more and more bloggers looking to get into podcasting, but the hurdles of doing so are sometimes not worth the effort. We agreed on one other thing and that is where Blogtalkradio comes into play. You see, BTR is a perfect transition between blogging and podcasting. Bloggers are individuals with a point of view, who spend hours and hours sharing their thoughts with their audience. BTR doesnt' replace the blog, but extends the blog, by providing a platform for bloggers to interact with their audience in a real time manner. There is no better form of communication than interactive dialogue conducted in a real time manner. Whereas outsourced podcasting is most often a difficult exercise to deal with, becoming a host and actually hosting your own talkshow using BTR is relatively a painless process. I say relatively because as a "live" platform only 4 weeks old, we occasionally do have a hiccup or two which can be a bit frustrating. Please don't throw your laptop, it will break. One more point which is worth noting. In addition to extending the blog, BTR extends the podcast. All of our shows are archived and can be listenend to at a later date. Also, we have now put in RSS feeds on your host blog page which will allow your audience to easily keep track of and listen to their favorite blogshows. The RSS will soon appear directly on the host channel, so Karin as well as our many hosts can be rest assured that their podcasts will have RSS feeds. Plesase visit Karin's site at Once again, thank you for being a part of Blogtalkradio. We are truly in a very exciting place and we look forward to making BTR the best service it can be. See you "on-air", Alan

Our Semi-Finalists Rocked the Airwaves Wednesday!

2006-08-24T21:30:00.000-04:00

To honor and connect with our semi-finalists: the Women Who Rock the Blogosphere, we hosted a special blogshow segment Wednesday to discuss our experiences as women in the blogosphere and to facilitate discussion between our various semi-finalists. I encourage you to listen to the podcast recording. So what was it like interfacing with our various amazing women who rock the blogosphere? Well unfortunately, in life it seems that when you have something really really good, a wrench gets thrown in there just to ensure it's also interesting: An hour before I was to host this special blogshow, my internet went on the fritz at home. In a panic, I raced to The Terrace - a local Venice hangout where I knew the owner would allow me to bogart the entire back garden room for my show. Nestled just three feet from the sand, The Terrace's garden room looks out over the beach, down to the ocean. A boardwalk full of bicyclists, meandering passersby, rollerbladers and even the occasional dog, stretches along the beach, just inbetween the establishments such as The Terrace, and the sandy beach. I must admit, I was a unique sight for the tourists passing by along that boardwalk. They could look into the open air garden room and see me sprawled out across three tables, with my notebook and laptop on one table, my friend's backup laptop on another table (my laptop had been routinely freezing up), and my personal belongings scattered across table 3. I was rushed to get everything set up in time for our 4PM show, but thankfully was ready to go with 10 minutes to spare. But then my laptop froze up five minutes before I was to call in. I scooted over to my friend's computer - but it wouldn't connect to the internet! So I raced back over to my laptop and restarted it. I watched the clock count down to 4PM on my cell phone as my computer languished in its startup phase. Finally it booted up. 3:56. I dialed into my blogshow - but I had written my host pin number down wrong, and it wouldn't connect. I quickly surfed back over to my host dashboard on BlogTalkRadio.com and finally dialed in at 4:05. I already had 6 callers waiting on the line! I was overcome with excitement. But then I realized that because I, the host, had dialed in after many of these callers, some of them couldn't hear me. I also discovered that my crazy technical fiasco may have prevented the show from streaming properly.

But once I got into the swing of things with our incredible callers - three of our semi-finalists, the show took on a life of its own and was incredibly enlightening for myself, and I hope for our listeners.

So again, any of you who missed this great show, listen to, or download the podcast

here. When Will We Announce Our 7 Finalists? Well, you can blame the pharmaceutical industry for this one: I came down with a nasty illness this past week and I had an adverse reaction to my originally prescribed meds. So I've been largely incapacitated this week (yes, I succeeded in a valiant and coffee-infused display of normalcy for our semi-finalist blogshow, but other than that, I've been heavily sedated with my new medication and attempting to heal.

So please give us until Monday to reveal our excellent list of finalists. These seven fabulous women will each have the opportunity to be interviewed live on the air with myself and/or Alan.

Tune in Monday for all the details!

Women Who Rock the Blogosphere

2006-08-20T17:19:00.000-04:00

Well, I wrote this long, poetic, enticing post announcing our Women in the Blogosphere semi-finalists, only to awaken this morning and find it nowhere in existence! So I apologize for the delay as it seems the post did not go out as intended on the 18th. So here it is again! Announcing: Women in the Blogosphere Semi-Finalists The blogs listed below are the 20 semi-finalists chosen. Each semi-finalist will receive:

A personal email from myself congratulating them on being selected as a semi-finalist, explaining next steps
An award button that can be displayed on the blog announcing it as a semi-finalist in our series
A complimentary Host Account if the blogger is not already a member of BlogTalkRadio.com (yes, all host accounts are free, but for our semi-finalists, we will create the account for them and work with them one-on-one to create and promote dynamic shows that support and enhance the qualities these blogs are celebrated for)

Please join me in congratulating the following women for their superb blogs and unique voices. Visit their sites, let them know your thoughts, and show your appreciation! These blogs are fabulous.

Semi-Finalists:

My Dog Harriet Little Zygote. ClubMom Khatina. ClubMom Not The Boss. ClubMom Halley's Comment Cheeky Lotus. ClubMom Logan Levkoff. SexySmart Susie Bright Liz Rizzo. SexySmart Mixed Media Watch Body Impolitic Divine Reality Dooce In Women We Trust Kristopher Dukes My Green Straw Gimlet Eye. ClubMom True Wife Confessions

Blogtalkradio and Skypecast

2006-08-18T15:12:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying that this headline is a bit misleading. No , we are not combining forces or working together in any way. Lately, I have heard a fair amount about the Skypecast service, so I thought it would be a good idea to compare our services. Let's be honest, Skype is a multibillion dollar company that has more than 50 million users and unlimited capital. Blogtalkradio, on the other hand has been around for three weeks and without divulging the amount of invested capital, well let's just say, it's a lot less than $ 1 billion. Around 6 months ago, while we were working on our platform, I took a look at Skype's Skypecast service. My initial feedback on the service was positive. The GUI's looked great, the colors and flow of the site was impressive, but a few things bothered me. First, when I logged in, I would see around 4 or 5 shows "on-air", however, very few of these shows had any particpant's. I found that many, if not most hosts set up shows and simply never showed up. And when a host did show up, in my view the content was less than impressive. Secondly, without live streaming and archiving of shows, the usability of the service is limited. I figured that even if the content was decent, most people would like to listen to shows when they get around to it. As one our hosts mentioned last night, we are living in an "on demand" society. Everybody wants everything when they want it. Also, it troubled me that you have to be a Skype user to not only be a host but be a listener. I mean, what if someone with an interesting point of view wanted to host a show and didn't have skype or any type of softphone for that matter? What if they wanted to host their show using a pots (plain old telephone service) line or mobile phone? Also, how many potential listeners would feel the need to download Skype. Well, if you look at each of these points I have raised you will see that Blogtalkradio answers all of these questions and more. At Blogtalkradio, our overriding focus is on driving content and creating an environment where the BTR hosts have something interesting to say and the platform to say it. While today, we are getting our share of less than stellar content, we will continue to work real hard on insuring that we attract the best content to BTR. Everyone can listen to BTR, but not eveyone can be hosts. Not because we turn people away from using our platform, it's just that if you don't have anything interesting to say, no one will listen. Pure and simple. Secondly, from the outset, we wanted our shows to be available to be listenend to by an unlimited number of listeners. Although, we allow 5 simultaneous calls to be on-air at any given time, our service can in fact accommodate an unlimited number of listeners. To the Skypecast users that are approaching 100 listeners per show, we welcome you with open arms, because when you hit the big 100, the Skype service has hit its limit. As you know from some of my prior posts, my background is in Telecom. As such, as we devised Blogtalkradio, we felt that it was crucial that both hosts and callers could use any phone to use the service. That's right, hosts and callers can call into BTR using a land line, a mobile phone, a VOIP phone like Vonage or a softphone like Skype, yes Skype. There are no downloads required to use BTR and therefore it's very accessible and easy to use. Finally, unlike Skype, all of our shows are archived and can be listenend to at a later date. If there is an easier outsourced podcasting application out there, well I haven't found it. And if you can find one, than please send me the link. On an unrelated point, I will be on vacation the next week or so and therefore, to insure that my marriage stays intact, I will resume my blogging and blogshow after Labor day weekend. Enjoy the rest of your summer and as always, see you "on-air" Alan

Letter to our hosts

2006-08-17T11:02:00.000-04:00

We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for signing up to be a host at Blogtalkradio and wish you the best of luck with this new and exciting platform. In just a few weeks, we have created lots of excitement in the blogging community. Just last week in fact, BTR was profiled by Rafe Needleman of CNET - http://reviews.cnet.com/4531-10921_7-6626070.html?tag=blog. We are sure you will agree that Rafe's review was quite positive and helpful to our objective of creating the blogosphere's first live interactive podcasting platform. Although this is our first email to our hosts, we intend on emailing you on a weekly basis to let you know what is happening at BTR, enhancements to the platform, introduction to new hosts, etc.

Please note the following enhancements to the BTR service.

You can now schedule segments in increments of 15, 30, and 60 minutes.
As you can see on the programming guide, users can now filter by country, language and genre.
Please note that you can only conduct one show per day per host, however, you can still schedule shows 30 days in advance.
Remember that you can track the number of listeners to your show via the host dashboard.
All shows are now being archived for listening at a later date and can be found in the archived section of your host channel.

Just a couple of points to remember which are quite useful in getting the most you can out of Blogtalkradio. We strongly encourage each of our hosts to select one of our promotion buttons, which is found in the host dashboard. By using this button, your blog audience can easily find your host channel and see when your next show will take place and have access to all of your archived shows. Also, you can attract new readers TO your blog by including a link to your blog in your host channel.

Stay tuned for more for many enhancements to our service. Remember to send us you comments, suggestions, gripes and praises to feedback@blogtalkradio.com

See you "on-air"

Alan

CNET Says You Can Be the Next Howard Stern with BTR

2006-08-09T15:24:00.000-04:00

We've already begun to see incredible, fun, and enticing hosts emerge on BlogTalkRadio. But we're not the only ones singing your (our hosts) praises. CNET reviewed BlogTalkRadio.com today and surmised that our platform will allow individuals access to the media and audience necessary to become the next Howard Stern. Or Dr. Laura. Or Oprah. Whatever your flavor, whatever your topic, you can make a name for yourself by hosting a live blogshow here at BlogTalkRadio.com. In fact, according to CNET's Rafe Needleman, BTR may be just the way for the next Howard Stern to emerge. >>Read the Review

Back to business at BlogTalkRadio

2006-08-08T11:24:00.000-04:00

Last week, I spent a wonderful week in Aspen. While I have been to Denver and other parts of the rockies I have never been to Aspen. Well, let me say that the place is absolutely incredible. The entire town sits on the base of Ajax mountain and occupies a six block by six block radius. Great restaurants, music, art, and of course all of the outdoor activities you could want such as hiking, biking, white water rafting, etc. I highly recommend it!! It's been almost two weeks since we officially launched BlogTalkRadio. The feedback we have received from our hosts and listeners has been universally positive. Now that the site is live and running we will focus on two key initiatives. First, we will continue to enhance and improve the site (see below). While I believe we have done a reasonably good job in simplifying a highly complex set of processes, there is still plenty to do. Secondly, we will spend most of our time finding interesting and provocative hosts. We know that BlogTalkRadio has plenty of great attributes and there are few options out there for live call in streaming and podcasting. I am excited about introducing BlogTalkRadio to the blogosphere. In just two short weeks we have already attracted more than 160 hosts, originating from more than 30 countries, covering more than 30 genres! Now on to some of the changes we have made to our site:

Hosts can now find the number of listeners to each show in the segment archives sectioon of the dashboard.

All of our shows are now being archived. Archived shows appear on the host channel page and can be downloaded or listened to at a later date. Please note that for now the archive starts the second you call into your show AND not when the show starts. You may have noticed that we have changed the programming guide to list BTR hosts as opposed to blogshows. In this way, the host channel guide lists each host only once. You can find all scheduled and archived shows by going to the host channel.

We are also working on a bunch of other enhancements to the site which include:

Creating a forum
Refining our search process including a search by country/language and genre
Deploying a user driven rating system to rate hosts and their blogshows
Creating private rooms so users can conduct conference calls without public or unlimited streaming
Providing an option for our hosts to utilize toll free numbers (there will be a small charge to the hosts in these instances).
Finding a solution for our many international hosts, whereby international callers can use Skype as opposed to dialing a US phone number.

As you can see we have plenty of things to work on the make BTR the best experience it can be for our hosts and listeners. We welcome anyone with a point of view, something interesting to say and a desire to interact with your audience to visit Blogtalkradio and give it a whirl.

If any of you have any comments, questions or accolades please send directly to me at alanlevy@blogtalkradio.com.

See you "on-air".

Alan

Women in the Blogosphere: Special Announcement About a Special Series

2006-08-07T18:19:00.000-04:00

Some of you may have caught wind of this special series we’ll be hosting end of August here at BlogTalkRadio. We announced it at BlogHer’s 2006 conference last weekend in San Jose. We’ve already found many wonderful women whose blogs have been entered for inclusion in our special series. But we want to extend the invitation to the many women here at BlogTalkRadio who were not able to attend BlogHer 06. Sorry guys. This special series is only for our female bloggers. But not to worry. We’ll have plenty of series in the future on all sorts of fun topics that will showcase our male counterparts. How to Enter Your Blog For Inclusion If you would like to be considered for inclusion in our Women in the Blogosphere Series, then email jaimemintun@blogtalkradio.com with a link to your blog and how you feel your blog has shaped the blogosphere, or your own market/organization/personal life, etc. Also describe what you feel being a woman in the blogosphere means for you. In addition, if you know of a female blogger who should be considered, feel free to pass along her blog URL and contact information. If we decide to consider her for inclusion, we’ll contact her. Series Details

We will choose 20 semi-finalists next week, and will announce them here on our blog on August 18th.
Each semi-finalist will be notified by email and will be provided a special “Semi-Finalist” award gif (image) that they can proudly display on their website. 7 Finalists will be chosen and announced on August 25th, the day before Women’s Equality Day.
Each finalist will be notified by email and provided a special “Finalist” award gif they can proudly display on their website.
Our 3 winners will be announced one day at a time, from Monday to Wednesday of the following week. Each will be featured on the BTR homepage, as well as on this blog, for the day.
Each winner will receive a “Winner” award gif, and a $250 donation in her name to her chosen charity.

This is the first of many special series we’ll be hosting here at BlogTalkRadio to salute those in our community who are making a difference and giving their cause, organization, or inner spirit a voice.

If You Aren't a Host Yet on BlogTalkRadio.com

We do not require entrants in this special series to be hosts on BTR. However, we encourage you to use our platform to spread your message and will work closely with any series entrant interested in creating a blogshow.

Check in Here Monday for Exciting News

2006-08-04T20:41:00.000-04:00

As of this afternoon, we've begun testing active archiving. We plan to have all shows archived and podcasted by Monday afternoon.

Check in Monday for an official announcement regarding segment archiving.

I'd like to thank Bob and our wonderful team of developers for working relentlessly behind the scenes to get this and dozens of other functionality enhancements implemented. In other news... Look out for a special blog post Monday, explaining our upcoming Women in the Blogosphere Series that we will be hosting here at BlogTalkRadio. Be sure to check in Monday to learn how to enter your own blog to our panelist of judges, what we're looking for in the women and blogs we feature, the great prize our winners will receive, and more. We will announce our semi-finalists on Friday, August 11th.

Reality Stars Make Superb BlogShow Hosts?

2006-08-03T14:44:00.000-04:00

Well in this case, they surely do. It appears Matthew Fashion is taking our listeners by storm! According to his Host Channel page, "Matthew Fashion has been hailed one of the wildest and CRAZIEST TV/Fashion personalities in his generation." And we agree. His show is a riot. Discussing gooey gossip and the latest news regarding the goings on of Hollywood hotshots and celebrities, Fashion hits a home run. Not only does he sound like he was born with a microphone in front of his mouth, but Fashion's supreme intelligence and head for business shine through the muddy gossip to deliver honest and respectable commentary about the bold, bad, and the beautiful people we all love to gossip about but would never admit to. Listen in. You won't be disappointed. And if you are, Fashion urges you to call in and say so. "I love confrontation!" he says. And with a personality as gargantuan as his, we're not surprised! Show Details: Airing every Sunday and Wednesday at 7PM PST. Matthew Fashion Host Channel Page

Invasion of the Marketeers

2006-08-01T20:20:00.000-04:00

Well it's official. I will be starting a weekly blogshow Wednesdays at 4PM PST. Prime Time Promotions will feature segments on anything and everything having to do with marketing and promoting - whether its your blogshow, your blog, a business, yourself, or a cause. Tomorrow's segment will be on Building Your Personal Brand. You can read the segment outline on my Host Channel Blog. Be sure to call in. And Another Marketer Graces the Air Waves... Hailing from New York City, Kate D. provides us endless fodder for gossip and inspired debate with her own blogshow Koffee Talk With Kate. We discovered this gorgeous force of nature when our ventures into MySpace made it abundantly clear that you didn't know anybody unless you knew Kate D. So here she is, ladies and gentleman - an expert social networker and upcoming marketing genius. Be sure to check out her show and call in. It airs Sundays at 7PM EST. We hear from our loveable hosts over at We Were the Cool Kids, that she's already making quite the stir.

I Think We Have Something Here

2006-08-01T19:14:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, afternoon I watched the number of shows in our program guide increase dramatically. I said to myself “I think we have something here.” I knew that the concept of Blogtalkradio made a ton of sense and filled a void in the blogosphere, but I must admit I wasn’t prepared for a few things. One, I have been quite surprised (pleasantly I might add) to see the large international interest in BTR. In just one week and NO advertising at all, we have attracted hosts from more than 25 countries. Interestingly we have seen significant interest from many Spanish speaking countries. Secondly, the feedback we have received via email from the hosts themselves during their shows has been terrific. We spent considerable time insuring that the platform worked prior to our beta launch. We also spent a lot of time making sure that the website was easy to understand, not cluttered and provided lots of tools for the users. Well, the feedback we have heard in this regard is equally positive. I want to thank Bob, Jaime and others for their help in putting this together. MySpace and Fashionistas During my show last night, I heard from the first of the “Myspace” hosts. His name is Mathew Fashion and purports to be “the” Hollywood person in the know. Though I had never heard of Matthew before last evening, it is clear that the man has quite a following. I can also say with a high degree of confidence that Matthew and I have very little in common. But that is what I love about BlogTalkRadio. Diversity in a community is one thing - but true interaction between diverse and differing individuals...now that is magic. You see, as I said from my very first post on this site, we want to attract interesting, engaging, innovative hosts looking for a platform to share their vision, their passion and their point of view. We want our audience to have options and to decide for themselves what they want and do not want to listen to. In a few weeks, I hope the users will decide what’s interesting and provocative dialogue and what is useless talk. We will the power in your hands to do so. So let me say: "Welcome aboard, Matthew." As you told me in your call last night, BlogTalkRadio is the perfect platform to reach out to your audience. I couldn’t agree more!! Site Updates Now that we have been “live” for just about one week, we are already working on a number of things to enhance the experience. These include better search tools, user generated ratings, rolling out our rev/share advertising program (more on this to follow in my next post), etc. Just a reminder that all of our hosts can track their number of listeners in the host dashboard – under segment archives. Finally, we are working hard to get the podcast download working. Your blogshows prior to the upgrade will not be saved, so be aware. And a Last Word... Focus on content, prepare your shows in advance, have something interesting to say and most importantly enjoy the experience. Alan

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have lift off"

2006-07-31T07:01:00.000-04:00

Yes, I know, I tinkered with the famous phrase just a bit. Back in 1969, when the Apollo landed on the moon, our well respected NASA officials either must have only had men working in the Houston control center OR they believed that only men were listening to and watching history get made. Hey, what gives!! Nevertheless, we at Blogtalkradio certainly do not share the same view towards gender equality in the Blogosphere. In honor of Jaime's participation at the Blogher conference this past weekend in San Jose and our launch of the Women in the Blogosphere series, one of our objectives is to help level the playing field in the blogosphere. See Jaime's post earlier today. The phrase "we have lift off" couldn't be more appropriate for the launch of Blogtalkradio. In less than one week, "on air", we have over 475 shows programmed, originating from more than 20 countries (including such landmark countries sucsh as Chad and Swaziland), covering more than 20 seperate genre's. Truly incredible!! This past past weekend, while we were sweltering in the heat in the northeast along with the rest of the country, our friends at the Los Angeles Fire Department hosted their first blogshow. Although we did have some technical problems, namely an unanticipated number of inbound calls hitting our platform, the folks at the LAFD were quite pleased with the experience. Not only do we appreciate their patience and their loyalty to this new medium, they had nice things to say to the LA Times. As you can see on the following link, and I quote "The thing is really to empower the public," said spokesman Brian Humphrey, after his first show from the department operations control division four floors below City Hall East. "It's obvious to me that there's interest and a potential need." The article in today's LA Times, goes on to say, "Humphrey also foresees "LAFD TalkRadio" as a resource in times of duress, such as the response and recovery phase of a disaster. The department could rely on its own broadcast to inform people and let them know they're not alone. The key word here is "empowerment". Over time, my posts will explore this concept in great detail. Brian, once again I want to thank you and the LAFD for using Blogtalkradio and helping us to improve and promote this new and exciting experience. Alan

Adventures at BlogHer '06

2006-07-31T01:05:00.000-04:00

Stick on tattoos boasting "Mommy Blogger," and gorgeous gift bags overflowing with swag. Arianna Huffington's gorgeous accent ringing through the ballroom during a rousing closing keynote panel. 700 women typing fervently on laptops. BlogHer '06 delivered adventure after adventure for 48 inspiring and exhausting hours. The BlogHer ladies (and the occasional man) were a force to be reckoned with this weekend. We brought the Hyatt's Wi-Fi internet to its knees. Live chats and blogging rang out in a flurry of fervent typing and whisperings into podcast microphones. "We all here are press," Co-Founder Elisa Camahort explained. "So understand that anything you say, to anyone, at any point during this conference could end up in someone's blog, podcast, or vlog." I went to BlogHer on a mission to discover the rising female voices of the blogosphere. What I discovered, in addition to hundreds of awe inspiring women, was my own blogger's voice. There's something organically transcendant about physical, face-to-face connection with your community. Sparks flew throughout the day as women engaged in passionate commentary and civil debate. Ideas mushroomed and merged as one perspective inspired another, which transformed into something else entirely as person after person added her unique ingredient to an ever evolving, exceedingly exotic, recipe. The women and men of BlogHer are truly a special, beautiful community. I felt honored to be a part. And it's incredible the myriad things you bring back with you from a gathering such as this. Not only did I connect with amazing MommyBloggers, Sex Bloggers, Political Bloggers, Wine & Food Bloggers, and unique blogs such as Body Impolitic (be aware there is artistic nudity here) and inspiring advocates such as Farah Sowaleef, a 21 year old Saudi Arabian woman blogging about women's repression in her country. But I found myself passionately engaged in the battles these women fight daily in their attempt to gain visibility and voice in a world and a blogosphere that in some ways still denies their formidable existence. Are there women in the blogosphere? Are they well read? We at BlogTalkRadio discovered this weekend that the answers are resounding YES. I was right in my belief that the hardest part about attending BlogHer was going to be limiting our choice in who to feature in our Women in the Blogosphere Series. Every woman at that conference, and I'm sure many more who were unable to attend, deserves to be featured. Just know, women of BlogHer, we at BlogTalkRadio solute you. And we praise the people behind BlogHer for creating such an incredible community and fount of inspiration. And we haven't forgotten the amazing men who also attended in support of women bloggers. Thank you.

Is Blogtalkradio a Web 2.0 company?

2006-07-28T08:31:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in one of my early posts, I am pretty much a "have-not" when it comes to blogging. I must admit however that given the positive feedback and excitement we have seen this past week as we launched Blogtalkradio, our status in the blogging community is rising just a tad. So the question I pose this morning, "Is Blogtalkradio a Web 2.0 company?" So where else but wikipedia could we find a definition. So here is the link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0 For those of you that do not want to read 8 pages of information related to the definition of Web 2.0, i took the liberty to extract one paragraph as follows: General characteristics While the definition of a Web 2.0 application is still hotly debated, it is generally accepted that a Web 2.0 website would exhibit some basic characteristics. These include: The site should not act as a walled garden - it should be easy to get data in and out of the system. Users usually own their data on the site and can modify it at their convenience. Mainly web-based - most successful Web 2.0 applications can be used almost entirely through a web browser: this is commonly referred to by the phrase "network as platform." Data returns should be dynamic, not static, changing depending on variables associated with the user's query (e.g. keywords, location). An architecture of participation that allows users to add value to the application as they use it. Some social networking aspects. As I read through this definition, it became clear to me that Blogtalkradio is in fact a Web 2.0 company. We meet all of these criteria and more. I encourage you to check out Blogtalkradio and see for yourself. All of our content is user generated, the data can be modified at any time, there are significant social networking aspects, and our data is easy to get and out of the platform. So what if we are a Web 2.0. company? Actually I dont know the answer to this question. Briefly, as of today, we have 375 shows found in our program guide, created by over 135 hosts, originated from 18 countries and covering 18 seperate genre's. Exciting stuff!! As I indicated yesterday, in each of my blog posts I will feature one of our hosts. In honor of our coming out party (well actually Jaime is attending the cocktail party) this evening at the Blogher conference in Santa Clara, today I highlight the Blogshow - "Business Women Roar." This blogshow which will air on 8/3/06 at 11:30 is described by the host Mandie Crawford as "Interviews with Business Women covering tips, tricks, successes, disappointments and lessons learned while building their businesses. Also covering new services, books to read etc." Her host channel can be accessed as follows: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=263 We welcome Mandie to BTR and hope that Mandie and all of our hosts enjoy the experience. Alan

More notes from the CEO

2006-07-27T09:33:00.000-04:00

Dear Blogtalkradio hosts, callers and listeners, We continue to be excited by what's happening at BTR. Our represented country totals are approaching twenty. Since yesterday we added shows from Argentina, Chad, Brazil, Turkey and Swaziland. Yes, that's right Swaziland. It's incredible to me that in less than 2 full days of "going live", we have attracted a host from Swaziland, a country the size of New Jersey, with a population of just over 1 million. We are still working on the archive streaming feature. We have identified the issue and we are close to a fix. Hey, that's why we have the word "beta" in our logo. As you will see in coming posts, I will be using this platform to promote certain shows that have caught my attention on Blogtalkradio. I hope you will listen in these shows and perhaps IM a question to the host or give them a shout using the dial in number located on the host channel. On July 30th, at 9:00 est, their will be a Blogshow hosted by "Podpoet" discussing the effects on Hurricane Katrina. You can find the show details below, including a link to the host's blog. http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=502 Finally, don't forget to use the email reminder tool which is located on the Host Channel. I will be hosting a blogshow this evening at 6:00pm est. I encourage you to go to http://www.blogtalkradio.com/hostpage.aspx?show_id=477, and set yourself an email reminder to my next show and listen in, drop me a note at alanlevy@blogtalkradio.com or call (347)-677-06490 with a question. Until the next time, Alan

Press Release: BTR to Attend BlogHer This Weekend

2006-07-26T13:59:00.000-04:00

BlogTalkRadio.com To Announce Women in the Blogosphere Series At BlogHer 2006 Conference Series to Focus on The Unique Contributions of Women to the Blogosphere San Jose, CA - July 26, 2006 – Following its successful launch, BlogTalkRadio.com, a service that lets bloggers create and host their own live talk shows, announced the launch of the series, "Women in the Blogosphere." This series will be featured on BlogTalkRadio.com's website to celebrate those notable female bloggers who have contributed their distinctive voices to the blogosphere and are extending the face of new media. The series is being launched at the BlogHer Conference. BlogHer, which runs from Friday, July 28th to Saturday, July 29th, explores how women's blogs are changing their worlds. According to BlogTalkRadio's CEO, Alan Levy, the conference provides a perfect opportunity to connect with influential and inspiring female bloggers. "We're not looking for the A List bloggers who already have large quantities of readers," Levy explains. "We want to find the hidden jewels – the women who are truly affecting change in their industries, or their households, or their organizations, but may not necessarily have a large readership yet. We want to feature the rising voices of the blogosphere, and extend their reach through live talk radio." Attending the conference will be Jaime Mintun, BlogTalkRadio.com's Marketing Coordinator appointed to assist the site's hosts with successfully promoting their shows. While there, Ms. Mintun looks forward to meeting bloggers face to face. "Unfortunately, even with the advent of new media and community technology, we in the online world still rarely enjoy face to face connection," says Ms. Mintun. "It's always exciting to meet our hosts and fellow bloggers in person. I am confident that we will find far too many inspiring women at BlogHer, and that deciding who we can feature will prove to be our most difficult job of all." BlogTalkRadio.com plans to launch its special Women in the Blogosphere series the week surrounding Women's Equality Day, August 26, 2006. About BlogTalkRadio.com BlogTalkRadio.com helps bloggers and other individuals extend their reach through hosting their own live talk show. People can listen live and call in to comment, interact, and engage the host. All in real-time and all for free. Each host is provided a dedicated phone number for the show and listeners can use any phone, whether land line, cell phone, VOIP, etc. to listen in or to participate. To learn more about the website and upcoming news, visit blog.blogtalkradio.com. Press Contact: David Parmet david@parmet.net (914) 514-8209 Note to editors: Jaime Mintun will be attending BlogHer conference and invites any attendees to speak with her and discuss possibly being featured on BlogTalkRadio.com. jaimemintun@blogtalkradio.com 818-634-4950

"Build It and They Will Come"

2006-07-26T09:55:00.000-04:00

We all of have heard the phrase from the Kevin Costner movie, "Field of dreams". You remember, Costner takes a working field of corn and turns it into a baseball field. He hears a message from his dad, that if he builds the field, the 1908 White sox will come back and use the field. Well, we must have heard simliar voices. From the outset, as we concieved of this idea, we knew that if we built it they would come...and come they have. As of this morning, over 270 shows have been scheduled to air. In just one day "live", we have shows originating from many countries, including France, Germany, Spain, Mexico, UK, Canada, Japan, Korea and the Mauritias Islands. We have also been surprised at the variety of genre's being represented at this early stage of our evolution. We have also heard from many of you via email sent to: feedback@blogtalkradio.com. Be patient and we wil get back to you ASAP. We have gotten lots of feedback and I am happy to say that most of it has been good. I just wanted to go over a few things we are working on as we speak. As many of you know, the archive stream and podcast is not yet operational. I am hopeful we can get this done later today or tomorrow. Even though you can't listen to your archived shows today, all of our shows are stored and will be uploaded as soon as the archive streaming feature is complete. Also, after seeing the activity in our program guide we are working on a few things like, limiting the number of posts by a single host, track the number of listeners per show which will allow our audience to search for the most popular shows, etc. We are listening to shows, calling into shows, chatting with hosts, etc. Just so you know we will always look to enhance the site to insure that we air informative, interesting and exciting content. Finally, I will be hosting a live blogshow today at noon to discuss BTR. I welcome all calls and listeners!! Until the next time, Alan

Alert The Press!

2006-07-25T14:11:00.000-04:00

Well actually, it looks like we don't have to! Only hours after our official site launch, blogs all over the net are talking about BlogTalkRadio.com. Hosts are signing up and scheduling shows left and right. Many have already conducted live shows. So what does the blogosphere have to say about BlogTalkRadio.com? Via TechCrunch:

Podcasts are fun to listen to, but they’d be even cooler if you could listen live and IM your feedback to the host in real time. The soon to launch service BlogTalkRadio will make that possible.
BlogTalkRadio is targeting bloggers who want to hold a live telephone conversation with up to 5 people on a phone line at once. Anyone can listen live to the call on the phone or through Windows Media Player, like a live web radio show. Listeners can also download an archived copy of the conversation later. Revenue from contextual advertising is split 50/50 with show hosts.

But wait, there's more!

Via Gizmodo,

One of the weaknesses of podcasts has now been eliminated with BlogTalkRadio, a hosting service that lets podcasters broadcast live over the Interwebs, accepting live callers or instant messages while on the air. The talk service allows podcasters to have up to five people (including the host) on a phone line at once, which all runs through the BlogTalkRadio site.
Listeners can receive the podcasts on an ordinary Windows Media Player, unlike TalkShoe, a previously-announced live podcasting model using a proprietary player.

Via our very own David Parmet:

BlogTalkRadio (aka, what I’ve been working on that’s kept me busy) is up, live and on the air.
TechCrunch has a nice write up to kick things off.
There’s also a thread on Digg. Founder Alan Levy is blogging here.
BlogTalkRadio is an exciting idea and I’m sure many of you will be considering playing with it and setting up your own shows. Trust me, it’s easy and I’ll be doing one of my own pretty soon.

And here, you can see that Technorati has already indexed over 35 blogs featuring BlogTalkRadio!

Also, a Big Thank You to each of our incredible hosts and visitors who have warmly welcomed us into their lives and provided such wonderful feedback.

BlogTalkRadio is Live!!

2006-07-25T08:53:00.000-04:00

Well, I must say that we are realy excited that Blogtalkradio has gone live!! We woke up this morning, quite early I might add, to find a nice piece on Techcrunch. "Podcasts are fun to listen to, but they’d be even cooler if you could listen live and IM your feedback to the host in real time. The soon to launch service BlogTalkRadio will make that possible" "Will a significant number of text bloggers want to go live by voice through a service like this? I’m not sure they will, but if they do BlogTalkRadio looks like a good service. It’s certainly trying to cross some barriers into easy multi-media self production - and make it live. In cases where the two media are integrated well this could be very cool." I must tell you, that we're not sure either but we are beefing up our storage capacity just in case. Within a few hours of the Techcrunch piece, blogshows were set up in Germany, France, and the Mauritian Islands. We also have our first political candidate, the Democratic candidate of Hawaii scheduled on August 21. Personally, I think BTR will be a teriffic platform for political candidates. I am sure we'll have our share of bugs and mishaps along the way, so please bear with us. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions, etc please drop me a line at alanlevy@blogtalkradio.com.

Net Neutrality: Will Broadband Giants Win Against Content Providers?

2006-07-21T12:41:00.000-04:00

As I mentioned in one of my early posts, my background is in telecom. I have been in the telecom space since 1993. I have been through the ATT/MCI/Sprint wars and competed against the major European Telco’s. “But what does the telecom space have to do with blogging and live blogshows,” you might ask? Well, unfortunately the telecom giants happen to believe that they not only own the pipes your data and content travel through, but that they should also own a piece of all that content—and charge all of us to create and access it.

Jon Stewart even covered the issue on "The Daily Show": This is detrimental to the blogosphere and to free access to information as we know it. So bear with me here as I give you some background regarding this issue. It affects us all and we need to take a stand. The Rise and Fall of Capitalism in Telecom As you may or may not know, telecommunications deregulated roughly a decade ago to allow free competition and break up the monopolies each company had on its local market. This led to the recent emergence of the CLEC business. For the non telecom people out there, CLEC stands for Competitive Local Exchange Carrier. Basically this platform, called UNEP (yes, another acronym, but it basically means the same thing as CLEC), allowed any telecom company (whether a telecom giant or an emerging newbie) to buy local service from the resident telecom company and resell it at an acceptable margin. Hooray for capitalism, right? Well, a few years back the FCC basically killed the competitive local resale industry by doing away with the UNEP platform. It seems the regional giants didn’t appreciate competition. So under significant lobbying by the RBOCs (Regional Bell Operating Company - the original local exchange companies), the FCC and Supreme Court threw out the UNEP platform and wiped away the CLEC space. That’s why ATT and MCI sold out to Verizon and SBC. The whole point of deregulating the telecom space was to get rid of the monopolization of telecommunications. Of course, during the last 10 years, the six or seven RBOCs have essentially become two (SBC is currently planning to buy Bell South). What used to be a monopoly in ATT, which was disbanded by the Telecom Act of 1983, has now simply become a duopoly. Again the RBOCs’ huge political leverage has allowed them to dominate local connectivity throughout the country. But this is only the start of our problems as content providers and consumers. Now enter the cable companies… Telecom Goes to Bed With Cable In my view, this is the biggest red herring of them all. Yes, the cable companies and Vonage have done a good job taking residential phone service share away from the RBOCs. But you need to understand that the RBOCs are far more interested in business voice and data services.

It’s just incredible!! Any company wishing to compete in the telecom space through selling such services can only compete by buying circuits from guess who: their main competitor. The cable companies can take residential market share away from the RBOCs, but won't take important share away from the business segment - they don't have the infrastructure for it. That means buddy up or get left in the dust. So now, all of a sudden, Verizon and SBC are best pals with Comcast, Time Warner, Cablevision, etc. Mortal enemies become best buddies. It’s like Israelis teaming up with the Palestinians. They fight tooth and nail against one another for decades and then suddenly they’re best of friends. Why you might ask? Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. The cable companies can’t win enough high-end market share from the RBOCs. Plus they share new common enemies: Yahoo!, Google, and Skype. They believe it unfair that such companies are so easily and profitably gaining market share while these bulky utilities spent so much money building out their networks. But I don’t buy their boo-hoo story. We each pay a lot of money for our broadband service (much more by the way and for far less bandwidth than other wealthy countries). We pay to use the pipe. Some of us use the pipe a lot and others only a little.

Their Brilliant Answer to a Mutual Problem So all this background leads us to the present day: where the telecom giants and cable providers have put their heads together and devised a grand solution that is only spectacular in its complete violation of our rights as creators and consumers of free information.

The Answer: Broadband providers want to charge content providers more money to access the consumer (already paying for their right to access content) to see, or listen or watch such content.

Let’s not even get started on the ethics of this. Just looking from a management standpoint, how can this ever be measured and regulated? Not only would it be the mess of all messes to figure out from a financial standpoint - but there are huge conflicts of interest embedded in this plan that NO ONE is talking about. And so the War Begins… Verizon Wireless competes fearlessly with Apple to try and convince their users to use the cell phone as opposed to the ipod. The only reason Apple is winning this and other battles is because their products are superior. But imagine if Verizon decided to increase the “toll” for itunes and didn’t increase the toll for Verizon downloaded songs? Do you see the conflict here? Same holds true for Comcast’s TV content or Time Warner’s movie content. Finally, the clip below, featuring Jon Stewart, is brilliant and clearly summarizes the challenges we content providers face today. As you will see, the Senator in charge of the commerce committee, which is deciding this monumental decision, is simply clueless. What a dangerous and unfortunate position we find ourselves in when the person deciding our fate is one such as this… I urge each of you do whatever you can to stop the momentum of the broadband providers as they attempt to control not only the pipes but what goes through them.

Announcing Your Personal Talk Show Marketing & Promotion Specialist

2006-07-17T11:35:00.000-04:00

Hi, I’m Jaime Mintun, Marketing Coordinator for BlogTalkRadio.com and your personal promotion specialist. You see, the brilliant minds behind BTR recognized that they were creating a new medium for you to reach out to people and secure audiences for your ideas, businesses, and opinions. They figured you might want some help ramping up your efforts here at BTR – particularly in the area of securing listeners! So here I am, at your fingertips to answer your questions, provide tips and insights, and deliver to you step-by-step guides on how to establish your platform and expand your audience. In fact, to get us all started on the right foot, here is your Top Rankings Promotion Guide – a quick and easy, step-by-step run through of how to create your talk show and generate awareness that results in listeners. But don't download it expecting some secret sauce hype - we give you the real deal. It's simple, but it'll still require action on your part. So go ahead and download it now, here. The guide is free. What Else Do I Have In Store For You? Well that’s partly up to you. What do you have questions about? What areas of show marketing and promotion would you like help with? To make it easy for you to get the answers you need as you need them, we’re in the process of launching “Just Ask Jaime.” In the coming weeks, you’ll see a "Just Ask Jaime" button appear on the right-hand side of this blog, as well as on the BlogTalkRadio.com website. Click it to send me a message and I’ll answer your questions on this blog. To make sure you get notified of our blog updates and any new marketing answers, don't forget to subscribe to our RSS feed. I’m thrilled to be a part of this team and a part of your venture into live blogshow hosting! Until next time, Jaime Mintun

The Rise of the Non-Blogger

2006-07-14T15:05:00.000-04:00

The non-blogger is taking over the blogosphere. Who is the non-blogger? He is the financial advisor who closely follows a couple reputable stock and financial blogs but never posts comments. She is the entertainment executive keeping tabs on the pulse of the market to gauge emerging trends. The non-blogger has perhaps dabbled in blogging but can’t keep up with the daily posting; or prefers to only occasionally post comments. As blogs have grown in popularity, they have become a staple of daily internet life – not just for bloggers, but as sources of information for non-bloggers. But Isn’t Everyone a Blogger Nowadays? Looking at the numbers, you’d think so. Technorati has indexed over 47 million blogs. Social networking sites like MySpace, FaceBook, and Catch27 don’t often get indexed and I remember somewhere that there are roughly 50 million social networking blogs. That puts the blogosphere at close to 100 million blogs. 100 Million! But that does not equal 100 million bloggers. Unfortunately, many of the blogs indexed on the web are no longer operational. The majority of bloggers write a few posts and then their desire to blog dies out. Additionally, several bloggers operate multiple blogs. So though the numbers are quite staggering, the reality is that there aren’t nearly as many bloggers in the world as you would initially expect. Instead, what we realize, is that there are far more non-bloggers. Why do non-bloggers refrain from keeping a blog when blogs have become a staple resource for personal and commercial benefit? The fact is that many people don’t have the time to dedicate to daily posts. And frankly, the majority of people don’t like to write. Wouldn’t it be nice if the blogosphere could accommodate non-bloggers as more than content consumers and allow them a platform for communication and interaction as well? If You’d Rather Talk Than Type… You’re in luck! BlogTalkRadio.com will officially launch within the next weel to allow you to host your own talk show! Each BlogTalkRadio.com host will have the choice to maintain a blog within BlogTalkRadio.com or just host their show. That way, hosts who already have blogs don’t have to alter their existing blog, but keep updates and comments about their show separate, on our site. For hosts who have never kept blogs in the past, they can now promote, communicate, and connect with others in a live talk show format, no longer limited by their ability or preference to write. They can try out our blogging feature or just stick with hosting their talk show. Either way, BlogTalkRadio.com is allowing bloggers and non-bloggers to unite in a new media platform that reaches new segments of the online and offline audience. Subscribe to our RSS feed to be notified of blog updates. You’ll be notified about our site launch and be one of the first to utilize this new and exciting medium.

The Have's and Have Not's

2006-07-13T14:05:00.000-04:00

Let me start by saying that I am a have not. No, I am not talking about my family, my personal life or professional life. I am talking about my standing as a blogger in the blogosphere. Like many of us bloggers, I know how easy it is to get lost in the millions of blogs out there on the net. Just consider Technorati: they have indexed over 47 million blogs to date, yet they highlight a specific Top 100 Blogs. Whether one relies on the Technorati 100 or Blogebrity’s A List, it’s clear that the blogosphere is a world of Have’s and Have Not’s. And frankly, only about two bloggers out of every million have meaningful traffic and readership. How do you garner an audience when you’re up against such odds?! It’s obvious that thousands of bloggers out there are top-notch, with lots to say and readers who are all too happy to keep up with each post. Yet, in the recent craze where bloggers were told they could earn a living through their blog, many of us are discovering that no matter how good a blogger you are, something in the equation is still missing. How Have Not’s Are Becoming Have’s Being a Have Not doesn’t mean you have a less provocative point of view than the next guy. It’s simply too hard to be heard in the clutter of dialogue that exists in the blogosphere today. Mind share and attentive eyeballs are a difficult thing to come by. But guess what… The Have Not’s become Have’s by discovering new solutions. If eyeballs are hard to come by, go after their ears! We all know that multimedia blogs fare far better than plain text blogs. But where you can surge ahead and conquer your share of the blogosphere is by taking your blog to the next level. If you want to invigorate and expand your audience, engage them in a real-time, live show where they can not only listen in, but can also call in and directly converse with you and other callers. Think of it this way. Would Howard Stern be very interesting in print? Maybe. But his show is a cornerstone of American pop culture because the live interaction allows for unexpected fun, heated debates, and an expose of human nuances. Can You Make Your Talk Show a Hit? Stay plugged into this blog. Over the next couple weeks, we’ll be posting tips, guides, and articles here to help you get started on BlogTalkRadio.com. We’ll show you how to promote your show, expand your audience, inter-promote your talk show and your existing blog, plus much more. We’ll even show you how we’re going to help you earn that living with your Broadcast Blog! So stay tuned...

Who is Alan Levy

2006-07-11T14:07:00.000-04:00

I’m Alan Levy, CEO of BlogTalkRadio.com. As I’ll be posting here a lot to keep you up to speed on all the excitement over at BlogTalkRadio.com, I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself. Like many bloggers, I only discovered this incredible medium a couple of years ago. My background is in telecommunications, where I launched Destia Communications, took the company public, and sold it to Viatel. Though we are well versed in launching companies and taking them public, financial success was not our motivation in launching BlogTalkRadio.com. Instead, it was a deep fascination and respect for the blogosphere. It’s the first medium to allow any individual a fair platform for speaking his mind and securing an audience. Plus it’s gone a long way to help some of the Have-Not’s become the Have’s. And the thought of enabling the Have-Not’s led us to a new idea… The Birth of BlogTalkRadio.com Like every megalith on the internet, BlogTalkRadio started out as a tiny idea. After seeing a friend of mine, Martin Varsavsky, spread the message of his wi-fi marketplace, Fon, through blogging and networking with other bloggers, I became fascinated by this strange new world called the blogosphere. Following his lead, I dove into the medium, posting, commenting, and reading all types of blogs. I was hooked. But my new obsession left something to be desired. I come from a telecommunications background – I’m used to the vigor and instantaneous nature of verbal communication. Then the light bulb blasted on! If any person in the world can easily create his own news column or text media outlet through a blog, why couldn’t any one of us host our own talk show? BlogTalkRadio.com was born. Rooting for the Little Guy As I said earlier, blogging caught my eye because it gives voice to every individual with something to say. Never before have we had the freedom and platform to share our ideas and secure an audience. We are dedicated to extending the blog to live talk shows that again give voice to the little guy, the common blogger, the individual. We’re also providing a platform that groups can utilize to amplify and enhance their message. Charities, political activists, professional organizations, business owners, and schools – through BlogTalkRadio.com, we can each establish continuing dialogues that inspire and affect change. Now each of us can harness the gravity and influence of Talk Radio magnates like Rush Limbaugh, Howard Stern, or Dr. Laura, to support the topics and issues important to us. And all it takes is any kind of phone, landline and otherwise, and something to say.

BlogTalkRadio.com: Extending the Blogosphere

2006-07-10T20:39:00.000-04:00

BlogTalkRadio.com is coming soon - in the next 10 days or so. However, so many people are asking us to begin discussing the site and the concept behind it, that we've launched our blog early. So here you have it! How BlogTalkRadio.com is Extending the Blogosphere The blogosphere is exploding. With over 47 million blogs currently online, the blogosphere is still growing at a rate of over 100,000 new blogs every day. But its size is its least impressive trait. The blogosphere has changed the faces of news and media, and has given a booming voice to the unique individual. But the blogosphere, as potent and influential as it may be, is restricted. Conversation, momentum – that dynamic vigor and gravity borne out of a heated and passionate debate – these cornerstones of human communication are sedated by the limits of the written word. So imagine if we could blow the glass ceiling off the blogosphere and extend its reach beyond text. Ask yourself, if every man and woman having the opportunity to write his or her mind can change the world – what could every man and woman accomplish with access to the air waves? The Blogosphere Goes Verbal We’ve all heard about the advent of podcasts. Bloggers can talk their posts now and readers can listen. But this still does not allow for live communication and dynamic conversation. There is no real-time connection. Podcasts, like the written word, are historical in nature, documenting a thought process that, the moment it is placed in a post or podcast, is a historical occurrence. So when we talk about the blogosphere going verbal, we don’t mean recordings. We mean live. Live Blog Talk Radio. Introducing the New Blogger’s Medium: Live Talk Shows The beauty of the blog is that it reflects an individual’s point of view. We can now get our news and our insights from any and every perspective, no longer reigned in and censored by media moguls, their politics, or the lack of a platform. Now bloggers can extend this reach by conducting live talk shows where people can listen live and call in to comment, interact, and engage the host. All in real-time. And all for free. To become a host and conduct your own live talk show, all you need to do is get your free host account at BlogTalkRadio.com. Then you just need any kind of phone – whether it’s a cell phone, land line, VOIP, Skype, etc. We’ll give you a dedicated phone number that unlimited people can use to listen to the show. You can even accept up to four simultaneous callers to participate in the show. Inter-promote your blog and talk show. Give your audience a choice – they can listen rather than read, or they can do both! And if they don’t have time to listen to your live show, we archive your shows for one month so you and your listeners can listen at your leisure. You’ve already conquered the blogosphere. Now seize the air waves!