David Brady was having a strange day. It was another sunny, beautiful April Friday in central Florida, a perfect setting for the debut of Walt Disney World’s new thrill ride, “Expedition Everest,” at Animal Kingdom. That morning, he sat next to Goofy for a trip up the mountain on the runaway-train roller coaster; later in the afternoon, he had a pleasant conversation with renowned primatologist Dr. Jane Goodall.

From Goofy to Goodall: All in a good day’s work for a podcaster, “and I thought, ‘How bizarre,’” he recalls.

Brady is one of the first in a new breed in the amusement industry. Part public relations representative (that’s his official title), part entertainer, he hosts a weekly podcast for Walt Disney World, published online for free every Thursday. Essentially a radio show listeners can carry around with them in their MP3 players, podcasting is one of the hottest online phenomena—one the industry is only just starting to discover.

“Amusement parks in general have been slow to embrace the Internet as a marketing medium to reach people in ways they previously hadn’t thought of,” says Jeff Putz, webmaster for CoasterBuzz.com, one of the most popular industry enthusiast sites on the web. “All the research indicates the demographics you want to go after are spending more time on the Internet, so the opportunity there [for podcasting] is certainly great.”

You Want to Do What?
When Brady started conducting interviews for Walt Disney World’s first official podcast in spring 2005, he had to hand out little cards to his guests, explaining just what in the world he was talking about and asking them to do.

What a difference a year makes.

An Internet format that didn’t even exist as of summer 2004, there are now thousands of podcasts and thousands more listeners around the world. The variations—and quality—are wide­spread, but every podcast (the “pod” taken from Apple’s uber-popular iPod MP3 player) boils down to the same basic elements: People speak into a microphone, record their voices digitally, run the recording through a com­puter, then publish the finished product online for others to download. They are different from listening to the radio online, however, in that these are not streamed sessions chaining listeners to their Internet connections; with the advent of the compressed audio format MP3, the shows are small enough to fit comfortably on even the most modest-sized digital music player. Combine the file size with the spread of broadband connections allowing for exponentially faster downloads, and technophiles view podcasting as a natural extension of the information available on the Internet.

“As someone who’s always been a technophile, I think it’s nice that there’s this democracy of content,” Brady says. “Certainly it’s a much greater intimacy with the property.”

“For the past couple years, all we’ve had are Internet sites and message boards,” says Mike Collins, producer of CoasterRadio.com, one of the leading industry enthusiast podcasts on the net. “You can read those quickly, but until now there hasn’t been a voice for those things. To hear somebody speak about it, the passion or displeasure about something, has really helped our show take off. I could write a trip report, but to hear us talk about that experience is a lot more exciting.”

Like the millions of web pages online, there seems to be a podcast for all niches.

“It’s a natural extension of what the Internet has already done in terms of media,” says Putz, who launched CoasterBuzz.com in 2000. “The mass media has a broad appeal, and then there’s the more niche stuff. The trouble was, [before the Internet] niche stuff was always expensive to produce because you always had that expensive medium attached to it, whether it be a magazine or newsletter.”

Plus, in an increasing on-demand entertainment culture, podcasting fits right in that mold. Collins says his audience is split almost 50/50 between those listening on traditional desktop computers and on portable music players. He’s received e-mails from people who listen to Coaster-Radio on their long commutes to work or—even better—on the drive to a theme park. One listener sent Collins a message thanking CoasterRadio for entertaining him for an entire flight across the Atlantic Ocean from London to Orlando.

“When we started this, we had no idea that it would take off. We thought it would reach maybe a hundred people, and we’d stop after a year,” says Collins, whose podcast hit its one-year anniversary in April. “But now, if we take a week off, we hear from the listeners.”

Sounds of the Superfans
Between CoasterRadio and Coaster-Buzz, you could draw a pretty accurate picture of the podcasting spectrum.

Collins says the idea for CoasterRadio actually came up several years ago when he and a group of friends, all from the Washington, D.C. area, were on their way to a park and were, of course, discussing their hobby. All but one come from broadcasting backgrounds, and “we thought how great would it be to take these same conversations that we have in the car rides [to parks] and put them into a radio show,” Collins recalls. Conventional radio was obviously out of the question, though (“A show about roller coasters would never get heard on mainstream television or radio,” Collins says.), and online radio was too expensive and unmanageable at the time. All that changed with podcasting.

One of the benefits of working in the broadcasting industry, Collins says, is always hearing about new technologies as they come down the pike. When he and his buddies discovered podcasting, they knew this was the answer to problems of both funding and broadcasting schedules. His crew built a “studio” in his Virginia home for less than $1,000, and it approaches CoasterRadio with a mixture of professional craft and amateur appeal. Each show is meticulously mapped out and researched months in advance, just like a normal commercial broadcast; CoasterRadio tries to land an interview for each installment, either from an industry expert or an enthusiast, and the show’s content is tailored to that personality. When it comes to recording, however, Collins says the group sits around a table with sodas and chips or “kicks back on couches” to keep that “friends hanging out” mindset on which the program was founded. They chat each other up for an hour or two on a Wednesday or Thursday night, then edit through the weekend and eventually publish the half-hour show on Mondays.

“We try to make it as slick and professional as we can,” he says.

While the folks at CoasterRadio built their web site around a podcast, Putz’s weekly program at CoasterBuzz came via the more “natural extension” method—just one more reason to visit the successful site that serves as a resource for the amusement industry.

“Our focus with the site has always been a mix of enthusiasts and the industry in general,” he says. “With the podcasts we wanted to take that same approach. We wanted to make it a news digest that someone could enjoy and lose themselves in for half an hour.”

Each week, Putz and his fellow cohosts connect to each other via an Internet teleconferencing program to record the show; the webmaster/host says he spent less than $500 for the necessary equipment. The show is essentially a summary of news items that appeared on the site during the week and some commentary on those issues, and sometimes includes a special guest. Putz (who also has a background in broadcasting) then adds some music, edits if necessary, and voila—after less than two hours’ work, the podcast appears on CoasterBuzz every Monday.

“We’ve tried to keep it loose and not stick to a specific format—winging it, to be honest,” he says.

Collins and Putz are forthright in their relative lack of expertise in the amusement industry—both even used almost the exact same phrase: “We’re not experts or anything”—they’re simply longtime fans who have accumulated a wealth of knowledge through extensive observation. Because Putz has built rela­tionships with parks for several years through CoasterBuzz, he says it wasn’t difficult to convince guests to come on the show (most notably Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel). CoasterRadio faced a steeper task when first starting out, but all that changed once the show was up for a few weeks; now, Collins says, he’s bought new equipment because parks have allowed the program to record live at their facilities.

“As podcasting has grown, it’s become easier for people to understand exactly what it is we do,” Collins says. “We respect the guests when they come on, we don’t ask crazy questions, and we treat it as a professional radio show.”

The live remote feature of Coaster-Radio is one of Collins’ favorite aspects of this hobby. He was also in attendance for the “Everest” grand opening at Animal Kingdom and took his recording onboard for his first ride— then put that recording online as part of the next week’s show. This is the type of unique content that will allow amusement podcasts to thrive, he believes. In fact, this summer the CoasterRadio crew will record a special series of podcasts for the Pennsylvania tourism board, visiting four of the state’s amusement parks and posting their shows at VisitPA.com.

“We’re constantly challenging the agencies that work for the commonwealth to be on the cutting edge of new media to get the message out there and have communication experiences that make people smile when they think about Pennsylvania,” says Mickey Rowley, deputy secretary of tourism for the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. “These are not massive initiatives—we’re not spending the kind of money that we might on advertising. It’s an affordable, accessible way through a new medium to reach a market and cause them to think positively about a Pennsylvania tourism experience.”

So Many Stories to Tell
Although The Walt Disney Company was the first amusement park to pro­duce official podcasts on a regular basis, more parks are getting in on the act all the time.

“There’s a hunger for this kind of material,” says Brady, whose Walt Disney World podcast launched Dec. 25, 2005, and has run weekly ever since. ( Disneyland’s version debuted a few weeks later and publishes once a month.) “It’s been abundantly clear that people love to hear the story behind the story. It’s great to finally have an outlet that’s fairly inexpensive and fairly easy to access for the consumer to finally hear all this stuff.”

Yet even though Disney owns the ABC television network and has its own set of Disney-specific cable channels, slots in a hectic broadcasting schedule are hard to come by and don’t necessarily lend themselves to the type of niche audience that subscribes to the Walt Disney World podcast.

“With podcasting, you don’t have to wedge your way into an existing programming schedule. You don’t have to find your way into the 24 hours of pro­gramming on the radio dial,” Brady says.

“It’s so much fun to hear from some­body who designs rides for a living,” says Collins, who recently experienced a fan’s dream come true when he interviewed Joe Rhode, vice president/executive designer for Walt Disney Imagineering and lead designer for the “Everest” project. “To get a chance to hear him speak about [“Everest”] is so much more interesting than just reading about it, because you hear the passion in his voice. You never would get to hear a full 20-minute interview with somebody like that until podcasting came about.”

Disney is no longer the only park in the podcast market, however. At press time, Universal Orlando was in preproduction and preparing to launch a monthly podcast of its own. Meanwhile, both Dollywood in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee, and Knoebels Groves Amusement Resort & Campground in Elysburg, Pennsylvania, have released podcasts based on specific projects.

It’s really not that hard to start up your own podcast. We’ve said on our show many times that all it takes is a microphone and a computer and you’re on your way. But in reality, a professional-sounding podcast takes a bit more effort. Here are a few steps that will help you become the latest podcast star: 1. Content First—You can have the most professionalsounding podcast in the world, but if you don’t have something interesting to say, your show will never gain and maintain an audience. Start off by picking a topic that you’re passionate about. Then, go online and listen to other podcasts that are in your chosen genre, then try to create a show that is different from all the others. Let your own personality shine. 2. Equipment—Now that you’ve figured out what you’re going to say during your podcast, you have to make sure that people can understand you clearly. There are hundreds of good podcasts on the Internet that could be great if they used decent microphones and professional audio equipment. It’s easy to spend thousands of dollars on your podcast setup, but you can also have a great-sounding show for less than $500. The CoasterRadio. com studio was set up for less than $1,000 with a mixer, microphones, headphones, a phone hybrid, and an MP3 recorder. This studio can even go on the road when we produce shows at different theme parks. A good place to start looking at audio equipment is BSW (www.bswusa.com/podcast.asp), offering complete podcasting solutions for less than $250. The most important advice we can offer is to monitor your audio levels while recording. Make sure the audio for each person on your show is equalized. There’s nothing more annoying than listening to a podcast where one host is louder than another. 3. Editing—Some podcasters like to record their shows and post them online without any editing. Unless you’re a professional broadcaster, you’re most likely going to utter your fair share of “ums” and “ahs.” Don’t be afraid to use an audio editing program to cut out these awkward pauses. You can find many easy-touse programs online, including Audacity (audacity.sourceforge.net) and Goldwave (www.goldwave.com). 4. Going Worldwide—Now that your podcast has been recorded and edited, it’s time to post your show online. A great service to help you with this is Liberated Syndication (www.libsyn.com), which will host all of your MP3 files for only a few dollars a month. This fee not only includes hosting, but also the creation of your RSS feed, which people will use to subscribe to your show. This service also comes with a fantastic statistics program that will help you gauge how many listeners your podcast has week to week. 5. Promotion—Just like mainstream media, you’ll need to promote your show in order to bring in more listeners. Find online communities that specialize in your show’s topic and encourage them to listen. You’ll also be surprised by how many people hear about your show through word of mouth. As the weeks go by, you’ll see that your audience numbers will start to climb. That’s when the real fun begins.

Pete Owens, public relations manager for Dollywood, created a new “character,” Dottie, to host the park’s podcast, which debuted in April. Although the first installment was used as a promotional tool for Dollywood’s new “ Timber Tower,” Owens says, “We’re trying to find quirky stories, things that folks will find interesting.” For Dottie (actually Publicity Coordinator Corinn Paradice), the task is to wander the park and, again, provide the stories behind the attractions.

While Disney’s podcasts generally run 15 to 20 minutes, Owens fashioned Dollywood’s program more like a feature on the United States’ National Public Radio—short and to the point, in and out in five minutes or fewer. The goal, Owens says, is to accumulate a database of these quick hits that will drive traffic to the park’s web site, provide fans with more information about the park, and provide members of the media with story ideas.

Park officials involved with podcasting agree the technical and staffing issues incumbent upon the medium are not all that difficult or expensive. All of the park officials interviewed by FUNWORLD say the show is simply included within the responsibilities of a few staff members already on the payroll. Joe Muscato, spokesperson for Knoebels who spent $150 to get his podcast for the park’s new “Flying Turns” roller coaster up and running, says the most difficult part is finding a time when interview subjects can actually spare a few moments to sit down and talk.

“It’s a very simple thing,” says Owens. “We ordered a podcasting recorder and a microphone for a couple hundred dollars.”

“Once you have the gear and the format down, it’s pretty easy to keep cranking them out,” agrees Brady.

‘It’s a Wait-and-See Thing’
As popular as it has become, podcasting is still very much outside the mainstream. With the advent of Apple’s iTunes adding a subscription service and the involvement of corporations such as The Walt Disney Company, the medium is certainly more widespread now than just one year ago, but there is still much room for growth, the experts say.

“Podcasting has a ways to go in terms of wider acceptance among the public,” Brady says. “I can sit here and say it’s easy for me [to download a podcast]. Could my mother do that? Could my grandmother do that? No. Until it’s almost invisible in how it gets to you, it’s going to take some time to catch on.”

From a production side, “the real question everyone has about podcasting is how we [make money on] this,” Putz says. “In niche markets, we’ve always depended on banner advertising to generate income for web sites. For podcasting it’s in reverse—a lot of people have decided to create it but aren’t sure how to [make money].” Until that question is answered, podcasters currently seem satisfied to use the format as yet another way to drive business to the web site. “It helps you reinforce your brand for the web site and creates awareness,” Putz says. “It seems a little intangible, but there is value to it.”

Regardless of the rather nebulous state of the medium at this early stage, these experts don’t see podcasting going anywhere but up in the near future.

“In the next year or so, probably all of the major theme park chains are going to have some type of podcast. It might not be weekly, but I think they’re going to use the medium to get the word out, especially as video pod-casting is coming out,” Collins says. “People are just finding out what pod-casting is. It’s going to be another tool for promotion in the amusement industry, because you can actually see it and hear it—something you could-n’t do before.”

“It’s an excellent vehicle for communication to your guests,” Brady says. “It keeps people hooked on your product when they’re away from the property. I got hooked on this from the start. I don’t see it going away.”

“It’s a wait-and-see thing,” agrees Owens. “It’s always important to look at new technology. All of us have seen a much greater movement toward people using the Internet to plan their travel. If [podcasts] in some way will provide a broader experience for people online to help them make a decision, and we see online ticket sales go up, I think that’s a glowing success.”