• by Erik Sass  @eriksass1, November 6, 2006

A new online radio blogging network, BlogTalkRadio.com, has been adding hosts--and listeners--at a steady clip since its launch in August, portending a new wave of social media. With its innovative, surprisingly simple system, BlogTalkRadio lets anyone become a live radio host. Text bloggers publicly pontificate via the spoken word. The service is free to users, who share in the ad revenue.

According to Alan Levy, the founder and CEO of BlogTalkRadio, the live broadcasts are available as RSS feeds and can also be archived, recreating text blogs' chronological content trail in auditory form.

In the BlogTalkRadio system, each host gets a personal "switchboard" page on BlogTalkRadio.com that functions as their radio "home" on the Net. Hosts can drive traffic to their radio home pages by posting an html link on their blogs, and vice versa. Technically, radio bloggers don't even need a computer to participate. Their audio feed is delivered to the BlogTalkRadio server via a simple phone call, and listeners can call in. However, listeners need a computer to hear the streaming audio broadcast.

Levy explains: "I was doing an interview with Arianna Huffington, and we had Mark Frauenfelder of BoingBoing call in." Ken Mehlman, the chairman of the Republican National Committee, called into a popular political radio blog show. On another occasion, "an embedded reporter on the front lines in Afghanistan called in during a show hosted by a University of Kansas professor."

BlogTalkRadio monetizes the service by placing ads on each host's switchboard page--which listeners must visit to receive streaming audio of the show--then splits the revenue 50-50 with hosts, or "citizen broadcasters," as Levy calls them.

Levy said the service is also experimenting with audio ads inserted into airplay. For example, a bumper at the beginning and maybe a 30-second spot 15 minutes in." Although listeners might dislike ads, they won't be able to fast-forward through them, Levy noted, because the broadcasts are live. Bloggers have also expressed interest in doing their own live voiceover ads for their favorite products. The new service has also attracted MySpace personalities--who maintain popular text blogs on the giant social network, some drawing thousands of readers. Their readers followed links to their radio blogs, and in classical viral fashion, some of them are hosting their own shows.