Welcome to the annual fall all-electronic edition of AIRSPACE! This year our contributors mostly write about the latest gizmo craze -- podcasting. AIR's own futurist, Tod Maffin, leads off with an analysis of contemporary listening habits. Maffin encourages adopting a vertical approach to content delivery to reach what he calls the "playlist generation." Kerry Seed (Blunt Youth Radio) provides a report on NPR's podcasting demonstration project, which involves three networks and seven major market stations collaborating to determine appropriate strategies for the future. For example, they're figuring out how to maximize service to niche audiences, building unique methods of measuring real listenership directly into the content cast, and crafting new revenue models. Pete Korakis (Pacifica AudioPort) muses on the role podcasting is playing in community radio where he says the network is playing catch-up with audiences already savvy in the technology of on-demand. Dale Hobson (North Country Radio) describes the concerns that have him opting to take his station into podcasting slowly and cautiously.

As if these articles weren't enough, we're publishing a list of AIR member podcasters replete with RSS addresses and brief descriptions of the content. Plus, Eric Whitney and Sean Tubbs weigh in with personal accounts of their podcasting activities, hopes, and dreams. And, never fear, our regular columnists Ken Mills and Lula are here, sharing their hip insider insights.

Acknowledging that terrestrial audio worlds still command affection, we have a delightful piece on short-wave radio by new AIR member Myke Wyskopf, reports in from AIR's two Weekend America fellows -- Rachel McCarthy and Adam Allington, and a station feature profiling KIDE -- the solar-powered station of the Hoopa Valley Tribe by Nannette Drake Oldenbourg.

And, just for fun, for those of you who need some distraction, please take a minute to do the first AIR Crossword. Created for us by Dave Bunker, we expect this to be a regular feature of AIRSPACE. We wanted it to be interactive but technology failed us!!! So, please take a minute to print it out. We'll give you a couple of weeks then post the answers online. Some of AIR's more well known members are living in the grid!

Meanwhile...

I'm just back from Philadelphia where I attended the NAMAC Conference -- Taking Liberties: Freedom, Creativity and Risk in the Media Arts. True to the theme expressed in the title, it was a provocative, stimulating, and highly energetic four-day event. With keynote speakers Lani Guinier (Harvard Law professor, author The Miner's Canary) and Nolan Bowie (Senior Fellow/Lecturer in Public Policy, Kennedy School of Government), issues of race, class, and access were eloquently articulated. Because I was neither a panelist nor an organizer, I was free (for the first time in several years of conference going) to simply sit back, listen and enjoy myself! The conference was extraordinary from the perspective of the diversity of points of view expressed, the genuine gregariousness and congeniality of the attendees, as well the overall tone of lovely inclusiveness.

NAMAC, acronym for the National Alliance for Media Arts and Culture, was celebrating its 25th anniversary. Like AIR, NAMAC is a services-to-the-field organization. (Learn more online at http://www.namac.org/.) The difference is they serve organizations that in turn serve independent media makers. Most NAMAC members come from the visual end of the media spectrum: film and video centers far outnumbering those of us in audio and radio. Ironically, many people I met, upon learning I was from radio, confessed, "Ah, radio; it's my first love!" And, many went on to tell me they are adding radio and/or audio activities to their programs! Good reason for AIR to be talking, networking, and identifying new partnership opportunities.

Pete Tridish of the Prometheus Radio Project (http://www.prometheusradio.org/) was prominently featured in a couple of the plenary sessions and panels. AIR members might know Tridish for his active participation in the rulemaking that led up to the adoption of LPFM, and on the committee that sponsored the crucial Broadcast Signal Labs study, which proved to the FCC that LPFM would not cause interference. Although AIR has not actively engaged with the low-power radio community, I was heartened to hear Tridish speaking to the need for building an independent media middle class. Tridish was talking middle-class economics, not mindset. He stressed the importance of working together to find ways to assure that independent media makers be paid a living wage for the important public service we deliver. Tridish combines great entrepreneurial instincts with a profound sense of social responsibility. I like to believe that as AIR members, our collective determination, pride, and understanding of the real monetary value that our work should command is our strength. We've been in the vanguard of this struggle for years. I fully expect to respond to Tridish's call to action.

The issue of economics is particularly relevant as on-demand media delivery systems proliferate. As might be expected, many independents are financing their foray into podcasting. However, as articles inside will attest, the entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well: Some among us are creating podcasts for others (organizations, companies, individuals) and charging "producer" fees for the service; others are contemplating setting up subscriber fee structures; and others are successfully getting underwriters to sponsor the cost. P.W. Fenton's leap into podcasting changed his life -- took him from the media margins onto the worldwide e-stage occupied by podcast pioneer Adam Curry. P.W.'s story shows it can pay to stay true to what you know and do best.

Last but not least, I want to welcome Sid Selvidge as AIR's newly elected Board President. Sid brings a wealth of experience, intellect, simple common sense, and a jolly sense of humor to everything he does. He is an accomplished singer and composer as well as the executive director of Beale Street Caravan. AIR members are going to enjoy getting to know Sid. I also want to thank Joan Rabinowitz for her service as AIR Board President over the course of this past year. It was a pleasure working with her. I am delighted to say Joan will stay on the Executive Committee as Treasurer.