Podcasting is a form of online media hosting that has been around since the early 2000s. It has gone through many changes over the years, but what is it, exactly? Podcasts first opened up the audio medium to the public, which spurred the growth of media content for a broad range of topics.
The term “podcast” was coined in 2004 by British journalist and technology guru, Ben Hammersley. Hammersley was inspired by the term “radioblogs” which were internet radio programs created with audio and video files. Podcasts, however, are audio files with no video component, and listeners access them through an RSS feed.
In the early days of podcasting, popular podcasts were hosted on websites that offered streaming audio. This technology allowed for podcasts to be delivered directly to individual users, much like radio programs. To listen to a podcast, all a user has to do is subscribe to the podcast’s show and they'll get and stay updated on the latest episodes when they are published.