As I write this, I am
listening to a very good recording of an interview by CITI Breakfast Show Host Bernard Avle and Minister of Trade and Industry Hannah Tetteh, which was conducted this morning. I missed some of it, so I am very glad to be listening to the whole thing.
That is all well and good, but what is not is the fact that I could simply have downloaded it! What if my internet connection was--alas--not as stable as it is today? Would it mean that I am indefinitely incapacitated? Would a podcast (à la BBC) not simply have done the trick?
Whilst I am the first to commend CITIfm97.3 and what I call its "pseudo-podcast", which it calls "audio on-demand", I will also be the first to criticise it.
It is great that one can re-listen to radio clips, but how about being able to download it -- as exemplified by the inimitable BBC?
Back in 2008, I wrote an article for the erstwhile "Sunday World" newspaper, entitled "(Pod)Casting Aspersions on the Ghanaian Media". You can access the article here: http://penplusbytes.blogspot.com/2008/03/podcasting-aspersions-on-ghanas-media.html.
In it I gave the raison d'être for podcasts, which I quote here:
Let's face it: podcasts are not only supposed to educate us; they are supposed to make our lives easier. Issues with internet connectivity notwithstanding, last time I looked, most internet cafes enabled you download from the 'Net and even from and unto your storage devices. Even without a connection at work or in your home, if you knew you could re-listen to your popular breakfast, or lunchtime show, by way of a podcast, I could imagine you would end up feeling both sated and dedicated to your station of choice—knowing they not only care about the kind of programmes they produce, but want you to be further interested in giving you the opportunity to listen again. To boot, your productivity would inevitably be boosted knowing you would not make too much effort to listen to a programme on the hour, especially when you can catch it again—albeit without contributions by text and email you might want to make.
So, when I get to the very much-improved CITIfm97.3 website, yet it requires me -- in a developing country like Ghana where the internet connectivity through broadband is unpredictable -- I cannot quite figure it out.
Please give me a downloadable radio clip, which I can download from any computer in the country, so I can die happy!
*This post can also be found on http://ghana-mediawatch.blogspot.com*
labels: mid wk madness, mid week madness, citi fm, ghana radio, ghana podcast
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