At least 20 million new "radio stations" (source: Google) have been created within the past two years, giving us information that we don't ordinarily hear on our local radio stations. Ahhh, the power of podcasting! Do you think these podcasters have an impact? Do podcasters' ideas change minds? Do they bring up new ideas you've never thought of before? Do they inform? You bet your bottom dollar they do!

I'm listening to Ted Reicken's Island Podcasting (http://islandpodcasting.com) show right now even as I type and I just learned a few new interesting tidbits. Ted purchased a Smart car made by Mercedes. In his podcast, he beeps the horn that comes equipped on the car so that we can hear how it sounds. To me it sounds like something that comes on a motor scooter. Ted then begins the process of replacing the horn with a louder, more intimidating horn he picked up at Canadian Tire. We get to hear Ted climb under the car, tools clanking as he removes several bolts. He informs us, his podcast listeners, that before starting the podcast, he jacked up the Smart car with the jack from his Toyota because the Smart car doesn't come with a jack. He goes on to tell us that when Smart car owners have a flat, they use a device that injects a liquid into the tire that gets them down the road to a service station. Interesting info that I didn't know. Did you? And, heck, I learned it on Ted's podcast. While Ted was under his Smart car with his microphone turned off (probably cursing) for a few minutes, he played a song on his podcast about replacing our leaders. So not only did I learn something interesting on his podcast, I was also the recipient of a powerful message.

The power of podcasts is mind boggling. In the early stages (which was really just two years ago), podcasters stepped in to fill a major gap created by a lazy and often times duped mainstream media. Whether they realized it or not, bloggers and podcasters were helping us get back some of our rights lost while mainstream news organizations chose to be government propaganda tools (remember being "embedded" with the troops?) instead of watchdogs. The good news is that the CNNs and MSNBCs of the world are coming around. They're now reading blogs and listening to podcasts. Shoot, they're even eginning to question authority. The forth estate has stepped up to do the job they failed to do the past six years. I believe it was a combination of bloggers and podcasters that helped them find their way back to the truth.

When the fax machine became easier to obtain in the former Soviet Union, when average citizens in China started connecting to the Internet, and when bloggers and podcasters started posting and recording their thoughts for anyone to read and hear, we started questioning those in control. Were they really taking us down the right path? Or is there a better path? The times are changing. Podcasting is one more important tool that will help keep us moving down a sane path instead of blindly following people who may not be looking after our best interests or who may not know the path they are leading us down is the wrong one. Don't get me wrong. I don't believe that every podcaster has sane ideas. Thanks to the Internet, I have the ability to pick and choose what I download. And that gives me comfort. Thanks, Ted, for showing us how to make our Smart horns a little louder.