I don’t normally comment on individual IT Conversations shows here on my blog, and it’s even rarer for me to take exception to what one of our guests has to say, but I found Rob Greenlee’s interview with Mark Ramsey of Mercury Radio Research so fascinating that I can’t help myself. In less than 45 minutes Mark managed to highlight almost everything that big-media broadcasting doesn’t understand about participatory media. I don’t want to pick on Mark, who I’ve never met and who is probably very good at what he does, but some of his quotes are true classics of a way of thinking that will ultimately be the demise of traditional large-scale media. Consider, the following from this show:

“[Podcasts should be] original, unique and broad-based, compelling content…Star content is what drives everything…If I podcasted with any zeal…my greatest hope and desire would be that I would be discovered by radio and put on a radio station or a network that has reach and distribution. That’s what it’s all about.”

This guy needs to read about the long tail and get a clue what makes most of us tick.

“Just because you can do desktop publishing on your laser printer doesn’t mean you’re going to replace the local newspaper.”

Don’t be too sure about that!

“Even the worst TV network doesn’t…take voluntary contributions from the audience.”

Maybe they should re-think that strategy. Listen to Rob Curley and Dan Gillmor.