Great article from our friends north of the border on the expansion of podcasting. It begins:

University professors do it, but worry their students will stop coming to class, and politicians hope for a popularity boost because of it. Tourists rely on it to give them directions and prevent them from looking like, well, tourists. Last Christmas was Queen Elizabeth’s first time, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration just started doing it to alert the public to drug safety advisories. As of this month, CBC Radio will be doing a lot more of it.

As podcasting becomes more mainstream, will we see early adopters become frustrated, or become excited about the increasing audience? Probably a little of both… even though broadcasters are squeezing a lot of the early indie podcasts off the top 10 charts at iTunes, I think competition is always a good thing. The real question for NPR might be, will people stop listening to their radios and get their programming in a place where the annual pledge drive can’t reach them, or is very easy to skip past?