If you haven’t heard the podcast, each episode runs about 6 minutes, and combines a short clip from a past show and a few minutes of new commentary from Phil. It’s a great concept, but the result hasn’t been great. The first problem is, the clips are way too short. Longtime fans have probably heard most of these bits over over again, but for newer fans the clips aren’t long enough to be funny. You need to hear the setup, for most of the great lines to really work. The newly added commentary is good, but could be longer and more in-depth.

When the podcast launched, Phil promised three episodes a week. So far there have been 17 episodes in 10 weeks, less than promised, but not bad (considering Phil’s track record).

If you’re a fan of the show, it’s worth checking out. The Phil Hendrie Show “Classic” Podcast on iTunes

Bootlegging Vs. Piracy

In the music world, “bootlegging” and piracy mean two very different things, and I think it also applies to radio. Bootlegging is when fans record and share live concerts; piracy is when people share or sell the “official” releases (albums, singles, videos, concert films, etc). Piracy can hurt the artists ability to be paid for their work, bootlegging has been proven over and over again to help the artist promote their work. That is why many artists actively promote bootlegging, and the vast majority support it. Bootlegs are good for artists, because it’s a great way for their most loyal fans to share and promote them for free without cannibalizing their “commercial” products. It also makes it very clear what is permitted and not permitted.

U2 is the biggest and most commercially successful band on the planet, and they allow fans to tape and share shows everywhere ( including YouTube), but they go after people who share their “commercial” product. This distinction earns U2 ( and other artists with the same policy) tremendous goodwill, because fans see it as “fair”. Visit any U2 forum, and it isn’t the bands management shouting down pirates, it is the fans. For many fans, buying the album is a way of thanking the artist for their work (goodwill). I hear from people all the time, you tell me, they have Phil Hendrie Show audio collections that dwarf the backstage pass, but they subscribe to “support” Phil.

The “Phil Hendrie Show Flashback” podcast is not piracy. It is a small sample of the “bootleg” or fan recorded material that is out there. The podcast always avoided material that was available commercially on the site, and none of the the audio was taken from Phil’s site. It also gave Phil full credit for the work, and promoted where people could find the official product. Fan created YouTube videos are also not piracy. Almost everyone I’ve seen, was short, and contained a link to Phil’s site.

There are sites out there, that have every Phil Hendrie Show available (including last nights) and they don’t credit or link back to Phil, that is piracy.

Learn From Past Mistakes

The music and TV industry fought piracy for years by calling their customers “thieves” and suing them. They also made the “official” content hard to get and use. This didn’t work, piracy only got bigger. If you think about it for a minute, its pretty obvious why: Running commercials about stealing and filing high profile lawsuits, draws attention to all the free content out there. (Many people discovered “file sharing” sites because of this tactic.) You also lose the battle for “hearts and minds” when you call fans thieves, and sue single mothers who download a few songs. And you encourage people to get pirated material, when it’s better quality and easier to use then the commercial product. When I got my first iPod, I had to illegally download mp3s of albums I already owned, because of the copy protection. Copy protection doesn’t stop the pirates, it just makes the product harder for your customer to use.

The other issue with piracy is that there are no borders on the internet. There are many countries in the world with no copyright laws or no enforcement. The lawsuits almost always fail to shut down pirate sites, and when they are successful, ten more spring up. Technology is also making it easier and easier to share stuff anonymously with large numbers of people you don’t know. The reality is, you can’t stop piracy. Phil Hendrie is one of the few who still believes he can. He will eventually reach this conclusion on his own, but it will cost him a lot of money and fans in the process.

So what does this mean? Is intellectual property dead? Will artists lose all ability to profit from their work? Luckily, the answer is no. There is a really simple solution, make piracy irrelevant. TV piracy is way down, because the TV industry is starting to make it irrelevant. They did this by simply making the content available. They still have a long way to go, but you can now watch a lot of TV on sites like Hulu for free. Customers are happy, because it’s easy and free. The networks are happy, because they control it, and they selling very lucrative ad deals.

Here’s how Phil makes piracy a non-issue quickly and for free.

Make the distinction between “bootleg” and piracy. All Phil has to say is “all audio from this website is my “commercial” product and is off limits for sharing online. He could also add that “bootlegs” or fan recordings from October 1999 to the present are also off limits.

He then sets an official “bootlegging” policy. For example, people can use “fan recorded” audio that is not available on the site for non-commercial purposes. He could add as many rules he deems necessary. For example, must have a disclaimer that this is “fan recorded, edited, material”, must give him credit for the material, must link back to his site, etc, etc.

He makes all the audio on his site downloadable, and makes sure its unedited and fully tagged. All of the audio should also be made available as an actual podcast.

These three simple things completely eliminate the issue. The fans would instantly be back on his side. All the recent negativity towards Phil is about the history of broken promises, and his attack on a community of fans.

It would also make the piracy of his show irrelevant, because his material would be better quality and easier to access.

TRN-FM’s The Phil Hendrie Show’s new affiliates include:  KTNI, Denver, CO; WBCN, Charlotte, NC; WQRT, Cincinnati, OH; WKRS, Chicago, IL; KKAT, Salt Lake City, UT; KPWT, San Antonio, TX; WAMT, Orlando, FL; WLRS,  Louisville, KY; KJLL, Tucson, AZ; KJZN, Fresno, CA; WMCR and WFBL simulcast from Syracuse, NY; WNBU, Greenville, NC; WAVH, Mobile, AL; KIOV, Boise, ID; WPLZ, Chattanooga, TN; WNRR, Augusta, GA; KKFT, Reno, NV; WZAN, Portland, ME; KBBO, Yakima, WA; WTBC, Tuscaloosa, AL; KZYM, Joplin, MO and WWJB, Brooksville, FL.

“Phil is the master of satire and always delivers a pay off, which brings perspective on important issues of the day. He truly is a genius at his art form,” says TRN-FM CEO, Mark Masters, “There’s an enormous talk radio audience at night that not only wants the news and information, they want the explanation.”

The Phil Hendrie Show was the #1 ranked talk show in its daypart for over two years in LA.  The show became nationally syndicated in 1999 and was heard on over 100 stations around the country prior to Hendrie taking a brief hiatus from radio to pursue television and movie projects.

Read the entire article here Radio Business Report/Television Business Report – Voice of the Broadcasting Industry.

Hendrie honed his riotously funny radio theater of the mind on WIOD (AM 610), then went to Los Angeles, where he became nationally syndicated. He gave up radio in 2006 to act and do voices on shows such as King of the Hill andFuturama. This wasn’t enough to keep him busy so he returned to radio with a general talk show the following year.

Now he is back to his old hilarious ways on more than 100 stations, including WIOD, WINZ (AM 940) and WBZT (AM 1230).

Read the entire article  We’re getting our Phil: Radio host returns to South Florida airwaves — South Florida Sun-Sentinel.com.

Some facts about the podcast.

There were 247 episodes in the first year.

The Top 5 Characters in terms of the number of times they were featured are:

David G. Hall (32 times)
Bobbie Dooley (31 times)
Bud Dickman (26 times)
Harvey Wireman (20 times)
Lloyd Bonafide (18 times)

The podcast has been download over 200,000 times since I started trying to track it. The number only includes the iTunes downloads so its probably a lot higher.

It’s getting over 2200 downloads a day right now on iTunes.

Again, thanks for listening and feel free to make suggestions.

I’m working on a few enhancements right now and trying to put together one really cool feature. So stay tuned.

The Phil Hendrie Show Flashback Podcast

This is almost like voting. If you don’t go over there and let them know what you think, then you don’t get to complain about the new show anymore.

Here is the link.

http://www.facebook.com/topic.php?topic=9339&post=44622&uid=34356917146#post44622

I have also set up a page for the flashback podcast, add your self as a fan so we can send a message to Phil that the original show is important too.

Here are two pictures that show you exactly where to join the group and where to post your opinion about the show.

You can get more behind the scenes videos and daily video highlights with a backstage pass at philhendrieshow.com

Here is the link for the flashback website http://newphilhendrieshow.com/flashback/

Subscribe via iTunes (Automatic mp3 download)

Subscribe with RSS Readers and other Podcast software. HERE

To get behind the scenes info and updates from Hendrie himself, follow the RealPhilHendrie Link

To get updates from NewPhilHendrieShow.com and the latest Flashback podcasts, follow PhilHendrieShow Link

To get all the Phil Hendrie News, follow PhilHendrieNews Link