I wish I could catch the incredible array of spoken-word content on CBC Radio One and various talk radio stations. But with travel, work, family and other day-to-day demands, the thought of being able to recline in a La-Z-Boy and listen intently to a one-hour drama or documentary is laughable. This has always been my pet peeve with radio. If you can’t listen to the program when it’s broadcast, you’re plumb out of luck.

When the late great Peter Gzowski was host of Morningside, a friend of mine, Gerry Bramm, would use a cassette recorder (remember those?) to tape The Best of Morningside, a shorter version of the regular show that aired weeknights. Gerry rigged up a small mechanical timer to turn on a radio and cassette recorder at the same time each weeknight. Everything had to be precisely preset so that the next day, he could pop the tape in his car deck and listen to the entire recording while driving to work.

I loved Gzowski and admired Gerry’s resolve but had no interest in trying to replicate his elaborate recording set-up. I couldn’t tolerate the hassle, even though there was plenty that I wanted to listen to.

But that’s all about to change and soon, I’ll be listening to my heart’s content. It’s not that my schedule has changed; radio technology has.

During the past couple of months, I’ve been playing with an innovative radio called Radio Shark from Griffin Technology. My friend Gerry would love it. It plugs into a computer and is controlled by software. I can program it to turn on at any time, tune in to the station I preselect and record the broadcast onto my computer’s hard drive.

Radio Shark can jump from station to station and record different shows. It is the audio equivalent of a personal video recorder. Later I listen to the content through my computer’s speakers or transfer the recordings to my iPod. I love it since I can listen to my favourite radio programs anytime, anywhere. It gives me much more control.

Griffin Technology’s gizmo may be the only device in the marketplace that will record radio to my computer’s hard drive, but as far as new radio technology goes, it’s not a lone shark. The satellite radio providers in the U.S. have unveiled receivers that can also record the satellite’s signal for later listening, and Samsung recently sent me an MP3 player that will record radio from its built-in FM tuner. (Unfortunately, the device can’t be set up in advance to record a show later on.)

As welcome as these products are, I see them as stop-gap solutions. I have to know in advance that a program is interesting and set up the software accordingly. And with Radio Shark, my computer has to be in the right place at the right time. If my PowerBook and I are in Paris on Saturday, the Radio Shark back home in Toronto can’t record CBC’s Quirks & Quarks.

A much better arrangement would be for radio broadcasters to make their spoken-word content available as audio files downloadable from the Internet. Just as I download music, I should be able to download the BBC’s evening newscast. This is just beginning to happen, which is great for listeners, although it’s a development that causes mixed emotions for many broadcasters. When the Internet is factored into the equation, a radio station with five competitors in a small Canadian community suddenly finds itself competing with thousands of other stations around the world.

Since Apple’s iPod dominates the portable audio player market, it’s not surprising that Apple’s iTunes is the leader in podcasting. From out of nowhere, the service now offers more than 3,000 podcasts organized by creator and topic. If I like a particular program, iTunes will download it for me when new content is posted on the Internet – for free.

Again, depending on whether you are a listener or a broadcaster, the situation gets better or worse. A growing number of newspapers and magazines are starting to convert their content to downloadable audio files, so that people who don’t have time to read can still get their favourite publication’s version of current events. Instead of listening to the morning radio program during the drive to work, you can now listen to The New York Times.

The upshot is that new technologies and personal audio players are nurturing a mini-renaissance of the spoken word, an exciting new development that is music to my ears. 

This will be Don Tapscott’s final Technology column. Stay tuned for expanded essays and features in 2006.

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Don Tapscott is a leading international consultant, author and speaker on information technology in society and business and the CEO of strategy company New Paradigm. Visit www.nplc.com or write to him at dtapscott@enroutemag.net.