Aural history
耳中历史
Podcasts got their name 20 years ago this month
二十年前的二月，播客这个名字诞生了
A once-fringe medium has gone mainstream, but many wonder what the future holds
曾经的边缘媒体已经成为主流，但许多人想知道未来会怎样
IN FEBRUARY 2004 Ben Hammersley, a British journalist, noticed a new kind of digital media: “downloadable radio” produced by geeky amateurs or public broadcasters. Mr Hammersley suggested a few names for it. Fortunately “audioblogging” and “GuerillaMedia” did not catch on. But a third did: podcasting, a portmanteau of “iPod” and “broadcasting”.
二〇〇四年二月，英国记者本·哈默斯利（Ben Hammersley）注意到了一种新型数字媒体：由极客业余爱好者或公共广播公司制作的“可下载的广播”。哈默斯利给它起了几个名字。还好，“音频博客”（audioblogging）和“游击媒体”（GuerillaMedia）这两个名字没有流行起来。但是第三个名字火了：播客（podcasting），一个由“iPod”和“broadcasting”组成的合成词。
- geeky 愚蠢的；无能的；痴迷于电脑的
- portmanteau 两格式旅行衣箱；综合的、复合式的
At a tech conference the next year, Steve Jobs, Apple’s boss, asked how many people in the audience had heard of podcasting, which he described as “‘Wayne’s World’ for radio”. Not a single person raised their hand. But today, 20 years after they got their name, podcasts are mainstream. Around 43% of American internet users and 30% of Britons listen to at least one a month (including some from The Economist). You can open Apple, Spotify and, increasingly, YouTube to find some 4m shows by everyone from ex-convicts to duchesses. Podcasting has turned anyone with a microphone into a talking head who can talk straight into people’s earbuds.
在次年的一次科技会议上，苹果公司的老板乔布斯问听众中有多少人听说过播客，他形容播客是“广播界的‘反斗智多星’（Wayne’s World）”。没有一个人举手。但是今天，播客这个名字诞生20年之后，它成了主流。大约43%的美国网民和30%的英国网民每月至少听一次播客（包括本刊发布的一些）。你可以打开Apple播客、Spotify，以及越来越多地从YouTube上找到大约400万个节目，主播形形色色，从公爵夫人到前科犯什么人都有。有了播客，只要有麦克风，你就能成为在别人耳机里说话的主播。
- 《反斗智多星》（Wayne’s World）是一部于1992年2月14日在美国上映的喜剧片，讲述了韦恩与加思共同在地窖里主持有线电视节目中发生的一系列搞笑事件的故事。
