Marty Riemer and Jodi Brothers

On April 1^st, Marty Riemer entered the brave new world of podcasting.

The longtime Seattle radio personality didn’t voluntarily switch from traditional radio to the podcast sphere. He found himself unceremoniously booted from KMTT-The Mountain last October. But Riemer, along with on-air partner Jodi Brothers, is now embracing the chance to experiment with an emerging medium that he believes could one day completely replace commercial radio.

“The future of radio is podcasting,” Riemer said.

While podcasting may represent the next frontier of radio, the largest question remains unanswered. Can podcasters make money?

So far, Riemer and Brothers haven’t tried. Riemer figures he needs to build his audience to 100,000 downloads a month before he seeks show sponsors or charges his audience a small amount to subscribe to the show.

Since the April 1^st launch, Riemer and Brothers’ audience has grown to 45,000 podcast downloads a month. About 200 people watch video and audio of the show live on www.martyriemer.com, and the others download the podcast through itunes or the show web site for later listening.

Riemer’s journey to podcasting started in October, when he was called into his supervisor’s office upon arriving for work that morning at The Mountain. The station told Riemer he was being let go and should gather his personal belongings before he was escorted out of the building. In the parking garage, Riemer ran into Brothers, and realized his on-air partner had been dumped too.

Riemer and Brothers headed together from the station to Alki Beach. Sitting on the beach, they decided at once that they weren’t going to leave Seattle and they weren’t going to split up. They both knew how hard it is to find someone you have true on-air chemistry with.

“Jodi and I had a ‘Come to Jesus’ with each other,” Riemer said. “We decided we weren’t going to just go away and die.”

Riemer and Brothers recognized the power of publicity. In years past, Riemer said, stations could fire on-air personalities on a Friday and never speak their name again the following week. Riemer and Brothers, on the other hand, already had a long list of friends on Facebook. Though The Mountain’s management immediately changed the password on the show’s Facebook page, Riemer and Brothers broadcast their firing on their own pages. Their friend counts shot up as listeners got word of the dismissal.

“Seattle is very loyal to local personalities,” Riemer said. “It’s why Jean Enerson is 120 years old and still on the air.”

Riemer and Brothers, who’d already proven success in throwing parties and big events, decided to tackle that area first. Riemer used one of his severance checks to fund a party at Elliott’s in late October for hundreds of Marty Riemer show loyalists.

In January, Riemer and Brothers put on The Marty Riemer Funny Festival, a comedy event similar to the one they’d hosted for years through The Mountain. They advertised the event over Facebook.

Riemer then took off on a family road trip to the southwest and decided he’d incorporate a Phoenix seminar on the evolution of media into his itinerary. At the seminar, the keynote speaker said podcasting will likely replace traditional radio. Riemer was sold.

“My whole career, I’ve had to rely on corporate infrastructure to do what I do,” Riemer. “Podcasting felt so right.”

He returned to Seattle, converted his basement to a podcasting studio, and convinced a somewhat skeptical Brothers that they should give daily podcasting a try. She worried that guests wouldn’t take them seriously.

To both Riemer and Brothers’ delight, the opposite has proven true. In the first couple days of the show, Washington attorney general Rob McKenna agreed to come on the show. Over the past two months, The Marty Riemer Show has hosted comedians and musicians in the basement studio, including a reunion of rock group Heart.

While the banter and guest roster hark back to Riemer and Brothers’ time at The Mountain, they’re finding podcasting is a different ballgame. For one, they have to wear more hats, since they can’t rely on support staff to pull off a show. During a podcast recording, Riemer can be found pulling up audio clips, switching the camera angle he uses to live broadcast the program, and interviewing the guests.

Riemer and Brothers are also playing with length. They set out to make The Marty Riemer Show a half hour, or about the length of an average commute in the Seattle area. They found interviews and in studio music sessions running long, and Riemer’s guessing the average length may end up closer to an hour.

For now, the Marty Riemer Show remains in a trial period. Both Brothers and Riemer can still collect unemployment. Brothers’ husband works as a commercial contractor, and Riemer said he and his wife always live cheap. So far, the show is a half-time gig, with work wrapping up around noon. Brothers and Riemer aren’t panicking about finances – yet.

“If in a year we’re not making money, we might have to pull the plug,” Riemer said.