By Martin Miller, Times Staff Writer

ADAM CURRY may be known to new media types as the “Podfather,” but these days the former MTV VJ and disc jockey talks more like a spokesman for the chamber of commerce.

While striding through his hipster, post-industrial South of Market office space where some of his 40 employees are lost in a computer or ear-bud-induced haze, Curry, who’s rarely at a loss for words, explained why he and his new company set up shop here and his pro-growth philosophy.

“I love doing business in America,” said Curry, who was born in Virginia, grew up in Amsterdam, and today splits his time between London and the Bay Area. “I’ve lived in welfare states — Netherlands is a welfare state, the U.K. is moving toward it. You can’t fire anyone in a welfare state. But Americans are motivated. They want to work.”

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The two hosts of Mommycast – Gretchen Vogelzang and Paige Heninger – were on my podcast panel at Syndicate yesterday. Later, they generously gave me 45 minutes for an interview. It wasn’t hard to see why their program has been successful.

The secret of a co-hosted program is chemistry. The Mommycast formula is straight out of the comedy team mold. Gretchen is the reserved one. She’s had a 25-year career in dance instruction and has owned her own dance studio. She has that Germanic disciplined demeanor that belies a planner

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Adam Curry, a former MTV VJ and one of podcasting’s inventors, sits at a conference table at his offices, the PodShow Network, in San Francisco’s South Park neighborhood. He is dressed in dark slacks, a black-and-white striped button-down and his famous mane of blond hair. He fusses over a Marantz recorder, trying to make it work with two microphones.

“I’m telling you, this is not going to work. It’s a unit thing,” he says to engineer Sam Levin. “Will you plug it in already?”

There is some more back and forth, then Curry reaches for help.

“Oh, don’t look at the manual,” Levin says. “It’s like stopping and asking for directions.”

Curry gives him a look and laughs before thumbing through the instructions.

The moment is thick with irony — as if Curry needs to prove that he’s comfortable working without a roadmap. He is, after all, betting the farm on the future of podcasting, a medium with no directions, no instructions, no manual.

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Michael Butler, PodShow podcaster from the Rock and Roll Geek Show and the Rock and Roll Geek Indiecast, recently appeared on the CBC (Canadian Broadcast Company) Program titled ‘End of Radio’. We have a clip from the show for you to enjoy here.

Check out The End: Radio (at CBC) Website Here

Recently, Time Magazine published their Pick Of The Podcasts article which is a guide for the podcast perplexed, with pointers on some of the most popular shows. They covered popular podcast genres such as news, music, comedy, travel and more bringing to light some of the best podcasts in those genres.

In the article they highlited Adam Curry’s PodFinder as well describing it as, “The brainchild of Adam (The Podfather) Curry, who created the Web’s first podcast, this is a sampling of shows on subjects as diverse as winemaking and Catholic philosophy.”

Check outTime.com for the whole article or get the magazine from your local bookstore.

Ron Bloom, CEO of PodShow, will be speaking tomorrow (May 4, 2006) from 3:15pm – 4:00pm PST at the OnHollywood CEO round table discussion on user-generated media. The live feed will be available here: http://www.goingon.com/tekftp/client.html.

Those interested in podcasting and PodShow should find this to be quite interesting.

About the Event:
AlwaysOn’s annual digital media and entertainment market for executives is May 2nd through 4th at the Roosevelt Hotel in Hollywood California. OnHollywood 2006 is where cutting-edge technology CEOs from all over the planet converge on Hollywood and mix it up with the entertainment and media establishment.

Consumer Generated Media: What Is It Worth?
Moderator: Howard Kaushansky, CEO, Umbria
Ron Bloom, CEO, PodShow
Cynthia Francis, CEO, Reality Digital (Parent Company of ClipShack)
Mary Hodder, CEO & Founder, Dabble
Mika Salmi, Founder & CEO, Atom Entertainment
Steven Starr, CEO, Revver

>> Full Event Schedule Here
>> Live Feed Here

UPDATE:
The time is 3:15 PM – 4:00 PM not 4:00PM as previously stated.

Most-Promising Technology Ventures Will Be Honored at the Red Herring Spring 2006 CEO Summit

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(MARKET WIRE)–Apr 5, 2006 — The Red Herring announced that it has narrowed the field of contenders for its annual “Red Herring 100 North America” list to 200 companies. Well over 1,000 privately held technology companies submitted to this year’s edition of the prestigious award, giving evidence to the invigorated innovative and entrepreneurial strength of the technology ecosystem.

The names of the 200 companies short-listed as finalists for the “Red Herring 100 North America” can also be found online at http://www.redherring.com.

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From NBC5i.com

The women are two friends who have seven children between them and share so many life experiences that they decided to turn their friendship into a business venture called “Mommycast.”

“Paige and I were spending 45 minutes to an hour on the phone twice a week anyway. All we’re really doing is recording those conversations,” said Volgelzang.

“Mommycast” is a weekly Podcast you can download from the Internet and listen to anytime, anywhere. It’s especially convenient for moms, who rarely get uninterrupted free time.

Read the Full Story and Watch The Video Interview Now

Addressing such topics as hypnosis, Jungian psychology, cognitive science and gestalt therapy, PodShow Podcaster David Van Nuys of the Shrink Rap Radio Podcast has impacted a listener in Baghdad, Iraq. So much in fact that the listener contacted Dr. Dave via phone to discuss the living situation in Iraq during these war-torn times. They also talked about the strategies he is using to deal with the stresses of his current situation and his future.

A story was written by Sonoma State University, where Dr. Dave works as a professor, and is available for more information here.

Find out more about Shrink Rap Radio from his website.

The OnHollywood 100 is an annual power list of the top digital media and entertainment companies. The OnHollywood 100 are evaluated against the following five criteria: innovatioin, market potential, customer adoption, media buzz, and investor value creation. The list consists solely of private companies at all phases of development, from start-up to late stage. The winners of this competition will be honored at OnHollywood, featured in the Spring issue of AlwaysOn print blogozine, and profiled on www.alwayson-network.com.