Updated February 6th 2005, Sydney Australia 

CASTING, (through streets) BROAD AND NARROW Broadcasting is the product of sending voice or vision to the masses. Then there's narrowcasting, which traditionally means casting to smaller audiences, or more demograpic-sensitive audiences, such as lets say, a community radio station or a station dedicated specifically to jazz. But narrowcasting has taken on a whole new meaning in this day of an explosion in communications. Lets think outside the circle. Everyone who owns a mobile phone is a narrowcaster. When we talk on a mobile, we are sending our voice over the air. When we send a text message via a phone, we are narrowcasting in a one-on-one way. Mobile phones have indeed revolutionised the way we live. Back in 1994 I was an early adopter. Early adopters are people who buy the latest thing at 3 times the price. There are many reasons why people do this. Those into technology, as I am, do it because we can not bear to think we're missing out on the latest greatest widget. Because its a new product, we pay dearly for our obsession. In 1994 I had a mobile phone. I needed a wheelbarrow to carry it around and by todays standards the phone was downright ugly - not to mention enormous. But in 1994 I was able to call people while walking down the street. I loved it and felt I was indeed part of the brave new world. Others thought I was a wanker. That's another price you pay when you're an early adopter. So there I am driving around Sydney in my little car, narrowcasting to all my friends, who would scream "Are you really in your car? Wow!" "Yes!" I would retort with elevated voice, because of the appauling quality of the "line". It was not long before virtually everyone I knew had a mobile phone - and these little devices changed our lives. MOBILE PHONES AND HOW THEY CHANGE OUR LIVES Scenario pre mobile phones: You phone your friend from your landline at work and organise to meet her for drinks at 8pm in the Marlboro Bar. You arrive and she's not there. You wait half an hour and then use the public phone to call her to find out where she is. She doesn't answer her home phone because she is sitting in her parked car in the pouring rain. Her car has broken down. You're pissed off and go home. Scenario post mobile phones: You organise to meet your friend for drinks at 8 oclock at the Marlboro Bar. You're in the cab listening to the driver moaning about the bad weather. Your mobile phone rings. Its her. Her car has broken down and she tells you she's on O'Connell street, waiting for the AA (Automobile Association) to come and fix it. You redirect the Cab driver to go to her car on O'Connell Street. On the way you drop off at the Off Licence and grab a bottle of red. When you get there, you hop into her car, and open the wine. The rain is pelting down and the AA man never arrives because it would appear every car in the city has broken down because of the torrid weather. You both sit in the car for most of the night, talking and getting drunk and falling in love. You get married and have 17 children. See what happend there? Not only did I show you how narrowcasting through a mobile phone can change your life, but I added a bit of romance to it too. Shucks. 15 to 25 year olds are the biggest narrowcasters of all. If we could grab the words from all the text messages flying through the air around the globe at any one moment, it would possibly add up to the sum of all the books printed in the world. Or maybe not, considering the english language has been so brutally abused and shortened! "You" has become "U". You get my drift. UNINTENTIONAL NARROWCASTING Mobile phones can also be very dangerous. Here's an example. I was working in a job I hated in North Sydney back in 1997. My girlfriend drove me to work one morning. We stopped off at a cafe to have coffee before I faced my horrid day. We both had mobile phones sitting on the table in the cafe. My mobile phone was aumatically forwarded to my office phone. My girlfriend had a one-button preset to call me from her phone. So, we're sitting there having coffee, and my girlfriend accidentally hits that preset button. It calls my phone, which diverts to my office phone. All this is happening without our awareness. Someone in the office answers my phone, only to hear our full conversation in the cafe. I am telling my girlfriend how much I hate this job, even naming people in there that I could not stand! HOW EMBARRASSING! I left that job two weeks later. There is so much I could write about mobile phones and how this form of narrowcasting has changed our lives, but I have to go. Someone's calling me. WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ALERTED WHEN THIS SITE IS UPDATED? Just email me here and I'll send you an alert when the site is updated

ARCHIVE 26: AUSTRALIAN TV BROADCASTS OUTFOXED!
ARCHIVE 25: THE BBC GO CHEAP ON THE TSUNAMI RELIEF FUND CONCERT
ARCHIVE 24: TV COMMERCIAL CAUSES OUTRAGER ON AUSTRALIAN TV
ARCHIVE 23: AUSTRALIAN MEDIA GETS TOGETHER TO RAISE MONEY FOR THE TSUNAMI VICTIMS
ARCHIVE 22: IT'S CHRISTMAS AGAIN...AND AUSTRALIAN MEDIA DOES A RUNNER!
ARCHIVE 21: I DON'T WANT MCDONALDS - I'LL HAVE 2FM INSTEAD
ARCHIVE 20: LIGHTHOUSES, TURNTABLES AND RATS!
ARCHIVE 19: ALAN JONES OUT-TAKES
ARCHIVE 18: SOME SAY..THE TRUTH ABOUT FOX NEWS
ARCHIVE 17: MEDIA AND POLITICS
ARCHIVE 16: THE MEDIA AND ITS LIES
ARCHIVE 15: SMOKING AND THE MEDIA
ARCHIVE 14: A SUPERSTAR IN YOUR OWN JAIL
ARCHIVE 13: INTERNET RADIO
ARCHIVE 12: OZ MEDIA - YOU HAVE TO BE AUSSIE, EH, MATE!
ARCHIVE 11: REALITY BITES!ARCHIVE
ARCHIVE 10: LETS NOT CRY OVER SPILT MILK - OR SHOULD WE?
ARCHIVE 9: Q10 WHO?
ARCHIVE 8: FREE RADIO CANNOT DIE. JAMES JOYCE NEVER DID!
ARCHIVE 7: IT'S ALL ABOUT QUALITY MY FRIENDS!
ARCHIVE 6: COMREG CLOSES PIRATES IN DUBLIN
ARCHIVE 5: MURDOCH: DON'T TOUCH THAT DIAL
ARCHIVE 4: FALLING INTO THE PAST!
ARCHIVE 3:-PETER MADISON
ARCHIVE 2: PRE-SUPERPIRATES
ARCHIVE 1: BROADCASTING TO THE WORLD

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