Broadcasting involves production and distribution, whatever the medium - radio, tv, internet, whatever. There's always been a certain dynamic between producers and distributors. According to Wired News: Podcasting Roils NPR Fund Raising that dynamic is changing rapidly.

Podcast distribution of public radio programming has upset some local public radio stations: it could eat into their fund raising, many think. If you can get your favorite program direct from the 'net, then maybe you don't need your local station for a delivery vehicle anymore. Effectively the producers can bypass the station and distribute straight to the web savvy listener.

I can't see this is making a huge dent in local fund raising, at least not yet. Podcasting, RSS and all that stuff is still pretty well unknown among the general public. But the day might come when it could.

But the other side of this is the immense distribution opportunities the internet opens to content providers. Why settle for a tiny potential audience in Podunk when you can open up your programs or blend of programming to the world?

We'll have to see where this will take us. But for now the rock seems to be rolling down the producers hill and gathering momentum.