Is online talk radio replacing the conventional AM and FM radio? Partly maybe but not totally. It’s true that some new and existing talk show programs are moving to the Internet at a fast rate to reach a wider audience. And the good news -- online talk radio is growing and its future looks bright.

A new Arbitron study reveals that approximately 37 million Americans have listened to Internet radio just recently and about 20 million of them are listening to their favorite radio programs online. GlobalTalkRadio.com, the largest online talk radio today, confirms the growing trend in Internet radio. The station’s founder and CEO Kevin Dawson said GlobalTalkRadio had a 168 percent growth in traffic in 2006 and the trend is increasing based on their initial statistics for 2007. He expressed enthusiasm about this development saying “we really may be starting a new age of broadcasting unlike anything seen since radio inventor Guglielmo Marconi made his first radio signal in 1895.

GlobalTalkRadio has made it its mission to contribute to the development of radio and broadcasting. The station believes that online radio has many benefits. For one thing, listeners will be able to hear their programs on-demand every day of every week. Guests who are lucky to be invited on established programs will also be able to reach a target audience who are likely to listen to them. Meanwhile, for people who want to host their own programs, they will be pioneers of this latest media that has a global reach. Another advantage of Internet radio is that hosts as well as their guests can expound on issues being discussed with no time constraints unlike in the traditional radio which allows guests to say their piece for only a few minutes.

Podcasting is also a new trend in online talk radio. It’s actually subscribing to audio content that automatically downloads to your personal computer. Currently, podcasts cover radio programs and archived lectures or shows which allow listeners to catch up with what they have missed. Podcasting is gaining popularity and its growth in the near future is very likely. More people are expected to discover this because it’s free and easy to use.

Many organizations have actually explored this medium streaming audio and even video of their events. They have made their company events available on podcast enabling their staff, who missed those events, to still get first-hand information on what took place. Some publications, on the other hand, have added podcasts as a supplement to their written content online. An example of their podcasts would be interviews in connection with the articles published on their site.

Podcastblaster is a site specializing in all aspect of podcasting and provides an extensive podcast directory covering many topics including talk radio podcasts.