Senate Republicans To Offer Weekly 'Podcast'

Senate Republicans To Offer Weekly 'Podcast'

Popular Web Technology Will Give Constituents a New Way to Stay Informed

HARRISBURG, Pa., June 20 /PRNewswire/ -- State Senate Majority Leader David J. Brightbill (R-Lebanon) announced today that the Senate Republican Caucus has begun offering a weekly "podcast" on its website to expand its coverage of news affecting the lives of Pennsylvanians.

The first program, now available at http://www.pasenategop.com/, features Sen. Rob Wonderling (R-24), chairman of the Senate Communications and Technology Committee, discussing his legislation to repeal the gross receipts tax on wireless phone service.

"Podcasting is a great new technology, and our caucus will use it to help keep constituents informed," said Sen. Brightbill's chief of staff, Erik Arneson.

A podcast is essentially a radio program that's broadcast over the web, but because it's in MP3 format, listeners can play it whenever they want -- either on their home computer or on an MP3 player, such as an iPod or a Dell DJ. Each week's podcast will address legislation before the Senate and issues of importance to Pennsylvanians.

"Podcasting will improve our ability to provide in-depth analysis, up-to- date information, and insights from individual members about crucial topics affecting people and communities around the Commonwealth," Arneson said.

Podcasts use RSS (Really Simple Syndication) feeds that make it easy for web users to access news and information by allowing them to view the latest headlines and summaries from their favorite sites in one place, called a "feed reader" or "news aggregator."

RSS feeds also can be viewed on XML-compatible devices such as a cell phone, pager, or handheld computer. This same technology is what allows podcasts to be downloaded to audio devices or home computers, Arneson noted.

"Many news organizations, blogs, and other web sites are now using RSS feeds, making it more convenient than ever for people to stay up-to-date on topics that are important to them," Arneson said. "It's revolutionizing the way information is disseminated, and we want our members to be at the front- end of that."

News releases on the Senate Republican website will also be available via RSS feeds in the near future.

To start receiving podcasts from the Senate Republican Caucus, enter the following address (URL) in your web-based feed reader (such as My Yahoo!, My MSN, Bloglines, etc.) or news aggregator: http://www.pasenategop.com/podcast.xml.

More information is available at http://www.pasenategop.com/.

Source: Pennsylvania Senate Republican Communications

CONTACT: Erik Arneson, +1-717-787-5708

Web site: http://www.pasenategop.com/

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