Podcasting has been growing steadily for over a decade and extends far beyond the top handful of public-radio shows. Their needs are not everyone’s needs, they don’t represent everyone, and many podcasters would not consider their goals an “advancement” of the medium.
Fascinating debate. See also Upgrade #88 and Upgrade #89 on this for a detailed discussion by people who are professionally publishing and marketing podcasts. (and who all don’t like what was proposed in that NYT article (for good reason, I might add))