Podango — a podcast hosting and managing service which launched last month — went into public beta. It means anyone can now directly access the site and apply as a station director.

Podango tries to recruit station directors, who in turn will recruit podcasters for their channels and help recruit advertisers. Station directors manage the channel using an Ajax drag and drop interface.

The podcast service utilizes a revenue sharing model from the advertising money, keeping 30% and sharing 70% with station directors and the included podcasters.

I would think a station director as the one who manage a small podcast network. Podango will provide free hosting and an interface for station management.

The only problem I can immediately see is how to recruit podcasters. Podango are looking for a few things:

• You have an audience. Maybe you have an audience who reads your blog, or you’re a best-selling author, or you just have thousands of very close friends. Great! How many listeners do you think you’ll have to start, realistically? Additionally, how much room does your particular area of interest have for growth? Maybe you’re station is focused on, say, retired hanggliding instructors. How many of them ARE there? (And how many would care to hear your station’s broadcast?)
• You can sell others on your station. By “sell” we mean, you know, convince them that yours is a show they want to be a part of. Who are you selling? Advertisers, for one. While Podango handles plenty of advertisers who will advertise globally, you stand a much better chance of larger sponsorships if you find the businesses that share your target market. You also need to be able to recruit the best podcasters out there. If you’re shy, and don’t have the guts to approach other people… mmm, you’re probably not ready to direct a station.

Unless you have an influence over people who want to start their own podcast or existing podcasters, it is very unlikely that they will join you, do much all the work to publish information and share their revenue with you.

Nevertheless, the concept is very bright, allowing audience to access podcasts in a more topical and managed fashion than a simple categorized directory.

[TechCrunch]
Must read: Podcast Software.

To easily receive updates on podcast and podcasting articles, subscribe to Podcasting Scout today.