After setting up a blog to update his family on his ailing father, Alan Levy, a former accountant and telecommunications executive, launched the service in August 2006, as a way to allow audio content creators to communicate directly with their audiences in real time.34
This service allowed up to five callers at a time, although unlimited participants could listen in.5 Shows streamed directly from the host page during live broadcasts, and were archived as podcasts. Previous shows could be streamed, downloaded directly or subscribed to as podcasts via RSS through any podcatcher like Juice, Stitcher or iTunes.67 This service also provided promotional badges and flash player code for placement on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other Social networking sites.89
Cinch allowed anyone to dial a "Cinch number" and record a podcast with a built-in RSS feed without any preregistration or prior setup.
In 2008, Howard Kurtz, in his "Media Notes" column in The Washington Post, wrote of BlogTalkRadio that "The process is nearly idiot-proof," and called it "a populist force in cyberspace."10
Also in 2008, Condé Nast Portfolio referred to BlogTalkRadio as a site that "has become the dominant player in the latest media trend, one that allows anyone with a Web connection to host a talk show on any topic at any time of day. It is the newest form of new media; the audio version of the internet blog."11 In the same article, however, the profitability of the service was called into question as BlogTalkRadio was then operating at a loss.12
In November 2024, BlogTalkRadio emailed its customers to announce that the platform would shut down on January 31, 2025.1314
White, Gary (2007-08-20), "Movie Buffs Go Big Online", The Ledger (Lakeland, FL) http://www.theledger.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2007708290399 ↩
Havenstein, Heather (2007-08-03), "Los Angeles Fire Department all 'a Twitter' over Web 2.0", Computerworld, archived from the original on 2007-11-09 https://web.archive.org/web/20071109072403/http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9028941&intsrc=hm_list ↩
Kurtz, Howard (2008-03-24), "With BlogTalkRadio, the Commentary Universe Expands", The Washington Post https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/23/AR2008032301719.html ↩
McKay, Martha (2007-01-21), "An idea born amid grief: Keeping ties during illness leads to BlogTalkRadio", The Record (Hackensack, NJ), archived from the original on 2007-10-18 At Internet Archive https://web.archive.org/web/20071018172705/http://northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXkyOSZmZ2JlbDdmN3ZxZWVFRXl5NzA2MDc1NSZ5cmlyeTdmNzE3Zjd2cWVlRUV5eTI ↩
Thomasch, Paul (2007-12-27), "Aspiring radio talkers need only a computer & phone", Reuters https://www.reuters.com/article/technology-media-telco-SP-A/idUSN1960594920071231?sp=true ↩
Levine, David (2008-02-26), "All Talk?", Conde Nast Portfolio http://www.portfolio.com/culture-lifestyle/goods/gadgets/2008/02/26/Internet-Talk-Radio?page=0 ↩
"BlogTalkRadio closure - its email to customers". podnews.net. 2024-11-14. Retrieved 2025-06-24. https://podnews.net/article/blogtalkradio-customer-email ↩
Cyrus Webb (2024-11-13). Blogtalkradio is shutting down after 18 years. Here's what we know. Retrieved 2025-06-24 – via YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OMUYtNPHe8k ↩