GRAND RAPIDS ? A veteran journalist has teamed with a social media whiz to create F7Studios, an audio and video podcasting production company that is working with established content providers to create channels to offer unique news, information and educational programming on the Internet.

Mike Brennan, Editor & Publisher of MITechNews.Com, a veteran business technology writer who has worked for more than three decades at newspapers and trade news publications, is joined by Jason Johnson, multimedia producer, technical director, and sometimes co-host. Johnson previously launched Helicopterhead Media, which produces audio and video for the web. Together they have launched F7Studios.Com

.

F7Studio?s first channel is MITechNews Update, the podcast of a radio newscast that appears each Saturday at 4:50 pm on the Internet Advisor, as heard on WJR 760 AM in Detroit, and on the Michigan Talk Radio Network.

A second channel is in development for noted Cybersecurity expert Richard Stiennon, who not only writes for Forbes magazine, but also has more than 30,000 followers on his Twitter account. The Stiennon on Security channel will debut in the fourth quarter of 2013.

?These are several other channels in development now with law firms, radio shows, and on-line educational content providers that we hope to announce shortly,? Brennan said. ?We are planning to have about a dozen or so channels by the end of this year, and several dozen by the end of next.?

Programming is currently tilted towards technology and business topics, Brennan said. Going forward, though, channels will be developed in a host of other areas. F7Studios is actively seeking to partner with any established content providers that have an audience base, but have not yet optimized their content for podcasting.



?Our secret sauce is we have a virtual studio with a real engineer in the middle, my business partner Jason, who will offer content professionals an easier way to build an audio podcasting channel in that he will manage all of the heavy lifting in regard to the production, distribution and promotion and tracking side of things, ? Brennan said. ?We will use services like Skype to connect the personality with the interview subjects anywhere in the world. We then will engineer the show, post it to F7Studios? web site, push it to the various podcast directories, such as iTunes, Stitcher and a multitude of other podcast directories on the web to build, attract and retain a vibrant online audience for our clients. The only thing the host needs is a decent microphone and an entrepreneurial passion for their area of expertise.?



Added Johnson: “These are exciting times for content creators, podcasters and other new media professionals because we’re able to take part in this on-demand revolution and give audiences the power to choose and control when and how they listen or view shows on non-traditional yet soon-to-be mainstream platforms like cell phones; These audiences are HUGE and hungry. We help our clients serve them.”

For more information on F7Studios,[email protected]