My friend Chuck is in Washington D.C. at the National Association of Farm Broadcasters’ Washington Watch. A few days ago he was sitting with me in the Jefferson City Coffee Zone where I showed him how we had been playing with live video streaming with UStream.

As I write this, Chuck is streaming a news conference with the U. S. Secretary of Agriculture. No satellite truck. No cameraman. No sound man. Just Chuck and his MacBook Pro. I assume he’s recording and will post at AgWired.com.

Ag Secy is now praising “ag radio.” How many of the reporters in the room are recording his remarks to chop up and put in a report they’ll feed back to their stations for later broadcast? While Chuck is streaming live video.

Secy just said something about “you radio guys need 30 second sound bites and I can’t do that.” Uh, no Mr. Secretary, we’re live here at AgWired.com so you can go as long as you need. It’s not about sound bites anymore.

“The future is already here. It’s just not evenly distributed yet.” — William Gibson