Richard Wiggins. senior information technologist in Academic Computing and Network Services at Michigan State University, joins us to talk about the Wigblog, Internet 2, Google's video upload project and MSU's award winning web presence. Also, Jeff Smith on the frenzy surrounding GM's ad agency presentations and Monday Night Football's exit from ABC. Bill Castanier on covering the pope and the evolution of Instructional Television at MSU. And three reasons why Scott Westerman loves Skype. All that and our usual potpourri of new media and pop culture.

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MSU students are among the targets of the RIAA's latest file sharing lawsuits.

On this week's show, Dr. Tom Muth and ASCOT Vice President Hailey Kimbrue on preparing graduates for the wild and wooley real world. MSU grad Nancy Donnelly tells of her adventures with National Geographic, including the Hogzilla investigation. The On The Media podcast predicts advertising chaos as more and more people skip commercials with their digital video recorders. Our experts weigh in. Was the Freep too soft in their response to Mitch Albom's sports page fiction? Sue Whitall shares her opinion.

The Panel:
Bill Castanier - Public Relations Consultant, Author, Columnist and Activist
Nancy Donnelly - Producer, National Geographic
Tom Muth - Distinguished Professor of Telecommunications at Michigan State University
Gary Reid - Distinguished Professor of Telecommunications at Michigan State University
Scott Westerman - Region Vice President, Mediacom Communications Corporation
Susan Whitall - Media Columnist for The Detroit News
Hailey Kimbrue - Telecommunications Senior Michigan State University

Bill Castanier and Gary Reid talk with Lawrence Lessig on this week's Spartan Podcast. The topic: file sharing. The noted Professor of Law at Stanford Law School and founder of the school's Center for Internet and Society talks about how the Grokster case may impact peer to peer development, the debate about city sponsored wifi, his upcoming visit to MSU and the continuing evolution of the broadband revolution.

Also on the program, Dr. Peter Yu of the MSU College of Law and Dr. Steve Wildman of MSU's Quello Center, co-sponsors of Dr. Lessig's appearance, talk about "W(h)ither the Middleman: The Role and Future of Intermediaries in the Information Age", a two-day symposium on intellectual property, set for April 8-9, that brings together intellectual property scholars, communications policy experts, economists, political and information scientists, and policymakers.

Also on the show, Gary Reid on how one Detroit radio station is emulating podcasting's on-demand style with the new "Doug" format. Bill Castinier talks about the Creative Commons license.

Live to hard drive from San Francisco, it this week's Spartan Podcast. Scott talks about the distinctively IP flavor of this years National Cable Television Association show and interviews Brian Ibbott, producer of the Coverville podcast.

On this week's Spartan Podcast our special guest is Holly Giesman, recent MSU CAS Masters grad and production director for the award winning MSU student FM station WDBM. She talks about life after graduation, media literacy and her favorite radio stations, while the gang pontificates about video news releases, Grease and the Rocky Horror Picture Show.

The Panel:
Bill Castanier - Public Relations Consultant, Author, Columnist and Activist.
Gary Reid - Distinguished Professor of Telecommunications at Michigan State University.
Jeff Smith - Vice President, Director of Sales, Katz Eagle Television Detroit
Scott Westerman - Region Vice President, Mediacom Communications Corporation.

On this week's Spartan Podcast, we congratulate WDBM-FM on being named MAB's College Radio Station of the Year for the fifth time in six years. We talk with Gary about what makes a great student station. Jeff analyzes GM's move to put 2.8 billion of advertising agency business in play. WDET says "no" to Ed Gordon while WUOM might say "yes". We talk about Donovan Reynolds' radio vision in Ann Arbor and why WKAR hasn't kept up. And Gary gives us the scoop on an upcoming announcement from the Bayliss Foundation.

The Panel:
Bill Castanier - Public Relations Consultant, Author, Columnist and Activist.
Gary Reid - Distinguished Professor of Telecommunications at Michigan State University.
Jeff Smith - Vice President, Director of Sales, Katz Eagle Television Detroit
Scott Westerman - Region Vice President, Mediacom Communications Corporation.

The Links
WDBM Named College Station of the Year
Michael Wiley, the Cadillac genius, talks about the GM Podcast
Change brings mixed reception for WDET
WDBM-FM Impact 89FM
The Bayliss Foundation