“Girls can be techno savvy too!” senior Weina Scott said after English teacher Michael Kelly asked for two male volunteers to wire his DVD player. Indeed they can, as Scott has proved with her online podcast host company: Switchpod.com.

Podcasts, which have become increasingly popular over the past three years, are multimedia files, such as audio or video programs, which can be downloaded over the internet and played back on mobile devices and computers.

Scott’s website gives users the opportunity to host podcasts on the website’s server while making them available for others to view and download. Scott created switchpod.com from scratch by using the program Notepad to write the website, which was then uploaded and opened to the public on June 15, 2005.

The site offers a few different hosting plans, ranging from a free version with 200 megabytes to a $50 version with 5,000 megabytes. Currently the site hosts 200 paid users and 3,000 free users. In addition, twenty to thirty thousand people view the website daily.

The large number of visitors has attracted advertisers, which pay to place their advertisements into users’ podcasts. Once a podcast obtains 5,000 views, advertisers start paying the pod casters directly in addition to switchpod.com for the advertising space.

“The site allows people to become celebrities,” Scott said. “If you want to start a radio show or TV show the website gives you the space and the means to upload your podcasts.”

Podcasts range from music and comedy to government and education. Teachers find the website useful for uploading their lectures so students can download them and review the material.

“I have put every physics lecture on that site, and I’m in the process of putting FCAT reviews on the site,” science teacher Dr. David Buncher said.

Buncher is excited about Scott’s website. “Weina’s a very special girl. She understands that the future of communication is in a portable hand held device,” he said.

In May of 2006, the CEO of a public company (name cannot be released) became interested in switchpod.com and offered to buy the website for $200,000. Scott and her partner, Jake Fisher, who is 16 and handles the advertising, agreed and signed a contract in July of 2006. In addition to the initial $200,000, Scott receives a salary every two weeks for continuing to manage the website. Once the website reaches a certain number of downloads, Scott will receive an additional $127,500.

Coming up in the future for switchpod.com is a podcast exposition in Ontario, Oregon, where over 1,000 pod casters will be present. Scott hopes to gain as much exposure as possible to meet the company’s goal.

“By the end of six months we want the business to make millions through advertisers,” Scott said.

But for now, the most thrilling aspect of switchpod.com for Scott is watching her company take off. “It’s exciting just listening to the podcasts that people upload because they’re using what I made,” she said.