[1][2] 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.
[1][2] The service also provides promotional badges and flash player code for placement on blogs, Twitter, Facebook and other Social networking sites.
The host logs on to a Web page with a password, types in when he wants the show to air, and then, using a garden-variety phone, calls a special number.
The computer screen lists the phone numbers of guests or listeners calling in, and the host can put as many as six on the air at once by clicking a mouse.
"[3] 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.