Helen Shaw cannot be accused of resting on her laurels since stepping down as head of RTÉ Radio back in 2002. By her own admission, some male colleagues regarded her as work-obsessed and without a social life during her time at the State broadcaster.

While her friends would reject that point of view, her track record since then suggests someone who is not afraid to put in long hours.

Immediately after leaving RTÉ, the former journalist and radio producer took up a fellowship in international affairs at Harvard University.

On her return to Ireland in autumn 2003, she established Athena Media, a production company and media consultancy, which she located at the Digital Hub in Dublin's Liberties in order to explore her burgeoning interest in digital media.

Athena has produced shows for BBC Radio 4, created an awareness campaign for the Internet Advisory Board and contributed to the Ox Report on radio licensing in Ireland.

As well as completing a PhD in DCU, she is also a contributor to the European-funded Digital Radio Cultures in Europe (Drace) research project.

Her latest endeavour, Digicast, is a joint venture with Moving Media, a former-Hub company headed by Simon Factor that specialises in digitising content, and technology entrepreneur Joe Conway.

She met Conway last summer and the two felt that there were huge opportunities in the area of podcasting. A combination of digital radio and the MP3 music phenomenon, podcasts are audio and video shows that users subscribe to via a piece of software such as Apple's iTunes.

The shows are then automatically downloaded to the subscriber's computer each week via a broadband connection and can then be listened to on the PC or on a portable MP3 player such as an iPod.

Her work on Drace had convinced her that digital broadcasting was going to be transformed by the penetration of broadband, and that terrestrial technologies such as digital audio broadcasting, which she was involved in trialling during her time at RTÉ, were not going to be the only way forward.

Digicast's first project is the recently launched PodcastingIreland.ie, a portal for channels the company will create and offer free to the public. But Shaw is clear Digicast will have a wider remit.

"The core company, Digicast is much bigger than that," said Shaw. "It's a distribution company aimed at delivering creative content through new technologies. We see podcasting as one element of the things we will grow into. Podcasting may be the thing of the moment but in 12 months things may have moved."

Digicast is far from being the first podcast producer in Ireland. Shaw gives credit to community station Near FM and Newstalk 106 for their pioneering work and to individuals such as technology blogger Tom Raftery who have also contributed to establishing an Irish audience.

But what Shaw hopes to bring to the party is the storytelling skills and production values she honed during her time in radio. The first channel on PodcastingIreland.ie is Making Waves, a weekly podcast of emerging Irish independent musicians presented by 2FM DJ John Power. Twelve 15-minute shows have been produced showcasing one artist each week with an interview and three of their own tracks.

Shaw describes Making Waves as a book club: "I pick the book this week, you pick it next week". Listeners may subscribe because they are interested in a particular artist such as Choice Music Award winner Julie Feeney, but they can then be exposed to new artists "which is the beauty of live radio - the ability to stretch and open tastes," said Shaw.

Digicast's channels will initially be funded by sponsorship - O2 is funding Making Waves, which Shaw says is a particularly good fit given the company's existing sponsorships of Irish music and because the 15-35 year-old target demographic of Making Waves is attractive to it.

She believes that advertising in podcasts and paid subscriptions have yet to be proven as commercial models. Digicast will work with Irish companies wishing to create podcasts for internal or customer communication.

The first corporate client they are working with is Kingspan Century, the maker of timber-framed homes, which has completed a 15-minute podcast to support its campaign around future-proofing homes to ensure they meet imminent European directives.

Also, political parties have shown an interest in using the technology to distribute audio and video content in advance of the next general election.

Shaw is keen to develop sustainable models so that Digicast will work with corporate clients for a defined period of between three and six months, after which they would be able to produce podcasts on their own.

In the second phase of the project, the website will carry advertising and an online shop that will sell "all things podcasting", including three versions of a DIY kit for those who want to create their own shows. The shop may also sell music from artists featured on Making Waves.

There are plans to add other channels with comedy, health, business and travel. Shaw says the business and health channels, in particular, will have very high production values and have associated costs, meaning clear economic models will need to be in place before they are launched.

Former RTÉ health correspondent Aileen O'Meara is working with her on developing health content.

While visiting the US last October before the launch of PodcastingIreland.ie, it struck Shaw that everyone from schools to political parties, traditional media companies to NGOs, were using podcasting to create and distribute content. She is particularly excited about the potential application of podcasting in schools where she believes it could of great benefit to special needs students.

"None of this is brand new," said Shaw. "I always resist this idea that suddenly you have new media meaning new economies. Many of these things are part and parcel of the way we've always existed in the media. But there's a tremendous opportunity to communicate and connect communities in a different way."