Innovative technology is spawning innumerable options for entertainment, information and communication.

Today, anyone with a computer can access a recently-recorded broadcast on virtually any topic that piques their interest. And it’s not much harder to create one such broadcast yourself, either.

It’s called podcasting and it’s come to Santa Maria, probably in more ways than one.

Two local men, Justin Lair and David Leroy, for example, started their own podcast, “The Dave and J Show,” a month ago, and are impressed with the results.

Lair and Leroy, 25-year-olds who have been best friends since high school, have been plotting business strategies together since they were 16 and ran a mobile DJ service.

Apparently they’re still interested in giving people something to listen to, and to feed that desire, they’ve started their own podcast.

In 2005, the New Oxford American Dictionary chose “podcast” as the word of the year, defining it as “a digital recording of a radio broadcast or similar program, made available on the Internet for downloading to a personal audio player.”

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Today, podcasts include everything from syndicated radio broadcasts to homemade recordings like Lair and Leroy’s. The two are using their podcast to offer information on their specialty, mortgage lending, and to advertise their company, International Mortgage Finance Inc.

Lair is something of a podcasting guru, who started listening to podcasts when he lived in Stockton and commuted daily to Oakland. He needed something interesting to listen to during the six hours a day he spent in the car.

So he started downloading podcasts. Interested listeners can find podcasts in a variety of ways, from individual Web sites to podcast directories, like iTunes.com, PodcastAlley.com and Podcast.net.

From there, listeners can download a show to a portable media player, like an iPod. Or, more simply, podcasts can be listened to directly from a computer, assuming speakers are connected to it.

Although listening to a podcast does not require a portable media player, their growth in popularity has likely spiked the growth in podcasting. A whopping 20 percent of American adults currently own a portable media player, according to Pew Internet Project, part of the Pew Research Center.

While Lair and Leroy aren’t able to track exactly who’s listening to their show, Lair said they can judge their Web site traffic based on how much bandwidth they’re using. Additionally, they’ve seen the number of listener e-mails they receive go up.

Lair has come to see podcasting as an appropriate and potentially valuable avenue for business owners.

“I don’t think that people know that it’s so easy,” he said.

Indeed. Lair can set up a makeshift recording studio in a matter of minutes and have an edited broadcast published online where it can be accessed by anyone in the world within 90 minutes.

And the beauty of podcasting, he said, is that it’s practically free.

Lair and Leroy use computers they already had, and downloaded free “Audacity” recording software from the Internet. Their most important purchase was headphones with microphones to talk into. And they set up a Web site, www.daveandj.com, to increase their chance to interact with listeners. Additionally, their shows are archived on the Web site, so listeners can return to a show they missed or replay one they liked.

Lair takes on the preparation, recording and editing of the show, while Leroy serves as the lead on all things lending, offering the majority of advice to listeners while being goaded on by Lair during the show.

“I can say I’m the driving force behind it,” said Lair.

“Or not,” quipped Leroy, smiling.

A recording session is similar to that of a radio broadcast, but it’s not live, which makes it easier for an amateur broadcaster to complete and later perfect what’s recorded.

“Hey, hey, hey, welcome to ‘The Dave and J Show,’ ” said Lair, starting things off during a recent recording.

The two stand up, facing each other, trading off-the-cuff barbs related to what they’ve been up to that day, and commenting on snippets of interesting national news. Then they snap into professionalism, and use listener e-mails to guide their conversation. This week, for example, they discussed the difference between a bank and a mortgage broker, at the behest of a listener named Susie from Southern California.

More recently, they added local real estate agent Lori Ramsey, to the show as a guest who can give more information on the realty market. “It’s kind of a cool way to get information out there and to get people to ask questions,” said Ramsey.

After recording a show, Lair begins editing it, which usually takes about 15 minutes longer than show itself, he said. To edit the show, Lair makes a few quick keystrokes to hear the show play back. As he listens, he watches an audio track, which displays sound waves.

He pinpoints unwanted noises, such as a police siren that blares in the background or an extra “um” or “ah,” highlights them, and hits “delete” to remove them from the broadcast. He’s also able to remove long pauses or turn the volume down on certain words or syllables.

After editing, Lair imports a pre-recorded musical introduction and conclusion, exports the file to his desk top as an audio file, and publishes it on the Web site and to iTunes.com, where it’s listed for subscribers.

Lair estimates the whole process — recording, editing and publishing — takes about 90 minutes.

“It just shows how powerful the Internet is,” said Lair, gratified with the knowledge that anybody, anywhere, any time could be listening to “The Dave and J Show,” the product of two buddies recording their thoughts from an office in Santa Maria.