Two Des Moines-based broadcasting groups are providing local personalities with Internet platforms from which they can share messages and connect with target audiences.

Operating as Webcast One Live, Robb Spearman and J. Michael Mc-Koy produce shows for Des Moines Local Live LLC, which features more than a dozen hosts who broadcast out of the Re/Max Real Estate Concepts Studio on the skywalk level of the Kaleidoscope at the Hub.

In March 2010, Duane Goodwin founded Worldwide Amplified Media Group LLC, a Web-radio company with nearly 120 personalities who transmit from the third floor of the Greater Des Moines Partnership Building at 700 Locust St.

Goodwin and McKoy, who had worked together on the initial launch of Des Moines Local Live in December 2008, parted ways following a dispute over how the media outlet should move forward.

Spearman, who owns Re/Max Real Estate Concepts, was a Des Moines Local Live sponsor looking for a more professional feel. So in February 2010, he formed a new limited liability corporation and stepped in to bankroll the project, spending three months and about $30,000 to $35,000 to build a new website, purchase professional cameras and equipment, and staff the company.

Goodwin said he and his partners – Mandy Lynn, Brett Rogers and Jon Thompson – were looking to broaden their reach and spent more than $100,000 to build out a 2,600-square-foot office space for Worldwide Amplified.

Though they offer similar products – both groups stream their content live over the Internet before archiving and redistributing programs on various websites – each has its own style.

“This is not radio; it is webcasting,” Spearman said, referring to what he sees as a primary difference between the two companies. “Webcasting is a brand-new media. We’re probably two to three years ahead of our time in this format.”

“We take your online world and offline world and we merge them,” Goodwin said. “And we encourage our – we don’t even call them hosts, we call them connectors – we encourage them to come in and connect with the other connectors.”

Goodwin said Worldwide Amplified, which operates as Des Moines Amplified, runs lean and mean, using $99 USB webcams to record its connectors’ self-produced shows. Spearman has taken Des Moines Local Live on another route.

“To have good content and to run a good show, it needs to be produced,” Spearman said, adding that his staff handles the redeployment of hosts’ content on sites such as www.justin.tv. “When the hosts go in and do their shows, they are concentrated on their shows, not worrying about running equipment,” he said.

Goodwin said he and his partners teach Des Moines Amplified’s personalities how to redistribute their content, which is broadcast live via www.livestream.com and available on demand at www.desmoinesamplified.com and on websites such as www.blip.tv. The partners also are available to offer technical support when needed.

“We understand the live portion isn’t the most important thing,” Goodwin said. “It is pushing that content out where it is there in perpetuity, someplace where you can download it again and again and again.”

In November, Des Moines Local Live began offering access to its content through the iTunes Store. About two months ago, the company launched smartphone applications that allow its audience to consume content on Apple Inc.’s iPad and other mobile devices.

“We’ll build to over 20 distribution sites,” Spearman said. “So it gives people all sorts of avenues to listen or to watch our shows.”

By the end of the first quarter, Spearman said, Des Moines Local Live, which includes programs such as Michael Libbie’s “Insight on Business” and Liz Nead’s “Nead Inspiration,” hopes to have 40 hosts on its roster.

Des Moines Amplified features shows such as “Leadership Cocktail With Jeff Hannah,” “Des Moines Sports Freaks” and “Double A Serious Comedy,” as well as a number of faith-based programs.

Goodwin would like to see Worldwide Amplified sites in cities such as Chicago, Houston and Los Angeles.

“We are preparing to offer these Amplified locations as a franchise,” Goodwin said, adding that he has already received about 50 inquiries on that possibility. “We anticipate this being a worldwide operation in the next five years.”

Des Moines Local Live relies on sponsorships and advertising sales to pay the bills, whereas Goodwin said Des Moines Amplified, in addition to its trademarked Amplified Cash advertising-sales model, rents out its studio space and conference room in order to get paid.

“We don’t have to pull a salary out of here,” Goodwin said, noting that he and his partners have no employees. “That’s a good thing. We are able to commit our time to move this thing forward and take our time to build the business slowly and successfully.”

“We’d like to find somebody else that did this so we could call for some answers, but instead, we are the pioneers,” McKoy said. “We’re out cutting down branches and killing buffalo and trying to figure out how this works.”

Spearman said shows produced for www.webcastonelive.com typically attract more than 60,000 viewers and listeners each month across all distribution channels.

According to Goodwin, www.desmoinesamplified.com has received more than 1.3 million page views since Sept. 1.