Streaming Business

Most of those hits will be stream rippers. I always used to ban the ips and ended up with over 50 in my ban list untill I gave up. Now I dont worry about them.

Hi Carl, I wouldn't ban anyone using that program if I were you because it they are probably a listener of yours!

I am pretty sure that RadioAlarm and RadioAlarmLite are iPhone/iPad apps that are like radio alarm clocks - they play a stream at a designated time. so it makes sense that they only play for a minute or so; just long enough for somene to wake up 🙂

Well then, I sure wake a lot of people up, all throughout the day on both of my streaming channels!

Following up on Johnie's StreamRipper information, I wonder how much a "stream ripper" could achieve in under 1-minute, sometimes as briefly as 2-seconds.

One of the IPs that I banned is trying to connect about every 10-minutes, 24-hours a day, only to be disconnected by the ban software.

The last actual listener I heard from wrote that she fell asleep at the start of her connection, woke up just minutes before disconnecting.

KDX broadcasts to sleeping listeners, wakes other listeners up all day long, and attracts hit-and-run rippers non-stop.

The hobby may need to be reconsidered.

I've lstened to you a few times in the last few

weeks.  But there were a few times I just checked

to see if you were streaming,  but I couldn't

really stay very long to listen.  I don't know if

this means anything in the big picture. 

Best Wishes,

Bruce, The Dog Radio Group

Thanks for stopping by the stream and indeed it's part of the picture....

I keep a record of all the IP addresses that connect and I lookup the server locations of all those addresses, so I'll probably be able to pick out your connections.

I dig around to learn as much as possible about the clues picked up by the Shoutcast Server Window, as I am naturally wondering who is a listener and who is a spammer or bot or malware or all the different things that go on.

We are in a time when knowing something about the internet might be useful.

That was 2013 and now it's 2015, time to review the streaming services of KDX Worldround Radio.

Based on observations, related news, and experience, I think it's time to dam the stream; discontiue it for the following reasons:

Since the stream(s) started in 2007 there's been no increase in audience, but that's a moot point because I was never seeking an audience... my streams exist for the vanity advantage of being able to image as an "international broadcasting station."

In reality there are 100's of thousands of streaming radio, video and podcast choices on the web, I suspect most of their audiences are fabricated or consist of trollers looking for copyright claims.

Already my two Shoutcast-Radionomy streams are off, leaving a sole Icecast server until May 31, 2015, when our 9th year will begin streamlessly.

Next to go will be the paid website... no reason for a website for a home-based part 15 broadcaster.

Being considered for cancelation is our broadband cable service, no longer needed when simple (free) dial-up will do.

Most important is the total success of part 15 radio delivering the best programming on the dial for a listener who cares what he hears (me). There will be more AM and carrier current transmitters... there are four parking spots out front if someone really wants to listen.

Comments are welcome.

I wouldn't go so far as to say simply for vanity sake although there may be some of that involved.

It's the love of Radio!  There is a compulsion to keep them going; the stations, the streams, the websites.  I've likened that to an addiction but it boils down to a love of Radio.

OK, maybe we don't need multiple streams.  A single streaming station could be a select mix of your many stations.  Listen2MyRadio is a free streaming host.  If your programming is mostly talk and/or Indie music then royalty fees are not an issue.

There are still free website hosts out there if cost is a factor.  And there's the home based website hosting like my MRAM TEST SITE, although a dial-up connection would severely impact that.  And until your number of visitors becomes to large DSL works well.

When The ALPB website is redesigned perhaps Member Station Webpages can become an integral part of the site.  We already have our Content Pages which could easily morph into Member Station Webpages.  That would bolster our organizations PR and provide a place to feature Member Stations.

Join The ALPB and Grow With Us!

As for the 4 parking spots out front, I tell people I'm my own best audience.  My by-line should be "Miracle Radio" because if anyone finds it-it's a miracle.

I was thinking about that too, does a tiny station that goes out for a few blocks need a international website, stream, Facebook? I like the idea of an online reference page at least, somewhere listeners could go that would keep a bio of the station, with email for contact, for those who are really interested in the station.

It would be radical not to have a presence on the web, unless you want to be a mystery station.

If you do have to cut back on the web, hopefully other opportunities will come your way. Maybe you can get a friend to help out with your station.

I am all for centralizing Part 15 Stations and Resources at thealpb.com, and anything I can do to contribute to such a HUB I w9ill be available to do.

My Part 15 Page contains a collection of links and resources which are free for the picking and, whereas it's fun to compile, why should it be isolated from the Mother Lode at thealpb.com? That page will continue all the way until dooms day.

Oh, and nothing I've said is final... I'm simply launching talks and a period of contemplation over whether the risks are worth the "Fun of Radio" that truly figure into the activity.

Thank you MRAM for inputting.

Keep the thoughts coming.

Here's my two cents.

The thing that I like about streaming is that it levels the playing field.  A tiny Part 15 micro station is exactly the same as a huge broadcaster.

And while Part 15 stations struggle to legally get up to a mile over-the-air range, even with AM, streaming extends that range.  I streamed (and still stream) to serve my immediate community.  Because let's face it, that mile range is with a good car radio, but someone with a portable or home radio will struggle to receive you somewhere between 500 and 1000 feet on AM, and significantly less range on FM.  And with streaming, for free, with no extra work, you literally get the world along with your local community.

I'm not sure that there are hundreds of thousands of internet streams out there.  There certainly are tens of thousands.  But then, there are millions of potential listeners, each searching for something to their tastes.  Some WILL run across your station.

If you're running a Shoutcast or IceCast server, you're probably already in the Yellow Pages associated with that particular server.  And there are multiple web-based radio directories, such as VTuner or Reciva.  There are many internet radios that use the Reciva database to get their directory of internet stations (I own one, a Grace).

I've done some analysis of Artisan Radio listeners- over the years, they've come from every continent and many countries.  I've actually had feedback from listeners in Australia, Jamaica and the Far East, to name a few.  While it wasn't my primary objective, it's a hoot to know that there are those that appreciate your labour of love, whether they are next door to you, or halfway around the world.

I just installed my new, upgraded internet connection, so I now have to decide whether I'm going to increase the bitrate of the stream (reducing the number of potential simultaneous listeners) or keep things as they are and have the potential for many more listeners.  The jury's still out on that one, and like all things with Part 15, the answer will come, I'm sure, from experimentation.  That's one of the things I like about what I do here - there is no simple formula for success.  You have to research and listen and think and experiment and in the process, you learn.

While all this is being decided I have turned on a Shoutcast-Radionomy Stream at 16kbps Mono aimed at Dial-Up listeners.

Some research has revealed that 3% of internet users in the Homeland are utilizing dial-up accounts either because broadband is unavailable in their area or is too costly, or because of preference.

It is reasonable to believe that the number of dial-up internet subscribers worldwide is very high because of large regions without broadband.

I've noticed that most of us who transmit from a broadband account tend to view the world as a broadband landscape, which might not be a realistic view.

I'm surprised how good the 16kbps stream sounds.

I believe streaming is the wave of the future of radio.

A week doesn't go by that someone local doesn't ask me when I'll start streaming.

WREN, a stream only oldies station in Topeka is now averaging well over 25,000 unique listeners per day.

Then, there's this report:

The Infinite Dial 2015, the latest in a long-running series of studies on consumer adoption of digital media, was released Wednesday. The new national survey from Edison Research and Triton Digital found that 53 percent of Americans ages 12 and older listen to online radio monthly and 44 percent, or 119 million people, listen on a weekly basis. The study is the 23rd in a series dating back to 1998.

Among the other findings:

• More than seven in ten (71 percent) now own a smartphone, an increase of ten percentage points from the 2014 report.
• Pandora is the leading Internet-only audio service. More than half (54 percent) of Internet audio users say that Pandora is the service they listen to most often followed by iHeartRadio (11 percent), Spotify (10 percent), and iTunes Radio (8 percent).
• Facebook is the most used Social Media site with nearly two-thirds (65 percent) of those who use any Social Media saying Facebook is the service they use most often. Among 12 to 24 year-olds, Facebook (43 percent) is the most used, beating Instagram (18 percent), Snapchat (15 percent), and Twitter (8 percent).
• Podcasting is on the rise, as monthly audio podcast consumption grew from approximately 39 million monthly users in 2014 to approximately 46 million in 2015.
• The majority of Americans (57 percent) say that technological change over the last ten years has had a positive impact on society; while only 15 percent say that it has had a negative impact.
• Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of all users and nine-in-ten 12 to 24 year-olds have used YouTube to watch music videos or listen to music.

"Media consumption habits have changed dramatically in the past five years," noted Edison Research VP/Strategy and Marketing Tom Webster. "Online Radio has become mainstream, Podcasts are enjoyed by a significant portion of the population, and even the social media platforms that dominated five years ago have shifted. It's vital for marketers and advertisers to understand and plan for these shifts."

"Perhaps the most significant finding from this year's report is the change in frequency of use for streaming audio," said Triton Digital President/Market Development John Rosso. "For years Americans have been occasional listeners but for the first time it's apparent that streaming audio has become an ingrained part of our lives as the number of Americans listening weekly is now 44 percent. This is a huge opportunity for publishers and marketers to better identify and target their listeners to maximize ad-based revenue."

Stream on.  I won't start streaming until I retire from my real, commercial radio job as I don't want to compete with myself.

Tim in Bovey

Massive Surveys like the one presented by Tim in Bovey do not tell me anything nor convince me of anything.

So WREN purportedly has 25,000 listeners per day. But how long does each one stay tuned? My guess would be brief seconds or minutes, because my observation is that people are generally scattered all over the place and tend not to concentrate on any one thing for very long. And how do we know those IP connections are listeners? Some of them could be "padding," or false listeners peppered into the mix by the stream service provider to "prove" how good their service is. Some "listeners" might be "copyright snoops" looking for evidence to file an action against the streamcaster. Might even be WREN itself aiming every computer in the building to appear as a "listener" in the daily tally.

The survey doesn't explicitly explain the significance of 7-out-of-10 people owning Smartphones, but I assume the point is that streaming radio can be heard on Smartphones. But from a menu of 10,000-plus streaming stations? Video is also selectable on Smartphones and video is more popular than audio, and oh by the way podcasts on Smartphones, as well as actual telephone calls and texting. And once it's realized that listening to the radio shortens battery life one might not be so likely to keep listening.

Facebook is wildly popular, but what does that have to do with streaming radio? Developing personal relationships with your 25,000 listeners? That's not a radio station, it's a social club. How big a staff would that take to keep track of all the Facebook conversations?

Indeed podcasting is growing and hundreds more podcasts are added to the mix every few days, but that's just competition, so what good does it do to count it? Are you a streaming radio station or a podcaster?

So 57% of people think "technical changes" have had a positive impact on society. Any examples? Maybe that "majority" should take a moment to think. Fact is, people are no different than they were before the "technical changes," except maybe they are having some fun with those changes. Is "fun" the same as a positive impact on society?

2/3 of everybody use Youtube for entertainment. Therefore radio streaming is not the best choice. Is that what's being said?

Some say that internet media will displace old-time radio and TV, but I think internet media will displace media altogether including itself, making media a depressed field reduced to a home-hobby.

I have obsered on Shoutcast that the most listened to stream is Alex E. Jones.