Hey all,
Is this community involved with or interested in online broadcasting? I feel like the inevitable take over of internet radio is in our midst and I would love to hear some of your thoughts, philosophies, comments, and concerns about various online platforms. I currently work for www.radionomy.com and am trying to gather some market research on what traditional broadcasters think about internet radio.
Online radio broadcasting has become an extension of Part 15 low power broadcasting, and many of the operating Part 15 stations also operate online outlets and adjoining websites.
Another factor that makes an association is the fact that much of the computer gear used to produce web radio is in fact subject to FCC rules, Part 15. This is certainly the case with Wi Fi, which is a form of low power broadcasting.
The comparisons don't end there.
With AM low power radio the name of the game is to try and provide programming which stands out from the available licensed stations, of which there may be perhaps 30.
On the internet a web station attempts to draw a worldwide audience from among 20,000 other internet radio stations.
On top of all this most individuals may be doing things other than listening to radio, because of the myriad of communication tools on the web, cable, satellite and disc.
I ran a station on here for a while some years back. Used a mic, CD player, and cassette tape deck..
Back then they had a chat box at the bottom of the page so I could talk to the listeners..
http://www.live365.com/new/index.live
Something said in the opening post got ignored in my first response, so here is the rest...
"I feel like the inevitable take over of internet radio is in our midst" - nvradio
There has been and continues to be a large black shadow cast on the "openness" of the internet, so-called "net neutrality".
No doubt the corporate/government wish to control the flow of information is a disease that infects all life, not just the internet.
Having summed up my view, what is it that nvradio sees in the future of internet radio?
I got into streaming in July of 2001. At the time I was board op for a station that went mostly talk. I started my internet station to have something to listen to....while I was at work.
I have had some success with my station since going to the country format in July of 2003.
Will try to come back and elaborate more later. I am a former terrestrial broadcaster that got kicked to the curb when a satellite replaced me.
Just to elaborate more, I have a Part 15 AM on 1610 that simulcasts the programming on the stream. The station is on Live365 as the streaming provider. It is also available via TuneIn and Radio Terra.
I have also worked hard to create a format of current and classic country not available in the market. I play the currents but play a heavy mix of classic country.
As for the Part 15 station, I believe I am the only one listening to it. Most listening is coming via the Internet.
Which is becoming the norm. This is why Clear Channel is re-branding as iHeartRadio. The stategy is to de-emphasize towers and transmitters. Radio listening overall is not "pacing up" as the industry likes to say. Outside of listening in the car, not that many people are listening for hours at home anymore. The TV is on. Often the computer is on.
I listen to Big D Country while working in the kitchen. My wife and I are struggling to survive, following her having her hours cut and my radio job ending several years ago. Between my mom, my now-deceased grandmother, and lots of practice, I have become a decent baker. So right now my wife and I are working on a basic cookie, bread and bake-to-order home business, thanks to Florida's new food cottage law. I can now legally bake certain goods at home.
I have been pursuing an LPFM. I am not getting much local support outside of the radio engineers. Which makes me wonder if going through the hassle us worth it. It is easier to sell brownies than advertising.
But I love radio and am passionate about it. So I haven't given up.
Content via the Internet, though, seems to be where we need to be long-term.
A long running thunderstorm is hanging around today, and for one hour I shut down the computer and all transmitting activity and went into safety mode to protect the equipment.
But the storm is neither getting worse nor ending, so I am now risking having everything back on the air.
During that 1-hour withoput the web my only source of contact was a radio.
Most licensed stations in this area run junk with no one in charge of presenting useful information.
Of only three AM talk stations, two of them were having trouble staying on the air. A 5kW station kept losing carrier every few seconds and this went on until I couln't stand it. A smaller station was alright at first, but then its S.T.L. started going off for lengthy periods. Both stations are across the river in Illinois, so they must have been getting severe weather.
The remaining talk station had some guy yelling in, that is, sitting in for Rush Limbough, and that provides no useful information at all.
I do have a point. And that point is that, although much on-line radio and TV is becoming more and more popular, there are times when the internet goes down, and that's when people wonder if they have a radio and fresh batteries.
A close friend who is big into cable tv and netflix recently asked me how she could find a good radio, which she likes to listen to after work when Coast-to-Coast-AM is on. Her old radio was unable to pick up the small FM station now carrying Coast in this area. Previously Coast was on a local AM which she received very well, but without explanation the program switched affiliates.
Her new radio is now filling her late nights with pleasure, as she has found the "sweet spot" on her kitchen table where the new radio is able to pick-up the small FM signal.
There are a lot of things you can do to provide "custom player" apps to smart phone folks (freelancer.com - you can post your request for said apps and someone will build them for you)
Or, direct people to an existing player.
Also; you can provide homesick folks in far away places with a little bit of home.
I use voscast.com and loudcity - covers streaming and licensing.
THere is also https://www.streamlicensing.com - but I have not used them.
Mixxx.org is my stream console of choice, and I run everything on mac or linux (windows makes my skin crawl)
At sone time I though the music unions were causing on line broadcastes to shut down because of the music fees by ASCAP and BMI.. has that changed? how are the small home operated on line broadcasters handling this?
It would be nice like it was 50 years ago when everbody had a kitchen AM radio and that was your connection to the world ( besides TV) I need to go back in time 50 years and set up a part 15 station then you might have a listners or two.
Use to have a allied radio broadcaster then me and a buddy used them to talk to each other on the broad cast band ! We were just a few blocks apart worked pretty good.
Some times ohter kids in high school would tell me they heard us talking on the radio!
Now youi mention radio and only in emergancy or if you go some place alone in the car you might use it- if you travle with someone in the car you might as well shut it off they reach for the volume knob and turn it down for you anyway.
I use a talking house for my yard casting, have it set up with my own IDs ect, I get a kick out of it but I know no one will ever pick it up but maybe thats even better no one will complain then to the watchdogs.
Let me know how people deal with the ASCAP and BMI issue and how major stations do it are they paying or what for rights to use the music or maybe our goverent is paying the fees got tacked on to some bill they passed for whatever .... you never know
A lot of online stations did close due to the royalty fees. This system is flawed in that it penalizes success when the audience grows.
I chose to use and stay with Live365 because the packages include coverage for ASCAP, BMI, SESAC and SoundExchange. It costs me around $110 a month to operate as a PRO station, controlling my own advertising and all content in the stream. It is possible to stream for less but you can't sell your own ads in the stream. I am at about break even with it.
Terrestrial stations pay the ASCAP, BMI and such, usually as an amount based on revenue. They do not have the performance royalty fees - yet. That is an ongoing battle at this point.
I also have a Part 15 AM that most likely no one else is hearing. It keeps me companywhile thw wife is at work. I simulcast on the stream, so my live midday show can be heard via Live365, Radio Terra, and TuneIn.
The commercially produced records subject to licensing are avoided by Part 15 streaming stations who opt not to carry the expense load of royalty payments.
Yet many Part 15 and streaming music stations operate legally using music being made available free under Creative Commons or "community audio," alternative licensing types which make independent music freely available for use.
Sometimes there are special conditions, such as, "This music is available for non-commercial use only," which makes commercial station operation prohibited if the music is used.
Other radio streams use mostly talk programming, either self-produced or used with the permission of the program host and producer.
If a commercial record company granted permission to use their catalog of recordings license free, it might be possible to save some money, but on the other hand maybe they don't do that. I've never heard of anyone trying to obtain permission from a record label.
It all depends on what country you are located in, and what your copyright laws are.
In Canada, for instance, copyright is much different. We actually have sound recordings that are in the public domain (in the U.S., the first that comes into the public domain is around 2035 or so). And we only have to deal with one licensing company - SOCAN - for the rest (the exceptions, of course, are the independents, and for those you have to obtain permission for each one). For a non commercial station, licensing fees are 1.9% of your gross operating costs, and if you include your internet and streaming costs in that, it also covers online radio. Since a Part 15 station runs on a flea budget, the licensing fees are really quite low. And that's why you see many online stations near the border run on servers in Canada - you escape the draconian copyright laws and licensing fees of the U.S. Of course, the licensing could all change here as well (they've been talking about it for ages).
how are your experiences with voscast and loudcity? radionomy also covers streaming and licensing and is free. They also just launched an outpayment plan that allows for ad revenue share, meaning you can monetize your radionomy station now.
There are many ways to stream and many players to intercept those streams.
Perhaps the most useful app is the Flash Audio Player, which can intercept a stream for listening without the need to open a separate Player.
There have come to be several open source Flash players, along with some for purchase.
I have just installed the latest version of Muses Flash Player from
and absolutely love the ease of use and the simplicity for the visitor to my website.
Then I found what might be even better, the embeddable Flash Player from Shoutcast, available free to those who are listed on
To see the massive arsenal of play options I've assembled, visit
The advantage of living in Canada is that you get covered by SOCAN and a flat fee for anything you play commerical or otherwise if you're non profit. Royalties vary by country and the organizations really don't help themselves in the US. It's needlessly complicated.