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Building your dream - How to start an internet radio station
If you have a love of music,
I'm sure there was a time when you dreamed of owning your own radio
station. Part of the joy of music is the ability to share your
passion with other like-minded people.
Here in the US, owning a terrestrial
radio station is beyond the reach of the average person. That's okay
though, because terrestrial radio stations are losing listeners...
not just to satellite and cable radio, but Internet Radio too.
In fact, the
latest statistics show that Internet Radio is poised to become
one of the main sources of supplemental audio entertainment over the
next 10 years.
In this article, we're not going to
promise great riches. If you're interested in starting your own
radio station for profit, you'll face the same challenges and
hurdles that any other online business has to overcome. Good luck
with that. But most
Internet Radio stations are hobbies. They don't make much, or any money...
they do, however, bring enjoyment to operators and listeners alike.
And how do you put a price on that?
Minimum
Requirements
This article assumes you
own a PC 3 years old or newer, on a broadband (Cable, DSL or
equivalent) connection. For dial-up solutions, you should try
visiting Live365 - They have
great solutions for hosted stations, and are also very friendly for
less-technical operators.
Is it expensive?
Not at all. If you have a broadband internet
connection, a ton of music or content, a static IP address and a PC, you can start a legal internet radio station for
less than $40. And we're going to show you how.
We'll take you through the process
of determining format, obtaining licensing where necessary, setting
up equipment including a SHOUTcast server, and launching your station. You'll be surprised at how
easy, and inexpensive, it is to get off the ground.
A word of
caution
We're offering a basic overview of starting a station. If you are
serious about building an online radio station, you're going to have
to take time to study installation and configuration guides provided
by the various companies mentioned in this article, visit forums to
ask for help when things get tricky, understand basic bandwidth
concepts, and have the patience to work on your passion.
Get Started
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