Surfing The Web

The World Wide Web includes RADIO…

By Dick Travis

Radio? I thought that TV put it out of business? Wrong…And the World Wide Web is only enhancing the beauty and versatility of Radio…

When do people listen to the Radio?

In their car, when cooking, when sewing, when working in the garage, when cleaning up the house, when working in the office, when walking or jogging, whenever…

How many people listen to the Radio while doing their computing? More every day. The World Wide Web offers an endless list of ways to listen to your favorite radio station or type of music, while completing your computer tasks or to listen and find information about what you are listening to at the same time.

I know people who listen to their favorite radio stations using the web from their “ancestral home” like Germany, England, Chile or Ohio. Did you know that a Chile station is very popular for playing “Beethoven”. Streaming audio has become a very popular means of tuning into an almost dizzying number of radio stations, some of which aren’t “real” radio stations but “ just broadcasting on the internet”.

Where do you start?

Here are 4 good places to start:

· Radio-Locater -- over 2500 audio streams from radio stations in the US and around the world.

· Web-Radio – over 5000 audio streams, separated by “Internet Only”, including the new service called the “liberal talk radio network”…

· Mikes Radio World – links to the usual stations, but is a neat place to download the 4 major audio plug-ins for your browser, if you don’t already have them.

· Radio Free World – Some unusual and alternative radio sites such as Relax Radio, Cajun Radio or Comedy on the Internet and many more…

Radio – Locator is probably the best place to start. I particularly like their search mechanism for finding the “type” of music you want to hear – not necessarily which station. I personally like Nostalgia, Jazz, Classical, Easy Listening and Tropical. After searching for your category, then you can choose, by location or just pick one and check it out. I sometimes like to try out foreign stations or sometimes Ohio stations – my particular “home” state.

Don’t worry about the technicalities of how all of this works. Sure there are 4 major plug-ins (Microsoft Media Player, Real Player, QuickTime and Winamp), but just get them all and don’t be fooled into paying for any of them. Many stations like BBC and others have their own “audio” servers which do not have to be downloaded. Now that’s the way the entire web should be, eventually. For you purists, most of the “finder sites” above give you more information about the quality of the audio, but for most of us, as long as it works – we are happy.

Do you need broadband? Well, no, but you will be interrupted quite a bit on dial-up -- enough to make you switch to broadband, if not now, eventually.

I cannot believe the variety and extent of the streaming audio on the web. Check it out and use it for your background music, while cleaning up your financial affairs on your computer or emailing Aunt Sophie or listen in earnest to your favorite music or station from near or far. So many stations, so little time…

Enjoy the RADIO on the World Wide Web!

Dick Travis