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From Airwaves to Cyberspace
Radio station, KADC, of Los Angeles is going where no radio station has gone before. They are broadcasting online! Wait a minute. What's that you say? Thousands of radio stations have done that already? What about a radio station packing up their bags and moving everything. From D.J.'s to music and commercials, the station is re-locating from FM radio to cyberspace.
www.worldclassrock.com will become the new home of this rock and roll radio station. Why would they do this? Well, they no longer have to rely on a weak signal, broadcasting only a handful of miles. They can now be heard worldwide, in any time zone. The question is, will their current fans embrace their decision to move to the web? Do internet users have the patience to find their way through this maze of internet radio, or will this be another dot-com disaster?
The ten (10) employees of KACD are currently broadcasting on 103.1 FM from their quaint studio building in Santa Monica, California. The station is owned by "Clear Channel Communications" an industry giant, who recently merged with "AMFM", another giant. FCC regulation states that companies are allowed to own no more than eight (8) radio stations per market, forcing clear communications to sell off some stations. Little KACD was a prime target for a sell-off. Its audience, while dedicated, is very small. Its format is called AAA--Adult Album Alternative, a rock sound popular with mellow grown-ups who fancy a bit of an edge. The KACD play list includes Matchbox 20, Phish, Sting, Steely Dan, Aimee Mann, Sinead O'Connor and Steve Earle.
"If [moving to the internet] works, it could open the floodgates," says Nicole Sandler, 40, KACD program director and afternoon D.J.
If it doesn't, www.worldclassrock.com will be just one more 'cybercorpse' in the dot-com cemetary. The trick is getting listeners to follow the station from the airwaves to the computer. It's a gamble, and the game is too new to lay odds.
Is internet radio the future of music? I believe it to be. What about you guys? Let's talk about it some more on my guided
discussion.
User Comments
(These do not necessarily reflect the beliefs of this site)
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pressf8
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Date: July 17, 2000 @ 8:45 AM
Unfortunately, I can't listen to internet radio in my car... However, the same station that I listen to in my car on the way to work, I can turn on over the internet when I get to work... So I don't think traditional broadcasting will be going away any time soon--not enough people on the net yet, and the streams still sound like crap...
Brian
http://www.screwmetallica.org/ |
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richieZ
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Date: July 17, 2000 @ 11:31 AM
well they kind of had no choice.... the company that owned them sold them off in order to comply with FCC regulations. It was either they go online or hope to find another company to buy them, which would more than likey change their music format... this way they have complete freedom.... |
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richieZ
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Date: July 17, 2000 @ 11:33 AM
but dont you think that maybe, just maybe, when broadband internet access is available and used by more than 50% of the worlds population, and mobile internet is available in your car... that internet radio might take over? |
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pressf8
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Date: July 17, 2000 @ 12:04 PM
That's possible--but probably 5+ years off. Maybe eventually everything will be digital, but not anytime soon--too many people still live analog lives...
Brian
http://www.screwmetallica.org/ |
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Anonymous
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Date: July 17, 2000 @ 2:01 PM
Internet radio is the future. When (finally) 3G wireless networks step into the game, who needs AM/FM radios anymore? Some fancy start-up company just brings us "car-radio-look-a-like" that grabs station addresses from some add server and streams the music from selected Internet radio to your car through mobile networks.
Future? Yep, but not a distant future. That _will_ happen in Japan and in Northern Europe within next 2 years. |
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pressf8
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Date: July 17, 2000 @ 6:00 PM
I dont doubt that wireless network technology will be availible soon--however, a digital "net radio" using wireless networks would be far more expensive than a standard AM/FM, don't you agree? Most people in this country can't afford a net radio, hence, standard broadcasting will be around for a while.
Brian
http://www.screwmetallica.org/ |
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Anonymous
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Date: July 18, 2000 @ 10:45 AM
New wireless technologies, like GPRS, allow flat rates for wireless connections, because the device is always connected to the network -- even if you don't use it. The same idea is currently used in Palm.net service, although Palm Inc. tried to cash people with it by setting a kilobyte limits for users, but now it's just a flat fee for a monthly use.
Think about it -- you pay $50 / month for your 1.5meg wireless connection. You can use that bandwidth however you want - for data transfers, for voice, ...
3G is basically the DSL of wireless world - allows cheap always-on connections. Operators need to rebuild their models and probably those models include ads, portals, etc.. Just like in Internet world (AOL does NOT make the big $$$ out of users monthly fees, they make it by selling ads). |
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