How to Start Your Own Internet Broadcasting Station

You don't need a studio to have your own show.

The Internet has made it possible for anyone to launch a radio station. You don't need expensive equipment and licenses, you can broadcast from your bedroom with a computer and a webcam. The limiting factor is the speed of your Internet connection, since the size of your audience is dictated by your outgoing bandwidth. In other words, if your upload speed is 256 kbps and you're streaming music at 128 kbps, you can only have two listeners. If you want to expand, you can subscribe to a paid streaming service such as "Loudcity" and reach a wider audience.

Things You'll Need

• High speed Internet connection
• Icecast server software
• Winamp player
• Edcast DSP Winamp plugin
• Webcam

Instructions

1. Download and install Icecast. Go to icecast.org and click the EXE link on the home page to download the software. Go to the file that you downloaded, double-click it and follow the on-screen prompts to install the software. If you want it to start automatically with your computer, leave the "Run as a Windows Service" box checked and click "Finish."

2. Configure Icecast and launch it. Double-click the Icecast shortcut on your desktop. When Icecast opens, select the "Edit Configuration" sub-menu of the "Configuration" menu. Icecast's configuration file will open in Notepad. You can leave the configuration settings at their defaults but change "hackme" to your own secure password before saving and closing Notepad. You can also replace the default settings with configuration text. After you've edited the configuration file, load it and launch the Icecast server. Click "Start Server" on Icecast's main screen. If you get stuck, refer to the detailed tutorials in the "Docs" area of the Icecast website.

3. Download and install the Winamp player and Edcast plug-in. Go to winamp.com and click the "Free Download" button, then click it again under "Winamp Standard." Go to pcworld.com and click the "Downloads" menu. Type "edcast" into the search box and press the Enter key. Click the "Edcast Winamp Plugin" link in the search results page. Click the "Download Now" button. Click the Winamp player file to install it, then click the Edcast file to install the program.

4. Configure the Edcast plug-in in Winamp. Launch the Winamp player and click "Options" then "Preferences." Select the "DSP/Effect" option under "Plug-ins." Click on the Edcast entry in the "DSP/Effect plug-in" window to open the "edcast" screen. Click the "Add Encoder" button, then right-click the text in the "Encoder Settings" window and select "Configure." Adjust the settings to your preferences and click "OK."

5. Start broadcasting. Click the "Connect" button on the Edcast screen and it will broadcast whatever is playing in Winamp. You can also click on the microphone icon in the "Live Recording" box and select an input device, such as your webcam, to add voice-overs to your broadcast.

References

• BBN Live: Webcasting Tips
• PCWorld; Start Your Own Internet Radio Station for Free; Patrick Miller; March 2010
• Stavros' Stuff; How to Create an Internet Radio Station; Stavros Korokithakis

Resources

• Microsoft Corporation: Creating an Internet Radio Station
• RadioO.org: Why Start an Internet Radio Station?
• Igniso Limited: How to Start an Internet Radio Station
• RadioTower Communications: Listen to 6,000 + Free Internet Radio Stations