How to Create Your Own Radio Station on the Web

Starting a terrestrial radio station might be difficult, but starting one online is not.

Creating your own radio station for the Web can be fulfilling. Having your own Web radio station gives you the freedom to broadcast the songs, conversations and commercials you want to an audience of your Internet peers. Fortunately, modern technology has made it possible for anyone to create their own radio station on the Web.

Instructions

1. Search for and investigate different online radio hosting services (see Resources). Each service comes with different features, such as the number of listeners you can have, the type of music you can play, and the ability to have live programming. Some stations require a monthly subscription fee, which you will pay during the registration process.

2. Register with the service of your choice. During the registration process, you might have to fill in details about your online radio station. Such details might include a name for your station, the genre of your station and where you are broadcasting from.

3. Download and install the necessary software required to host your online radio station. Some hosting services require that you download plug-ins so the software can run on your computer, but such plug-ins should be provided by the hosting service.

4. Transfer songs, commercials and other audio content files to the software program you just installed. In some cases, this involves using the software to upload your songs to your hosting service's online server, which will store the songs online.

5. Develop a playlist with the audio files you transferred to your software program. Once you launch your station, it will have content for as long as your play list is scheduled to last. So if you want to have 24 hours of straight music, your play list needs to have 24 hours of songs. Otherwise, you will have to come back and add more songs before the play list is completed.

6. Launch your online web radio station by starting the play list. Your online radio station will now be available to anyone on the Internet.

Tips & Warnings

• Unless you are paying for copyright music rights as a part of a monthly subscription fee, you will need to attain the rights for playing copyrighted music on your own. Playing copyrighted music without the proper licensing can result in very expensive fees.

References

• Reuters: "Aspiring Radio Talkers Need Only a Computer & Phone;" Paul Thomasch
• The Daily Collegian: "Stagnant royalty rates may bring end to Internet radio"

Resources

• Ubroadcast: Register
• Shoutcast: Download
• Live365: Online radio hosting service