Internet radio has exploded in the past few years, and the number of radio streams available now numbers in the tens of thousands. These include traditional terrestrial (over-the-air) stations that simulcast their broadcasts, and Internet-only stations.
Whatever your programming tastes, there's probably a station for you. Even if your preferences run to theater organ music or bird calls -- yes, there are stations for those!
As listeners we are no longer stuck with whatever we can find on our local radio dial, or pick out from the noise on a shortwave receiver. We can listen to stations that may be located anywhere in the world (or in the nowhere/everywhere of cyberspace), and hear them as clearly as if they were broadcasting from a tower in our neighborhood.
For people whose lives take them far away from their hometown or native land, Internet radio also offers the opportunity to continue to enjoy familiar stations from back home.
One of the most exciting developments is the advent of wi-fi Internet radio receivers. Starting at less than a hundred dollars, these devices work nearly identically to a regular radio set, the difference being that they allow you to tune in 15,000 ... 20,000 ... 30,000 or more stations from around the world. This technology is allowing the listening experience of Internet radio to break free from the computer (although you do still need a wireless connection for it to work).
Internet radio is even moving into our cars now, via special apps for portable devices that plug into an automobile's radio system.
We at the Internet Radio Buzz cover Internet radio with an emphasis on the radio streams themselves. We offer reviews of the stations, both terrestrial and Internet-only, that we think are the best in their genres.
In addition to station reviews, we cover (or will soon start covering) industry trends, technology (such as reviews of wi-fi devices), legal issues, starting and operating an Internet radio station, and more.
From Steve Smith
I founded Internet Radio Buzz in 2010 because of my love for radio in general, and my excitement over the incredible listening opportunities that Internet radio presents.
I grew up listening to AM top-40 radio, back when the deejays for the local rock 'n' roll station called themselves "The Good Guys." During the day I listened to the local Mobile, Alabama stations, and sometimes the ones that I could pick up from New Orleans. At night I would be under the covers with a little transistor set, marveling at being able to hear stations from Chicago, Des Moines, St. Louis, Philadelphia and New York City -- especially when they were reporting blizzard conditions that were completely outside my experience there on the Gulf Coast.
I was lucky enough to catch at least the tail-end of the border radio phenomenon. Those border blasters from just over the Rio Grande came in loud and clear, bringing offers of prayer cloths from the radio evangelists and live, baby chicks from the deejays. (I suppose "baby chicks" is redundant, but that's how they always referred to them.)
All these disembodied voices in the night seemed magical to me in a way that images on TV did not. Staying up past midnight, because that's when the 50,000-watt station out of Arkansas waited to play its "underground" music, such as the long version of "Light My Fire," was magical. Getting my first shortwave receiver and being able to hear international broadcasters from the Netherlands, Ghana, China, Australia and Ecuador was really magical.
I still have a shortwave receiver -- a top-of-the-line Grundig Satellit 800 Millennium, in fact. I am considering selling it. Many of the international broadcasters I used to listen to have ceased operations or severely cut back their service. And in any case, it long ago ceased to be fun to try to tune in weak stations through the hisses and whistles of the shortwave. I am long past the stage where it was exciting to strain to catch a station's ID before it faded out, in hopes of snagging another QSL card. Most stations probably don't even "do" QSLs anymore.
So where did that radio magic go? For me (and perhaps you, too), it went to the Internet.
Now I can listen to any of tens of thousands of stations, on demand, any time I like. The sound almost always comes through loud and clear, and my reception does not depend on the vagaries of sunspots and the state of the ionosphere. The major annoyances of early Internet radio (say, three years ago) -- the interminable buffering and the frequently dropped streams -- seems to have been largely licked.
Radio is fun again.
Contact
You may email me at: secretsteve AT mindspring DOT com
Also, please comment on any posts that catch your interest. I would like for this site to develop into an extended, multi-party conversation about Internet radio.
More ...
Here are some other sites I have developed or contributed to:
InstruMentals: Products for the Musically Superior
Create a personalized gift at Zazzle.
Ukulele Shirts --- Accordion Shirts
India Shirts - Largest selection of India-themed tee shirts on the Web.
Learn to Speak Spanish --- Learn to Speak French
Horse Mane Braiding --- Getting Rid of Yard Moles
Make A Living Selling Books Online
GoGoKitty Knowledge Center: Wine DIY Hydroponics Psychology Golf Manifestation Orchids Cats Dogs Tropical Fish
Horse Lovers
Free Book of Recipes & Food Tips
