Internet Radio

[Beckski]

I thought I'd come along into this part of the forum and post about a major hobby of mine, well more of a passion, and that is Internet Radio.

For those of you that don't know, the definition of an Internet Radio station is any Radio Station that isn't FM, etc - and can only be heard online.

As I was growing up, I absolutely detested radio. Mum would put it on in the car, and I'd hate it. I'd make her put a CD on (in the earlier days, it was a tape).
Then, in February 2011, everything changed. The story really begins in July 2010 where I joined a massive online chat system called Xat, and one day in February 2011, I was getting more of the regular chats I was chatting in, so I went along to the home page and searched for other chats, and I came across the chat room of 'Ace Radio'. Ace Radio began 12th April 2009, and ran for almost 3 years, before closing 29th January 2012, due to the fact the Founder of the station, Mark Alexander, passed away July 2011 and the station just couldn't afford to run anymore, without him. The station received "Number 1" in the Internet Radio Awards, 2 years running, I believe.

After the closure of Ace Radio, all of the presenters had to find other stations to present on, and this opened my mind to a bunch of other stations. Currently, I listen to Venture Radio, 1Radio, Allhallows On Air, and Wolfman Radio. Feel free to check these stations out, they are all UK based but have presenters from a few other countries, too. They run a vast programme/schedule for their listeners, particularly 1Radio.

During October 2011, I was actually invited to co-own an Internet Radio station with a friend I'd met online. I took him up on his offer, and we created Surfheaven Radio. We ran for 7 months, before unfortunately closing down early June 2012, due to costs and other commitments. We do both hope to open a new Internet Radio station later in the year.

Well, I've waffled on about this for a while now, and you probably weren't even interested in it.
What I will just point out, before I wrap up this thread, is that anybody can start an Internet Radio station, but it takes someone special to run a station. Also, there is a VAST amount of ILLEGAL Internet Radio stations running out there, so if you were thinking of starting one after reading this, there are licenses you need to purchase. I only know about UK Internet Radio, here in the UK you need PPL, PRS For Music, and MCPS (just Google them for more information).

Thanks for reading,
Beckski