In general, we think of a radio as a special device that works with a certain frequency of radio waves. That is, on that frequency you can only hear words or music sent from a certain radio station. But nowadays FM radio stations can be listened to from mobile phones. In addition to this there is a method called internet or online radio. To listen to this radio, there is no special device, but an Internet connection on a regular computer. Since it is internet based, listeners can listen to this radio from anywhere in the world. This is also the reason for the popularity of these radios. Common radio stations are limited to certain areas or countries. If this certain limit is exceeded, communication with the center is lost. And the online radio can be used from anywhere if there is an internet connection.
Although somewhat new, this technology is gaining popularity very quickly. Online radio can be managed separately or under specific networks. Among online radio networks, Shoutcast (http://www.shoutcast.com), Live 365 (http://www.live365.com) are quite popular. Apart from these two there are many other networks. There are currently more than 100 Bengali radio stations online. Not all campaigns are the same. Some radios broadcast only music, while others broadcast news along with music. But the number of radio stations broadcasting live programs is not more than 10. And due to lack of proper planning, several online radio stations have closed down. Ashraf Abir, CEO of online radio Lemon 24 (http://www.lemon24.com), said that what is broadcast on the online radio channel is very important and proper planning is also required for its management. . Because after launching a channel, a certain audience is created. Therefore, no radio should be turned off suddenly.
Various events have the opportunity to stream events live via Lemon24. If a newbie is interested in creating an online radio, Lemon24 helps too.
Creating online radio is not a difficult task. Many have suddenly turned on internet radio, only to suddenly turn it off. There are many such examples in the case of Bangla Radio. Basically, such incidents happen due to lack of proper planning. Creating online radio requires technical concepts as well as proper planning. Like what kind of audience is it being made for, what will be broadcast, etc.
General procedure
- There are several methods to create Internet radio:
- Promotion in coordination with an online radio network, who will ensure the copyright of the song.
- A desktop program to capture and stream events.
The peer-to-peer method, where programs are transmitted over bandwidth, does not require any special preparation to transmit when connected to a network. These networks provide all kinds of support for streaming. Songs can be promoted here by becoming a member for a flat fee. There is no additional fee for promoting free songs as well as copyrighted songs. However, only songs can be promoted using this method. There is no opportunity to stream anything live. Some of these networks are-
Live65 (http://www.live365.com/broadcast/)
There are several benefits of subscribing, choose according to your needs.
Mercora (http://www.mercora.com)
Stream songs from your computer, edit playlists, stream pre-recorded shows.
Talkshoe (http://www.talkshoe.com)
This network can be used to launch a channel for discussion purposes only. Songs cannot be streamed from here. No special registration fee is required.
Peer-to-peer transmission method
http://www.peercast.org and http://www.icecast.org are quite popular for peercast. These services can be used completely free of charge. It can be streamed directly from the computer and works well even with relatively low bandwidth.
Live broadcast
If you want to promote in this way, you need to do all the work yourself, including web server selection, song collection, and program promotion. And compared to the previous methods, the cost here may slightly increase. However, all aspects of this online radio station can be controlled. But proper rules must be followed when promoting copyrighted songs. Because if a complaint is made, the broadcast may have to be stopped suddenly.
If you want to do all the streaming work yourself, you need to confirm a few things in advance. Since the radio will be broadcast over the Internet, the web server must have a good quality Internet connection. If the Internet bandwidth is low, multiple users will use it at the same time, sometimes causing inconvenience to listeners. Streaming requires the use of special software on the server. So getting work done from a shared web server is quite difficult. A server where separate software installation is available must be used. Online radio can be easily started with the Winamp media player (http://www.winamp.com) and the free Shoutcast plugin (http://www.shoutcast.com/). This method has gained popularity because it is relatively simple and does not require special technical knowledge.
A sound mixing panel will be required for recording or live streaming of events. In this case, the work can be done through the software without purchasing the panel. One such program is CC Mixter (http://www.ccmixter.org). Also, free software called Audacity (http://audacity.sourceforge.net) can be used to capture events.
There are several websites on the Internet from where you can legally download music. They are originally published under a Creative Commons license.
- http://www.archive.org
- http://www.musopen.com
- http://freesound.iua.upf.edu
- http://commoncontent.org
All the software needed to create an online radio is available for free. And collecting songs legally to promote them on online stations is not a difficult task. And therefore you should not use the pirated version.
