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Radio TalkRadio has been a part of our history for over 100 years. Today's radio broadcasts contain many of the same features as the originals including music, news, discussion, interviews, sports descriptions, and advertising.

While in the past many shows included dramas, comedies, and variety shows, today's programming tends to focus on music, news, discussions, and sports. Also, look for Spanish language, religion, talk, and materials for kids.

checkGo to Listen to the Radio from 42eXplore and learn about the history of radio. You could also check out the Ken Burns PBS documentary called Empire of the Air about the history of radio.

Radio On
To explore radio in the 1990s, consider Sarah Vowell's book Radio On: A Listener's Diary. It takes you through a year of radio listening.

Radio Broadcasts vs Radio Webcasts

Many websites now offer live and recorded radio programming. Thousands of radio stations provide live broadcasts using streaming audio technology. This is also called webcasting or Internet radio. Although traditional radio will continue to dominate, watch for continued growth in the web market.

For added understanding, skim the articles on Radio Web Casting at Web Casting Zone.

In most cases you'll use Real Player, Media Player, or QuickTime Player to listen to the streaming audio broadcasts. Some MP3 software such as iTunes contains a built-in listing of stations.

For information about downloading the plug-ins and player, check our arrow Multimedia Seeds: Tools, Drivers, and Plugins page.

checkUse a web directory to find the lists of radio stations who provide webcasts. Most of these sites can be searched by call letter, country, or format. Some of the best starting points for live radio are listed below.

Listen to some radio programming on the web. Which station did you find most interesting? What are some advantages and disadvantages to this technology for radio listening? Speculate on the future of web radio.

Radio Formats

Explore some of the different types of programming available. Use the directories above to explore webcasts in each area.

Children/Teens. Some stations cater to kids. For example, the (1) Children's Radio List and (2) Radio Disney has music that kids love. The website has activities, as well as information about local radio stations. It also gets users involved with surveys and lots of downloads.

Christian. A growing number of Christian radio stations are webcasting their programs. Find programming as stites like (1) Christian Radio.com, (2) Christian Tuner, and the (3) Global Catholic Network.

Music. When you think of radio, music immediately comes to mind. In addition to the standards you often find on local stations, streaming radio allows you to branch out. You'll find adult alternative, contemporary, and standards. In addition, look for alternative rock, top 40, classic rock, classical, country, easy listening, jazz, oldies, rock, soft, sports, urban, and variety. Others include reggae, tejano, latin, arabic, Christian, and other types. There are single station sites like Radio Paradise that describes itself as "eclectic online rock radio" or a host of Web music services like (1) VH1.com: Radio VH1, (2) Mercora, (3) Shoutcast and (4) Launchcast at Yahoo.com.

Dr.J's Jags & Jabs
image of Larry JohnsonToday many of us listen to radio programming on computer via the Internet. Thousands of stations are providing streamed broadcasts (webcasts) that can be heard with a media player program. You can access webcast radio that is linked to within the desktop interfaces for Real Radio (You can sign up for a free account), iTunes, and the Windows Media Player (Both of these last two have free software downloads and and work on Mac and Windows computers).

And for what it's worth: Say you want to know the name of that tune playing on your radio? Visit YES.com (Registration for use is free). Once on the site, you can visit the map and see what's playing around the country. Try entering a station’s call letters or keyboard in your ZIP code.

There are a number of services that automatically identify the song that is being played on a station using a cellphone: (1) 411-SONG, (2) MusicID, and (3) #DJ. It works this way - - hear a song playing and have to know what it is; grab the cell-phone, dial the ID service, and hold your phone close to the speaker for 15 seconds or more, then receive a text message identifying the song and performer(s). Of course, you also automatically pay for this information (typically $1 or more per track/title ID) and you can conveniently (8-) purchase a download copy of your own.

My personal favorite web radio service is Pandora. Here I have setup my preference lists for automated music recommendations created by The Music Genome Project. Enter the name of a song, artist, or band that I like and the service responds by playing selections that it thinks are musically similar. There is a free subscription supported by ads and a fee-based service without advertising.

Native American. Stations such as American Indian Radio on Satellite (AIROS) and Native Radio provide authentic Native American music, news, entertainment, interviews, and discussions. You can also locate Native American radio programs at the index provided at First Nations Broadcasting. Listen to a streaming broadcast (AIROS) or to an archived Native America Calling program.

News. You can listen to local and national news on your local stations. Or, try some international stations for some interesting perspectives on the news.

Schools. Use K-12 Schools from Radio Locator and College Radio from PenquinRadio to locate and connect to streaming radio stations. Check out WHHS 107.9 FM in Havertown, Pennsylvania, claiming to be the the nation's longest running high school radio station. Also listen in to 89.5 FM (KNHC), Nathan Hale High School, Seatlle Public Schools - - on the air over 30 years.

Talk. Use streaming radio to find interesting talk radio options. Talk radio includes a wide range of opinions and reflections.

World Languages. Trying to learn a foreign language? Practice using radio. You can listen to radio broadcasts in dozens of different languages. Check out Radio Bilingüe, a national public radio distributor, or Radio COPE for Spanish-language radio. Or, check out Radio France Internationale for French language.

National Public Radio has some great radio programming available. A number of their regular programs are streamed live or stored and replayed from the archives using QuickTime, Real Audio, or Windows Media. These programs include NPR Hourly News, NPR Program Stream, All Things Considered, Morning Edition, and Talk of the Nation. You can find many older programs in the Audio Archives. Some programs have their own website with archives. Go to NPR Programs for a complete list.

NPR submitted their music programming for a Webby Award. Visit and explore their Webby Awards Submission Project: NPR Music. ( 2006 People's Voice Award Winner, nominated in 2005).

Other Public Radio Programming Resources

Around the Globe

carRadio Webcasting Issues

Radio webcasts have been in the news. Many small independent web-based radio stations had been playing music without paying licensing fees. Skim these websites to gain an overview of the history of this issue.

There are many other issues related to webcasting. Use the following resources to explore.

Read an offsite news article about the web streaming:

checkRead two off-site articles: How Internet Radio Works by Debra Beller from HowStuffWorks and The Educational Applications of Streaming Audio: Accessible, Do-It-Yourself Multimedia by Grover C. Furr III from Technology Source. How could school, public, or private libraries make use of web radio and streaming audio? What's an effective way to quickly access specific archives?

 

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