Building an Internet Radio Station

Charlie Morris
September 25, 2000

Internet radio is one of the new Web's killer applications, beating out the traditional AM/FM
kind in several departments. Although there's already a huge amount of material out there,
there are still opportunities for creative people to develop new cutting-edge music sites. If
you're thinking of setting up your own Internet radio station, here's a broad overview of how
to do it, including the technical and legal angles.

Internet radio has quietly become one of the new Web's killer applications. A short browse through the
Internet Radio List gives you an idea of how much audio material is available on the Internet these days,
and things are just getting started.
Internet radio beats out the traditional AM/FM kind in several departments. Are you into some obscure
type of music that doesn't get played on mainstream radio? You can find it on the Web. Perhaps you live
in a foreign country, and would like to hear some programming in your native language. Or maybe you're
just homesick for your old hometown radio station. While an old-fashioned radio gives you access to
perhaps a couple of dozen local stations, a computer with a sound card and an Internet connection can
give you access to an unbelievable variety of programming, anywhere in the world. Not only music, but a
huge variety of news, sports, talk shows and other audio programming is available.
Online radio does not have any geographical restrictions, nor does it need to be sequential - users can
listen to an ongoing program, or listen to pre-recorded pieces on demand. Furthermore, the medium is not
limited to audio. Limited bandwidth is the only reason that it's called "Internet radio" instead of "Internet
TV". Online audio programs can be accompanied by pictures, text, and hyperlinks to related Web sites.
Few sites have really started to explore these possibilities. Many online radio stations are run by
traditional radio broadcasters, which simply duplicate their usual programs online. In other words, there
are still opportunities out there for creative people to develop new cutting-edge music sites. If you're
thinking of setting up your own Internet radio station, here's a broad overview of how to do it.
Contents:
Delivering Media - the Technical Side
Front End Gear and the Legal Side
One Radio Station to Go
Example Radio Stations
Building an Internet Radio Station

Delivering Media - the Technical Side

Delivering Media - the Technical Side

Charlie Morris
September 25, 2000
There are two ways to deliver audio over the Internet. The easiest way is simply to make audio files
available for download. Compressed formats such as MP3 are the most popular, but any type of audio file
can be delivered through a Web site or an FTP site, allowing users to store the file on their own system,
and do with it what they will.
A more complex way to deliver audio (or video) over the Internet is called streaming. Streaming media
flows from the Internet directly to a user's sound card. It isn't stored on the user's computer, but only
played. Streaming makes it possible to deliver a continuous broadcast over the Internet, and is thus the
basis of an Internet "radio station".
The streaming model has several advantages over the downloading model. First, it allows for a program
of any length, or even a live broadcast. Second, it makes piracy easier to control, since users only listen
to a piece of music, rather than storing it on their hard drives. Third, it's simpler for users. Why bother with
storing files on your own machine if you can stream music on demand?
The technical centerpiece of an Internet radio station is a piece of software called a streaming media
server. Just as a Web server delivers Web pages, a streaming media server delivers audio or video
streams. There are three main players in the streaming media game these days: RealNetworks, Apple and
Microsoft. All three offer both streaming servers and streaming media clients with their own native media
formats. Also worth checking out, especially if you're on a low budget, is ShoutCast, a free server that
streams MP3 files.
Streaming media works through a triad of software packages - the encoder, the server and the player.
The encoder converts audio (or video) content into a streaming format, the server makes the content
available over the Internet, and the player (on the
end user's machine) retrieves the content.
Each of the big three streaming software makers
makes a set of these three components. The
players are all pretty good about playing each
others' formats, so which player the user has
makes little difference. The encoder and server
work together, however, so if you have (for
example) the RealNetworks streaming media
server, you must use their RealProducer encoder.
Pre-recorded material is prepared for streaming
using the encoder, then simply stored on the
server, just like a Web page or other
downloadable file. For a live broadcast, however,
the encoder must work together with the server in
real time. An audio feed runs to the sound card of
a computer running the encoder software at the
broadcast location (this should be a dedicated
machine). From there the stream is uploaded to
the streaming server, which may of course be at a
different location.
Do you need to buy and install your own streaming
media server? Of course not. Most major ISPs
offer streaming media as either a standard feature
or an upgrade to their server packages. Streaming
pre-recorded content is pretty straightforward, and
could be done with an ordinary hosting account or
virtual server account. Live broadcasting is a bit
more complex, since the encoder must run in real
time at the broadcast location, and because of the
large amount of computing resources required. If
you're serious about live broadcasting, you'll
probably want a dedicated server account.

Building an Internet Radio Station

Building an Internet Radio Station

Front End Gear and the Legal Side

 Front End Gear and the Legal Side
Charlie Morris
September 25, 2000
Let's move backwards a step and look at where your audio content comes from in the first place. If you
are using material that already exists in a digital format, then you may need nothing more than the
encoder software. Material on CDs can be converted to computer-readable formats by using a "ripper"
software package. Although the encoder packages include some basic audio editing tools, if you want to
do anything fancy with your programming, you'll probably want some sort of audio editing software
package.
If your source material is not in the digital domain, for example analog tapes or a broadcast of a live
event, then you'll need an audio card to get the sounds into the computer. And I don't mean a
SoundBlaster, but a professional-quality audio recording card like those reviewed in The Tapeless Studio.
Or better yet, a set of DA/AD (digital-analog/analog-digital) converters with a digital audio card. You'll also
need whatever front-end gear (microphones, mixer) you need to capture the desired content. If you mean
to do the traditional radio show thing, complete with a DJ, nifty fades, bumpers and so on, then you'll
need pretty much all the same stuff that a traditional radio studio needs (minus the transmitter, of course).
The Legal Side
If you are broadcasting only original material, or material that you have the rights to, then you can skip
this section. But if you plan to use copyrighted material, then you need to know about how performance
rights work. Yes, you can use just about any recorded material out there, as long as you pay the proper
fees to the proper folks. The catch is that this can be a bit complicated.
When a radio station plays a recording of a song, a fee is due to both the owner of the copyright in the
song (usually a music publisher), and the owner of the copyright in the recording itself (usually a record
company). Fees for songwriters and publishers are collected by three performing rights organizations:
ASCAP, BMI and SESAC. The record companies' fees are administered by the RIAA. Radio stations
must register with these organizations and pay a yearly fee, which is based on revenue, audience size,
etc. By the way, online broadcasts are NOT covered by the same blanket license that covers traditional
broadcast, so existing radio stations that add an online channel must pay an additional fee to the
performing rights organizations.
The performing rights organizations allow small fish (which includes most Internet-only broadcasters) to
pay a flat, reasonable yearly fee, and are making a good effort to make the process simple for the millions
of small operators that are springing up. Nonetheless, sorting out how to "get legal" with all four of these
outfits can be time-consuming. A good primer on how performing rights relate to online broadcasting can
be found at: http://www.kohnmusic.com/articles/newprimer.html.

Delivering Media - the Technical Side

Building an Internet Radio Station

One Radio Station to Go

One Radio Station to Go

Charlie Morris
September 25, 2000
If the technical and legal scenes all sound like too much, don't worry. There are various outfits offering
packaged "solutions". As with other types of online endeavors (e-commerce, advertising, etc.) you can
basically do as much or as little of the heavy lifting yourself as you wish.
OnAir Streaming Networks, Inc. (Formerly www.com) calls itself an MSP - a Music Service Provider. They
offer several different ways to add music to your Web site - whether you want "full turn-key service, a
completely custom solution, or just a handful of components". Their ever-growing catalog includes
"hundreds of thousands" of songs in many different genres, and they handle all the performing rights
payments. This offers a comparatively easy way to create a radio station that combines your own original
programming with recordings of popular songs. As you can imagine, the more control you want over the
revenue possibilities (advertising), the more you'll pay for the service.
While OnAir is aimed at people who want to start an Internet radio station from scratch, Radio Data Group,
Inc. sells software that helps existing radio stations get set up online. Their site makes a good read for
anyone who is going this route.
Perhaps the best-known Webcasting site is Yahoo's Broadcast.com. They offer packaged solutions to
would-be Webcasters, and like other providers they can handle as much or as little of the process as you
wish. A browse through their vendor site gives a good picture of the many things that Internet radio can be
used for. Broadcasting music over a "radio station" is just one of many business applications that are
using streaming media.

Front End Gear and the Legal Side

Building an Internet Radio Station

Example Radio Stations

Example Radio Stations

Charlie Morris
September 25, 2000
What you need in terms of hardware and software depends on what you intend to do. An online radio
station can be as simple as a few pieces of software, or as complex as a state-of-the-art recording studio.
Minimum Radio Station
This small-time mom-n-pop station offers listeners a choice of several pre-recorded programs, which are
assembled from CDs and other pre-existing recordings. They have a standard hosting account with an
ISP, and use whatever streaming server the ISP offers.

Equipment needed:
• CD Player
• CD Ripper Software (available as cheap shareware)
• Audio Editing Software
Actually, the CD gear is optional. If you compile programs from existing digital audio files, then all you
really need is some audio software and a hosting account.
Awesome Radio Station
This big-timer is going for the gold. They offer a live broadcast as well as a choice of pre-recorded
streams. Programming includes original commentary and broadcasts of live events. They own several
servers with the streaming server software of their choice, maintained by an ISP (a dedicated server or
co-location agreement). Their studio is equipped with a high-bandwidth connection such as ADSL or
fractional T-1.

Hardware:
• Assorted Microphones
 • Assorted CD and Tape Players
• Audio Mixer
• Outboard Audio Gear (EQ, Compressor/Ducker, etc.)
• Multichannel DA/AD Converter
• Digital Audio Card
• Dedicated Computer with Encoder Software

Software:
• Streaming Media Server/Encoder Package
• Assorted Audio Recording/Editing Software

Further Reading
Internet Radio Stations:
• Internet Radio List

• MIT's Online Radio List

• Spinner - 140 channels of streaming music on demand.

• Yahoo's Broadcast.com

Tutorials and Articles

• Streaming Media World

• Web Audio Workshop

• About.com - Internet Radio

• Digital Media Association - A trade group for online audio and video. Their site has a lot of
pertinent news and articles.
Vendors of Streaming Servers
• RealNetworks

• Apple (QuickTime)

• Microsoft

• ShoutCast

Service Providers for Streaming Media

• OnAir Streaming Networks, Inc.

• Radio Data Group, Inc.

Performing Rights Organizations

• The American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers

• BMI.com

• SESAC

• Recording Industry Association of America

Software Sources
• Multimedia Goodies Download Page - Links to a veritable plethora of streaming media servers,
players and utilities, many of them free or cheap.
• Jumbo - Over 300,000 Shareware and Freeware Programs.
 One Radio Station to Go
Building an Internet Radio Station
Setting Up A Shoutcast Radio Station (Step-By-Step Guide)

SHOUTcast

Definition: SHOUTcast is a completely free piece of software that allows you to broadcast audio live over
the internet (using MP3 compression).

Broadcasting

If you decide that you want to create your own internet radio station you must first of all decide which method
you're going to take. Therefore, you should consider several options before you go ahead and decide which
one is going to be the best for you.

Running A Server

You will need a lot of bandwidth to broadcast your station. For this tutorial, we'll consider the cheapest ones
first (those would be the free ones :-). Then you should move to something more reliable and with better
tools and features.

Please remember this guide is aimed at beginners, so if you already know some steps, simply skip them.

Let's Get Started!

Downloads
In order to successfully setup your radio station you're going to need the following software. They are all
available free of charge.

WinAmp - This is what you're going to use to broadcast your audio.

http://www.winamp.com

SHOUTcast Server - This is the SHOUTcast server itself.

http://www.shoutcast.com/download/files.phtml

SHOUTcast DPS Plug-In - This adds SHOUTcast broadcast ability to WinAmp.

http://www.shoutcast.com/download/broadcast.phtml#plugdownload

Server

In this guide, we'll be using SHOUTcast Server (For Windows) in order to set up a minimalist, basic radio
station using only one computer.

Also, it's worth noting that the server will use a lot of resources, so since we are setting up a local radio
station under a test environment, don't expect to have hundreds of users listening to your station, unless of
course your internet service provider can offer you unlimited bandwidth in your account.

Ideally, when you're ready to go pro and broadcast to the public, you'll want to use a Web Host (for your
station's website) and a SHOUTcast Host.

Ok, first of all:

1. Download and install WinAmp.
2. Download and install DSP Plug-In.
3. Download and install SHOUTcast Server

When installing leave everything as the default settings.

Setting Up The Server

Goto Start > All Programs > SHOUTcast DNAS > SHOUTcast DNAS (GUI)

Now there are many options to play with in this software, but we're going to modify just the essentials; those
necessary to run our mini station.

From the General User Interface (GUI), click "Edit Config".

Scroll down to the section named "Required Stuff".

Locate the variable "MaxUsers" and change it to something more realistic. Change it to '5'.

MaxUser Explanation
“MaxUser. The maximum number of simultaneous listeners allowed. Compute a reasonable value for your
available upstream bandwidth (i.e. if you have 256kbps upload DSL, and want to broadcast at 24kbps, you
would choose 256kbps/24kbps=10 maximum listeners.) Setting this value higher only wastes RAM and
screws up your broadcast when more people connect than you can support.”

Next, we need to find the Password variable and modify it. Take note of what you change it to as we'll need
it later.

Password Explanation
“Password. While SHOUTcast never asks a listener for a password, a password is required to broadcast
through the server, and to perform administration via the web interface to this server. This server should
consist of only letters and numbers, and is the same server your broadcaster will need to enter in the
SHOUTcast Source Plug-in for Winamp. THIS VALUE CANNOT BE BLANK.”

We're doing well. Now find the PortBase variable; we will use the default value, but may need to modify it if
our server fails due to a busy port.

PortBase Explanation
“PortBase. This is the IP port number your server will run on. The value, and the value + 1 must be available.
If you get a fatal error when the DNAS is setting up a socket on startup, make sure nothing else on the
machine is running on the same port (telnet localhost portnumber -- if you get connection refused then you're
clear to use that port). Ports < 1024 may require root privileges on *nix machines. The default port is 8000.”

Setting Up The DSP Plug-In

1. Open WinAmp
2. Select Menu > Options > Preferences > Plug-Ins > DSP/Effect > Nullsoft SHOUTcast Source DSP
3. Click "Configure Active Plug-In"
4. The SHOUTcast Source Window will show. At this point, you should know the IP Address used by your
internet connection; if you don't then follow these next steps.

a. Goto Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt
b. Type 'ipconfig' and press enter.
c. Take a note of the IP Address number.
d. Close the command prompt window.

Output Tab Options

1. Under ouput list select "Output 1".

2. Click on the 'Connect' button.
3. Type your IP Address where it says Address.
4. Set the Port on '8000' (default).
5. Type your password in the password box (the one you set earlier - case SEnSiTIvE)
6. Check 'Automatic Reconnection'.

Encoder Tab Options

1. Under Encoder list select "Encoder 1".
2. Encoder Type: select MP3.
3. Encoder Settings: Select speed and format - remember to use a realistic option here, don't setup a stream
quality that your connection won't be able to handle.

Input Tab Options

1. Input Device: Select soundcard input (we're going to broadcast 'live' so the server will use whatever is
playing on your computer sound card.
2. Soundcard Mixing Options here should be correct by default. The only time you'd have to change these is
if you want to add your voice to the stream in which case modify those settings to match your requirements.
Believe it or not - You're ready to broadcast your first radio
station!

1. Close WinAmp and SHOUTcast DNAS Server (just to make sure that all settings are saved and take
effect).
2. Open and minimize SHOUTcast DNAS Server.
3. Open WinAmp - Select Output tab.
4. Click on 'Connect' - at this point your radio station will be broadcasting; provided that your soundcard is
playing music/voice/sound etc.

To connect to your brand new station (preferably using a second computer): Open WinAmp or RealPlayer (in
the other computer remember).

Select File > Open (Or Open URL) (depending on your player).

Type your IP address:8000 (E.g. 83.124.2.45:8000)

That's it! Have fun with your new station and spend a fair amount of time getting to know the interfaces. It's
easy to learn!

How to create a radio frequency

transmitter?
For my science experiment i need a radio-wave frequency generator/transmitter. I
was hoping someone could give me some tips on how to create one.
preferably a powerful generator with a wide range of frequencies and if possible a
way to control which frequency. But anything would be great. If you can, could you
please tell me where you learned this.

• 3 years ago
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by amanssci...

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Best Answer - Chosen by Asker
If you have a science experiment to build but no knowledge of how to make a radio-
transmitter for it, I would suggest you buy one. Not only will that save you
enormous amounts of headaches but it will also let you get back to your science
experiment faster.

There are enormous differences in techniques to build transmitters depending on

power, frequency range, linearity requirements, pulse/continuous operation
requirements, load impedance etc..

I could give you a few ideas if you specify what it is that you are trying to do (not
just the frequency and the power, please).

But if it happens to be in a non-trivial phase-space of the power rf world, you will

curse the day you ever thought of building something yourself before you ever get
to do your experiment.

You will learn these things by building power transmitters. Especially the cursing
part. :-)

• 3 years ago
• Report Abuse
Asker's Rating:

Asker's Comment:

Thank you everyone!! all of answers were thoughtful and gave me helpful
information. As the winner pointed out, i really have no knowledge and the
type of radio frequency generator i needed to build (they don't sell it) would
have been way to complicated to build. thank you all

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• by kerry k
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Me, myself and I, have never seen anyone use that one until now. To answer
your question, the ARRL radio amateurs hand book would be a good place to
start. You could ask Nuts and Volts magazine for assistance. Ramsey
Electronics is a good source as well. Analog Devices Corporation make LSI
type devices that could be used to make a simple transmitter as well.

Source(s):
Years of accumulated knowledge, technician by education, licensed radio
Amateur.

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• by 2n2222
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There are lots of alternatives. You can hook an antenna to the spark plug of a
lawnmower, and that'll give you some impressive damped rf pulses. You can
use a microwave oven for 500 watts of UHF at whatever frequency that is--
4350MHZ? You can put a file, a battery, and the primary winding of a spark
coil in series, and connect an antenna to the secondary of the coil. This will
give you lots of wide-band disturbance. You can buy a used citizen's band
radio at the flea market, or an amateur radio transmitter.

And you can even buy a tiny multi-megahertz crystal-controlled oscillator

that'll run on five volts or three volts; they use these inside computers for the
clock, but you can hook an antenna to them.

Beyond that, look in old amateur radio magazines or books, and they'll show
you how to build any number of radio transmitters. It's really not that hard;
good transmitters are more difficult to make.
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• by dmb06851
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Since you obviously haven't a clue about what you propose doing if you go
ahead you will almost inevitably interfere with some established service.

That service might be the air band, ambulance or rescue services and your
interference could lead to loss of life.

That is the reason why radio transmission generally needs a licence, the
licence being a guarantee that the licensee knows, or should know, what they
are doing.

Abandon your "powerful generator" idea and stick to something simple, a

single stage oscillator for example.