Brief history of internet radio
It was in the year 1994 on November 10 that the first live broadcast took place and this was by a space rock group known as Sky Cries Mary and done by Paul’s Allen’s. Soon after people start to know about this type of radio, it started to get immediate attention and in the year 1996, the first American internet radio station was started by Edward Lyman and was known as Sonicwave.com. This station was given the license to broadcast live and that too for 24 hours a day. With further technological advancement and with the rapid increase in the number of internet users, the quality of the streaming improved substantially, especially during the 2000’s.
What is an internet radio?
There are different names used when talking about internet radio such as web radio, net radio and streaming radio etc. This means that people can easily get to hear their favorite music and receive important news updates through streaming that is done on internet and this is basically known as webcasting. An important feature of this radio is that if the streaming media is used, people can get to listen to music without any pause. Also, this type of music cannot be replayed and thus a person can enjoy listening to the music which is played through internet radio without any hindrance.
Popularity of the internet radio
With the passage of time, the popularity of internet radio has increased and still continues to increase as the people using internet are also increasing at a rapid pace. This huge demand in the users of internet radio could be seen from the fact that in the year 2003, the revenue that was generated through it was around US $49 million, which increased to US $500 million after three years. Also, the number of people using internet radio in America alone increased from a total of 11% to 13% from 2007 to 2008. There is no age limit to the people who listen to the internet radio, as it is accessible to everyone, no matter on which area of the globe the person is located. This ease of use is also one factor that has caused its popularity to increase.
Examples of some famous internet radio stations
Some of the famous internet radio stations include Energy FM, Amazing Smooth and Jazz, Soulpower-Radio.com, 106 Coast FM Tenerife, Gold FM radio, Dubthugz Radio and various others. People can easily search for their favorite radio stations that are available on the internet in order to listen to the latest and best music hits that they wish to listen to. People can also search the stations according to the music that they wish to listen to. Some of the stations might focus upon specific types of genres where others might focus on other types. With so much variety and ease of accessibility, it is not a problem for the person to come across the internet radio station that he or she wants to listen to.