Who's Still Not Streaming?
Written Dec. 19, 2007 by Sean Ross in Internet Radio + Terrestrial Radio with 5 Comments
In the course of yesterday's posting about WRKS (Kiss FM) New York, I realized how weird it was to be writing in this day and age about stations that don't stream. During 2007, most of the major-market and large-group holdouts finally became available on the Web. If I moved out of range of New York radio tomorrow, I'd lose Kiss and its Emmis sisters -- at least for now -- and the oddball Oldies/Standards mix on Long Island's WNYH. And that's it.
That got me thinking about what I'd like on The Infinite Dial that still isn't streaming. And it's a gratifyingly short list. I haven't been able to listen to any of the British stations that are running an all-Christmas format (with some Web-only exceptions, as previously noted). I haven't been able to check out some of the intriguing looking HD-2 multicast channels. I wasn't able to write about Adult Standards WNMX Charlotte, N.C., when I was at NAB because they neither streamed nor were audible in my downtown hotel room. And I never got to hear Saul Levine's Southern California Classic Country AM, which promised to be as iconoclastic as any of his other stations.
It's not like I don't already have more radio than I can possibly get around to listening to. But in a pefect on-demand world who else would be streaming?
* WTIX-FM New Orleans and WAKY Louisville, two quirky Oldies FMs that are reanimating some vintage call letters;
* The Emmis stations that are still MIA, particularly KBPA (Bob FM) Austin and KPWR (Power 106) L.A.;
* Adult Top 40 WBMX (Mix 98.5) Boston;
* The English/Spanish-language CHR hybrid on KSSE (Super Estrella) Los Angeles, and Bob Perry's American "Radio Digital" Spanish-language CHR clients;
* KRXY Olympia, Wash., the unusual Adult Top 40 that was my P1 station for several months from 3,000 miles away when it did stream around the early part of this decade.
And after that, the list gets even more eclectic. And a lot of the list above is likely to appear on the Web sometime during 2008. But you definitely take for granted having so much radio available: I went looking for KEGL (the Eagle) Dallas in its first day back as a Rock station yesterday and was surprised to find it not yet there.
So what's your list? What station would you listen to right now if it was streaming?
Reader Comments
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KBLU 102.9 in Santa Fe, New Mexico was a station I listened to for hours.
Evidently I was one of the lone few because the stream was killed several months ago.
To which I ask, "What the hell are you thinking?!"
Niche formats in particular should integrate what can be heard locally on an FM tuner into their website. It makes sense given the high use of internet technology among the core listeners of ambient and "chill" music.
But I also believe that it is absolutely essential and imperative that EVERY radio station in the U.S. have a) a website and b) audio streaming. This is because, in my opinion, a "radio station" is no longer a "radio station." It is an audio-visual media brand that offers music, personality, compelling entertainment and fun.
European radio stations get it - visit FrequenceMetz.fr, www.radiomontecarlo.net or any station from the Netherlands and you'll get multiple audio channels, ways to interact with the radio station via various platforms and lots of engagement-inducing features that provide perfect opportunities for advertisers to go beyond the ROS.
Radio Monte Carlo even has its own iTunes playlist page. 1) Go to the playlist 2) click on the song 3) click for an audio sample and it takes you to iTunes Italia
If your website doesn't offer this, along with two or three audio streams, and your core audience are adults 18-34, you're going to become a relic of another time when cell phones were a luxury, the "world wide web" was logging on to Prodigy and cable television packages with 36 channels were a big deal.
Sean, if you wanted to hear how Saul Levine's Southern California Classic Country AM, known as 'The Zoo' @ 540 AM sounded (now that they're gone), you can hear what they were basically simulcasting with San Bernardino's "The Toad" KTDD AM 1350 which DOES stream online. The Zoo was using the same feed for most of their day, I checked it because I could receive both stations.
Check it out from the Radio-Locator site which has the audio stream link and their regular website link:
http://www.radio-locator.com/cgi-bin/finder?call=KTDD&sr=Y&s=C&x=15&y=4
KKDA-FM and KKDA-AM Dallas
One of the top urban hip hop stations and one of the few urban oldies AMs left anywhere
Totally different format - KNXR Rochester, MN maybe the only truly old school East Listening station left in the U.S.
I'm with you on Soul 73, KKDA-AM, which always knocks me out when I'm in Dallas. K104 was one of the earliest stations on the Web, but came off. KKDA-AM was never on there.
Hartford's WDRC-FM, which had a huge playlist as an oldies station & may still as a classic hits.