How do I set up an "Online Radio"?

[TteFAboB]

I know it can be done. Rush Limbaugh does it. What do I need?

A server? What/how/when/which?

A software? Freeware? Cheap shareware? Windows Media Player?

Too much info, not enough of it for dummies.

[TteFAboB]

You guys don't spend much time surfaced to xmit radio waves I suppose. Fine. You've made me read alot of garbage but it's far simpler than I had thought.

Anyway, may Neptune spam "Be more Aggresive!" in your dreams. :arrgh!:

[joea]

Sorry mate, I'm a listener not a talker. :lol:

[Polak]

You guys don't spend much time surface to xmit radio waves I suppose. Fine. You've made me read alot of garbage but it's far simpler than I thought.

Anyway, may Neptune spam "Be more Aggresive!" in your dreams. :arrgh!:

Since you have the infromation now, how do you do it? :D
I have also wanted to start my own webradio, but I've been to lazy to check how you do it.

"google is not my friend"

[TteFAboB]

:rotfl:

Well, I'm not doing any music. If you want the short answer then skip this entire paragraph, heck even skip the second paragraph too (:lol:). "We"* needed to find a way to answer the mass of e-mails "we" receive because the answer to these questions have value to all interested individuals and not just to those who asked the question. So "we" decided to create a 2-hour a week "radio show" to answer these questions and talk about them openly instead of replying to each e-mail individually, something that can't even be done and that isn't worth it when two or more e-mails share similarities in their requests, even though "we" would like from the bottom of "our" hearts to answer each and every single one of them. Not to mention that you can convey alot more information and do it much faster by speaking it than by writing it. "We've" been doing it remarkably through YouTube (multiple #1 medals and awards, highest full five star rating after thousands of viewers, bad comments only as exceptions and vandalism and hundreds of marks as favourite) and while "we'll" still make all recorded "shows" available for download doing it live would be alot more fun for everybody and perhaps even allow us to grow and expand our listener base.

For this, "we" need a microphone (:D), a computer with a sound-card capable of encoding the input from the microphone (:p), a program to encode that input again as "streaming" data and a server to host the data.

So the only real problem is hosting, finding where or how to host your data. Someone must transmit the streaming audio to the listeners and that means bandwidth and its usage. I suppose you want a music station. If you wanted it only for yourself or for a few friends you could use your own PC as your own server if you have enough bandwidth available.

You can do it all with Winamp and Icecast, both free programs, as detailed in here:

http://www.poromenos.org/tutorials/icecast <- I'm a link! Duh! :smug:
http://www.gnuware.com/icecast/chap_01.html#chap_01_01 <- Icecast's manual intro.

Don't ask me how to best configure the monster, I have no idea and I'm leaving that to somebody with more knowledge or experience.

Anyway, the server is the problem as the bandwidth and processing power will limit the number of simultaneous connections you can have. And "we" need a dedicated server because as mentioned in the previous link "if you're streaming at 128 kbps and you have 256 kbps upload bandwidth, you'll obviously be able to support 256/128 = 2 listeners." and "we" have alot more than two listeners though if I'm not mistaken "we" should be able to stream the sound at a lower quality.

Google is definitely not my friend because I can't find it, but I suspect that if you'd like to host a public (open) music radio station you may need a license for it, unless you want to do it Pirate and break the law if that's the case. Argh! :arrgh!: This is the only thing I could find: http://www.proz.com/kudoz/1325993

*: C.I.A. non-imputable and undetermined branch immune from prosecution and protected from identification.

[TteFAboB]

For those who can't afford or aren't interested in a dedicated server:

http://www.blogtalkradio.com/default.aspx