Net Radio

[Evil-Ernie]

Ive been toying with this idea for a while at starting up my own online radio station, is there anybody that has done it on here? If so how did you go about it? Any advice you could give me? etc etc

[Johnsie]

Hi,
I have some shotucast stations... It's pretty tricky to set up but once you get there it's pretty low maintenance. If I could go back I would use icecast rather than shoutcast though. With icecast and shoutcvast you can set it to be automatically playing random mp3's, a playlist or you can also have a live show.

For the live show part it's better to use Ubuntu as the server but Windows as the DJ. Winamp has a really good plugin for dj'ing over ice/shoutcast. I've spent an awful lot of time looking for a good Linux dj app but couldn't find anything as good as Winamp.

With a little bit of work you can have more than one station running off the same server. I'm using asx files to point to my server because most operating systems support that out of the box.

http://www.freebc.co.uk/rock.asx
http://www.freebc.co.uk/mixed.asx

[Evil-Ernie]

What kit did you use and did you manage to run it using open source?
Also how does it work legality-wise (ie copywrite etc)?

[grahammechanical]

I have tried turning to different internet radio stations to see if any fitted my tastes. I found that some stations would not play because the program being used to broadcast, if that is the correct term, did not play under Ubuntu.

So, I suggest make it possible for all kinds of OS users to hear the music.

Some stations are very repetitious. The same playlist is repeated over several days. That gets boring.

There is nothing wrong with only playing the music you like. That is one of the benefits of Internet radio stations. But that only gets you a few listers. There is nothing wrong with that. I suggest, allowing users some input as to the style or tracts that you play.

Regards.

[ki4jgt]

Route an input switch with audio and a mic and possibly a phone line and use Ustream. It has audio broadcasting and video broadcasting all for free.

[Johnsie]

I have this mixer and it's really good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-YAMAHA-MG82CX/dp/B000OC4AJQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1294753223&sr=8-4


Also a c1 condenser microphone (much better than standard pc mic)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-C1U-Studio-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B001MLYWVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294753274&sr=1-1

With that you'd also need an xlr cable to hook the mic to the mixer

2 x 3.5mm jack to RCA cables (one from the mixer to the pc, the other is optional to play music from a laptop/netbook to the mixer)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5mm-Jack-2-x-RCA-Phono-Stereo-Audio-Cable-3m-Lead-/130460216226?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item1e6008eba2

You can get all these alot cheaper on ebay....

[Evil-Ernie]

My idea was to build something around my RAGE night. A local community station about 2 years ago wanted to do a RAGE Radio show (so I thought) so I sent my contact a programme plan and ideas etc. But alas I was naive and I heard nothing for weeks until suddenly 'The Rock Show' popped up on the schedule and guess who was running it? Yep that same git and he severed all contact with me :( so now if I do something I want control.

With myself I have 8 DJs that can give content and lots of contacts that will send me their music etc so I shouldnt have too much of a problem filling a schedule without too much repetition. We also have the live clubnights we could record etc.

I think I could do this and make it work. I really would like to make it as open source as possible like my DJing.

[Evil-Ernie]

I have this mixer and it's really good:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Yamaha-YAMAHA-MG82CX/dp/B000OC4AJQ/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1294753223&sr=8-4


Also a c1 condenser microphone (much better than standard pc mic)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-C1U-Studio-Condenser-Microphone/dp/B001MLYWVY/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1294753274&sr=1-1

With that you'd also need an xlr cable to hook the mic to the mixer

2 x 3.5mm jack to RCA cables (one from the mixer to the pc, the other is optional to play music from a laptop/netbook to the mixer)

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/3-5mm-Jack-2-x-RCA-Phono-Stereo-Audio-Cable-3m-Lead-/130460216226?pt=UK_Computing_CablesConnectors_RL&hash=item1e6008eba2

You can get all these alot cheaper on ebay....

Cheers dude, Ive got most of that as I have my own practise studio above my flat. I use SM58s which I think would be good enough for broadcast. I have a Yamaha 8 channel mixer up there as well so that can be used. Of course the only problem with that is I cant do both recording radio and band practise at the same time! LOL

[Johnsie]

Sounds like you have the hardware side sordted out... For software either Ustream or Icecast. If you know php you can maniplate Icecast with php scripts.

[yesrno]

I once set up one for some friends, used icecast as well. Worked pretty good, only problem was that my upload couldn't handle more than 10 listeners, even tho my upload wasn't that bad. So yea, you might want to think about your bandwidth if you host it with your home connection.

[Evil-Ernie]

Another question, what server requirements would I need to pull this off?

[samalex]

Ive been toying with this idea for a while at starting up my own online radio station, is there anybody that has done it on here? If so how did you go about it? Any advice you could give me? etc etc

Unless you have the resources to host your own servers and do your own licensing, I'd suggest going with Live365. They handle all the work for you, and you can still do live broadcasts or pre-recorded broadcasts.

It's not free, but it's much less expensive than doing it all yourself.

[Johnsie]

For a start a standard pc with Ubuntu Server and icecast installed will do the trick. Once you get more listeners you can think about uipgrading appropriately. I was running off a p4 for a while and had no problems. Ram is important for performance.

The main issue will be bandwidth.... If people are having problems because your internet is too slow then you might need to loook at upgrading your internet connection. Alternatively you can decrease the quality of the stream, but that makes the sound quality worse. I run my stations at 80kbps which is probabl the lowest quality I'd be wanting to go.


http://steeky.com/radio.png


The DJ Can be either a human running a software pacakge like Winamp, or the DJ Can be a software package that autmatically loads and plays mp3's to the server.

If you have legal rights to the music (ie. persmission to use the music fromt he copyright holder) then it's fine in most countries to broadcast. If you're playing other people's music without permission then you could get in trouble,