If you’re over 50 and someone mentions “radio”, you probably first think of the traditional, terrestrial stations that transmit through large towers on either the AM or FM bands.
If you’re under 35, chances are when you think of “radio” you think about listening to it on your computer at work via streaming audio, possibly satellite radio in your car if you can afford it and maybe as a last resort those AM or FM stations Mom and Dad like.
And, if you’re under 20, you probably think the ‘Net streams are cool but, you also like listening to “radio” on your iPod or other portable audio device – after you’ve downloaded the files.
Folks: the fact of the matter is “radio” ain’t what it used to be.
A lot has changed in just the last 12 years.
In 1992, the Federal Communications Commission allocated a spectrum in the “S” band for satellite radio. In 1997, SIRIUS (formerly CD Radio) and XM Radio (formerly American Mobile Radio) forked over $80 million dollars each for the right to broadcast from space.
In 1995 software developers at RealNetworks were just starting to make progress with RealAudio – their solution for streaming sound over the Internet.
Within a few years, portals emerged for hosting hundreds of “webcasters” who started up these new virtual “radio stations”. We had many names for it at first: “netradio”, “webradio”, “netcasting”, etc.
