how to start an internet radio station
- Thread starter dhruv227
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If you're not so interested in an actual radio station, and just streaming music, upload the songs as mp3, aac, and ogg format, and create a .m3u with the address of each of the songs. Most media players will stream the songs automatically pulling each address from the m3u. Of course, it also means people can download the songs. If you want to stop that from happening, run the files through a *.php which will only stream them if the user has logged in to the web page, and uses arguments to pull the files from a protected directory and without disclosing their location.
Zangetsu
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but you cannot upload them to one of the X10 servers for several reasons
1. copyrights
2. usage of resources i.e. if there allot of people listening to your songs not only would it eat your bandwidth away it would also crank up the cpu usage which leads to a very fast suspension of deletion of your account
1. copyrights
2. usage of resources i.e. if there allot of people listening to your songs not only would it eat your bandwidth away it would also crank up the cpu usage which leads to a very fast suspension of deletion of your account
I'm pretty sure if it's their own music, and they are legally allowed to distribute it, it is well within their rights to post it on the servers. Also, file reads are not very resource intensive at all, so that is likely not an issue. Now, it will, however, eat your bandwidth.
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Well, for basics, what you need are the following for a 24/7 radio station.
1: A dedicated PC that is running 24/7 or a server with a large supply of good quality music (128kbps minimum, higher is better).
2: A streaming server. This can be hosted either at home (if you have a fiber optic connection with 20Mbps+ of UNTHROTTLED, UNCAPPED upstream connectivity) or at a datacenter. If at a datacenter, a server with a plentiful supply of Bandwidth. If hosting from a datacenter, you need a connection that has a greater amount of upload than the stream's bitrate, as well as a connection that is both unthrottled and uncapped. Saturating your upload to the limit will choke your connection, and cause the stream to cut in and out when you're online. Also, capping is self explanatory, and throttling will cause the stream to skip.
3: Software such as ShoutCAST to perform streaming, as well as some slight knowledge of networking and some knowledge on PCs.
4: Of course, if playing music that is retail, you need permission as it is normally copyrighted. Typically the artists of the songs will allow you to play them as they want you to help get their music out to the world, but the music labels, it all depends on what they would like, since they tend to be a bit more picky about streaming/piracy than the artists since they get most of the money anyways.
But that's all that's too it. Might I also include, you need a good ear as well so that you can hear the sound quality and determine what might need to be changed, so some sound knowledge is also needed a little bit.
1: A dedicated PC that is running 24/7 or a server with a large supply of good quality music (128kbps minimum, higher is better).
2: A streaming server. This can be hosted either at home (if you have a fiber optic connection with 20Mbps+ of UNTHROTTLED, UNCAPPED upstream connectivity) or at a datacenter. If at a datacenter, a server with a plentiful supply of Bandwidth. If hosting from a datacenter, you need a connection that has a greater amount of upload than the stream's bitrate, as well as a connection that is both unthrottled and uncapped. Saturating your upload to the limit will choke your connection, and cause the stream to cut in and out when you're online. Also, capping is self explanatory, and throttling will cause the stream to skip.
3: Software such as ShoutCAST to perform streaming, as well as some slight knowledge of networking and some knowledge on PCs.
4: Of course, if playing music that is retail, you need permission as it is normally copyrighted. Typically the artists of the songs will allow you to play them as they want you to help get their music out to the world, but the music labels, it all depends on what they would like, since they tend to be a bit more picky about streaming/piracy than the artists since they get most of the money anyways.
But that's all that's too it. Might I also include, you need a good ear as well so that you can hear the sound quality and determine what might need to be changed, so some sound knowledge is also needed a little bit.
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I have setup a live / preloaded broadcasting platform.
The system is maybe more complicated than typical broadcasting needs, but we have multiple hosts scheduled at fixed times. We also wanted to allow the hosting team to be as creative as possible as well as record and publish their work.
I use 2 shoutcast servers, 1 is local on an xp box and the other is on our x10hosting vps
Hosts call into an IM / voip client running on the local xp box and their audio is passed to 1 soundcard.
This audio is then fed into the second soundcard that is being broadcast using shoutcast plugin for winamp.
The 2 soundcards mean that the hosts can be muted during breaks but they can hear the breaks. This also alllows all audio on the box to be broadcast as well as switching from 1 source to another seamlessly.
A recording program is scripted to start if the host is set to live.
A host can change their show status to on / off / pre-recorded and a few other features. This is done by using a bit of php on remote shared host on x10 as well as a webserver on the xp. The scripts that que up the intro / outro music basically read the contents of text files to see who is up next and whether they are live or pre-recorded. If live it un-mutes the audio stream, plays their intro music and ssh is used if they are preloading a recorded show.
The hosts also have a bunch of infomercial stuff they can add, 10 files of 3 different lengths, 30, 60, 120 seconds long and the system randomly picks them, determines the length and makes 3 mins out of them for the breaks....
The shows are recorded, renamed to match the host and time / date and then automatically uploaded to a folder setup for each host on our shared host server.
Ready to publish on the website within 5 mins.
I use 2 shoutcast servers, 1 on the vps is set to broadcast the 1 i have locally. I do this because if there is a seconds drop in my local connection the remote shoutcast server would freeze. It is easier to monitor the local via scripting. I have set of scripts that status of all needed programs and servers and if there is a problem they are restarted automatically within a second or so, making for a hassle free and constant broadcast.
When a show is over the system terminates their connect to allow for the next person to connect. We can take calls live and broadcast any audio with ease.
Our system is automated to the max. It fixes it's self, chooses what to play, when to play it and if there is an error either locally or on the vps it restarts it's self and it also informs the team via IM what it has had to do. The system can be administered via our website and feedback for admin tasks are IM sent to the team also. Basically it lets us all know what is happening instantly. If a host is not live for their show the system will find their last show, if they want to pre-record it will find that and if there is no show scheduled it will find something random to fill the gap.
I am very pleased with the results and am proud of what I have been able to achieve by putting the various elements together.
I will gladly assist if there are any questions about how, or whatever....
The system is maybe more complicated than typical broadcasting needs, but we have multiple hosts scheduled at fixed times. We also wanted to allow the hosting team to be as creative as possible as well as record and publish their work.
I use 2 shoutcast servers, 1 is local on an xp box and the other is on our x10hosting vps
Hosts call into an IM / voip client running on the local xp box and their audio is passed to 1 soundcard.
This audio is then fed into the second soundcard that is being broadcast using shoutcast plugin for winamp.
The 2 soundcards mean that the hosts can be muted during breaks but they can hear the breaks. This also alllows all audio on the box to be broadcast as well as switching from 1 source to another seamlessly.
A recording program is scripted to start if the host is set to live.
A host can change their show status to on / off / pre-recorded and a few other features. This is done by using a bit of php on remote shared host on x10 as well as a webserver on the xp. The scripts that que up the intro / outro music basically read the contents of text files to see who is up next and whether they are live or pre-recorded. If live it un-mutes the audio stream, plays their intro music and ssh is used if they are preloading a recorded show.
The hosts also have a bunch of infomercial stuff they can add, 10 files of 3 different lengths, 30, 60, 120 seconds long and the system randomly picks them, determines the length and makes 3 mins out of them for the breaks....
The shows are recorded, renamed to match the host and time / date and then automatically uploaded to a folder setup for each host on our shared host server.
Ready to publish on the website within 5 mins.
I use 2 shoutcast servers, 1 on the vps is set to broadcast the 1 i have locally. I do this because if there is a seconds drop in my local connection the remote shoutcast server would freeze. It is easier to monitor the local via scripting. I have set of scripts that status of all needed programs and servers and if there is a problem they are restarted automatically within a second or so, making for a hassle free and constant broadcast.
When a show is over the system terminates their connect to allow for the next person to connect. We can take calls live and broadcast any audio with ease.
Our system is automated to the max. It fixes it's self, chooses what to play, when to play it and if there is an error either locally or on the vps it restarts it's self and it also informs the team via IM what it has had to do. The system can be administered via our website and feedback for admin tasks are IM sent to the team also. Basically it lets us all know what is happening instantly. If a host is not live for their show the system will find their last show, if they want to pre-record it will find that and if there is no show scheduled it will find something random to fill the gap.
I am very pleased with the results and am proud of what I have been able to achieve by putting the various elements together.
I will gladly assist if there are any questions about how, or whatever....
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BroadWave Streaming Audio Server and VNC media player are both free packages that are good to experiment with. Both will stream live or on demand as I recall. Bandwidth is the ***** though, you can stream directly from a home PC on a broadband connection but performance degrades the more listners you get.
Let us all know when you broadcast / webcast so we and as many other who would like to help can test your setup under a real live conditions.
Let us all know when you broadcast / webcast so we and as many other who would like to help can test your setup under a real live conditions.
Bandwidth is a MAJOR consideration.
a 48kb's takes a full half meg upload with 10 people.
Ok, I just stated the obvious there, but 48kb sounds ok for mainly voice broadcasting. Music is a different story.
@ 128kb you would only be able to handle 4 people.
This is if you have 0.5 mb upload and do not have any other usage what so ever. If you want to tap into your own audio library at work or on the move you will be able to broadcast from home, but an 'Internet Radio Station' is a different story.
A waste of time really in my opinion to setup a radio station with the aim of having 10 listeners. lol.
For a radio station you need a lot of bandwidth and a vps / vm so you can install the programs you will need. Shoutcast, IceCast, red5, flash media server are some of the options available to you.
If you were looking for an outlet for a show and your show ideas were in keeping with what we are doing on 4ALLofUS I would have to be talking with you.
If you think your radio station is going to complement what we are running then have a think about syndication. 2 stations, 2 audiences, 1 bit of cooperation.
Just a thought.
a 48kb's takes a full half meg upload with 10 people.
Ok, I just stated the obvious there, but 48kb sounds ok for mainly voice broadcasting. Music is a different story.
@ 128kb you would only be able to handle 4 people.
This is if you have 0.5 mb upload and do not have any other usage what so ever. If you want to tap into your own audio library at work or on the move you will be able to broadcast from home, but an 'Internet Radio Station' is a different story.
A waste of time really in my opinion to setup a radio station with the aim of having 10 listeners. lol.
For a radio station you need a lot of bandwidth and a vps / vm so you can install the programs you will need. Shoutcast, IceCast, red5, flash media server are some of the options available to you.
If you were looking for an outlet for a show and your show ideas were in keeping with what we are doing on 4ALLofUS I would have to be talking with you.
If you think your radio station is going to complement what we are running then have a think about syndication. 2 stations, 2 audiences, 1 bit of cooperation.
Just a thought.
amilanuwan
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Friends,
Why dont you try SAMVIBE if you wish to start online radio station?
click here website
it is a cloud internet radio broadcasting solution. Perfect for almost everyone.
Full with proffesional broadcasting features and with better and big space for content management.
Just visit there and check it out.
GOOD LUCK
Why dont you try SAMVIBE if you wish to start online radio station?
click here website
it is a cloud internet radio broadcasting solution. Perfect for almost everyone.
Full with proffesional broadcasting features and with better and big space for content management.
Just visit there and check it out.
GOOD LUCK
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Z3R0xZ3R0
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I agree with the Shoutcast broadcasting. I've used it for years between my friends an family. It's a great choice if you have top notch T1 or higher internet speed. Anything lower than that will have you only broadcasting to a couple people at a time. You can change that though by lowering the broadcast quality. The other thing is, your listeners will most likely have to use Winamp to tune in. Winamp and shoutcast go hand in hand.
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This is a 4 year old thread. If you're interested in discussing internet radio, start a new thread; a lot has changed since 2009
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