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[HCDX] Nobody Does Web Radio Better Than BBC
Nobody Does Web Radio Better Than BBC
Live streams of music, news, entertainment -- plus
archives -- are so good they can lure you to areas you
might never have thought about.
The first Internet radio station broadcast was in
December 1993. The subject: a speech by Larry King at
the National Press Club in Washington. The number of
people who tuned in: nine.
King gets a bigger audience than that when he has
breakfast at Nate 'n Al's.
Now there are 3,834 broadcast radio stations in 151
countries that stream online, according to a tally
compiled by Live-Radio.net in London, not to mention
the thousands of personal Internet channels that
emanate from bedrooms and basements around the world.
These stations include the highly official ? China
Radio International (en.chinabroadcast.cn) ? and the
highly obsessive ? the all-"Ave Maria" channel
(www.avemariaradio.tv) that plays the song 24/7,
performed by the likes of Cecilia Bartoli, Jose
Carreras, Barry Manilow and Jewell.
But no one does Internet radio better than the grande
dame of broadcast radio itself: the British
Broadcasting Corp.
At the BBC radio site, http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio ,
you'll find live broadcasts of the network's hallowed
World Service ? in 43 languages ? that debuted in 1932
and set the standard for international radio.
But the Internet has also brought the rest of BBC
radio ? designed for domestic consumption ? to a far
wider audience. It is some of the most vibrant,
entertaining radio in the world.
The domestic service consists of 10 English-language,
live channel streams with programming on business,
current affairs, drama, comedy, science, religion and
a variety of music genres, including pop, classical,
hip-hop, jazz, country-western and world music.
It's also a site that many people apparently turn to
for breaking news. Shortly after the London public
transit bombings Thursday morning, I tried to access
the BBC's all-news Five Alive channel online, but it
was so overloaded with people seeking its live local
coverage that I couldn't get to it for nearly two
hours.
Under normal circumstances, however, the service is so
good that it can lure you into areas you never thought
you'd find engaging.
Take hip-hop, for example. Even if you're one of those
people who thought you'd never like the genre (my hand
is raised), it would be hard to find the mixes by
announcer Ras Kwame on the Radio 1 channel as anything
less than enthralling.
Conversely, any open-eared listener to "Discovering
Music" ? probably the best show explaining classical
music since Leonard Bernstein's "Young People's
Concerts" half a century ago ? would find it hard to
dismiss dead-composer music as no longer vibrant.
In addition to the live streams, hundreds of archived
programs are just a click away. And in the last few
weeks, the BBC has begun making a few of the shows
available via podcasting.
BBC executives decline to release figures on how many
foreigners are tuning in to these domestic channels,
which went online in 1999. But given that about
one-third of the visitors to the radio website are
from outside Britain, there's no doubt they are
globally popular.
Maybe too popular. Enjoy it while you can; they might
be taking it back.
Sending BBC's domestic programs around the world for
free amounts to subsidizing foreign consumption of a
service that British citizens have to pay for, and BBC
management is considering ending it.
The domestic service, including the online streams, is
subsidized out of the annual license fee charged to
every household in Britain that has a television set.
The fee, which also supports a variety of other
noncommercial BBC radio and television operations,
comes to about $230 per household.
The fact that we outsiders get the service without
having to pay a fee probably would not be an issue if
this was standard broadcast radio, which costs the
same to distribute no matter how many people are
listening.
But the more people listen to online radio, the more
bandwidth the broadcaster has to purchase.
"It's a complex situation," said Simon Nelson,
controller of the BBC's radio and music interactive
services.
"I'm proud that we deliver a service that is valued
all over the world. But I have to make sure we are not
using the public license fee to subsidize free
international services. We need to find the right
balance."
Nelson said no decision has been made on the
possibility of restricting the online domestic service
in some way ? possibly to listeners who have Internet
addresses inside Britain.
The message is that it's probably not going to
disappear right away. But just in case, go for it now.
You'll need access to a broadband connection. The
channels stream at the fairly bountiful rate of 44
kilobits per second. That information stream is fat
enough to provide quite adequate stereo quality, but
it's too rich in digital content for dial-up
connections to comfortably handle.
(The World Service, meant for an international
audience and subsidized by a separate government fund,
streams at a 16-kbps rate that accommodates listeners
with dial-up connections.)
At the BBC radio home page, a list of music and
spoken-word categories can be found on the right.
Clicking on one leads to archived shows ? most
broadcasts on the domestic service are held in the
archive for a week and some for far longer.
Access to the live broadcasts are in the center of the
page.
Here are some highlights:
? Radios 1, 2 and 6 are pop/rock stations with
various degrees of edginess.
? The 1Xtra channel is billed as "new black music,"
encompassing hip-hop, R&B, garage, dancehall and other
styles.
? Radio 3 is the killer classical service, with
nearly 150 of the aforementioned "Discovering Music"
shows ? each of which typically examines one piece of
music to explore its themes, history and importance.
? Radios 4 and 7 are the spoken-word channels, with
business news, drama, comedy (Radio 4 streams
adaptations of the late Douglas Adams' "Hitchhiker's
Guide to the Galaxy") and children's shows.
There are also general news and sports channels, but
the news ? unlike on the World Service, which provides
an international perspective ? is weighted to local
coverage, and the sports coverage is of limited
interest unless you are into professional soccer and
cricket.
I hope it doesn't all go away. When I was a kid
growing up in a small town, there was a retired
neighbor who had on her screened-in porch an old
shortwave radio in a cabinet the size of a washing
machine. I would sit there for hours, slowly twisting
the frequency knob to work my way across the dial,
looking for stations.
That was a long time ago, but I still get a bit of a
kick out of listening to live radio that is
originating from the other side of the world. The fact
that the stations are of such high quality adds
immeasurably to the experience.
I hope it stays around for generations to come.
Ten channels from the BBC's domestic service are
available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio . In addition
to the live broadcasts, many of the programs are
archived for at least a week for listening later.
Here's a guide to the channels and a sample of their
offerings:
Channel: Radio 1
Genre: Top 40, dance, hip-hop, live concerts
Current programs: "Radio 1's Chart Show," "OneMusic
With Ras Kwame," "Dance Anthems"
Channel: 1Xtra
Genre: "New black music," including hip-hop,
dancehall, garage, R&B; documentaries
Current programs: "Destination Africa," "Mixlab,"
"Dancehall Splurt," "Sounds of Soca"
Channel: Radio 2
Genre: Album pop/rock, oldies, jazz, folk, musicals,
gospel
Current programs: "Lulu," "Elaine Paige," "Beverley's
Gospel Nights," "Masters of Rock"
Channel: Radio 3
Genre: Classical, jazz, world music
Current programs: "Discovering Music," "Composer of
the Week," "Early Music Show," "Jazz Legends"
Channel: Radio 4
Genre: Current affairs, arts, business, science,
history, religion, philosophy
Current programs: "Adventures in Science," "A Good
Read," "Poetry Please," "Year in the Arab/Israeli
Crisis"
Channel: Radio 5 Live
Genre: News, business, sports, call-in shows
Current programs: "Morning Reports," "Wake Up to
Money," "Sport on Five," "The Rumor Mill"
Channel: Radio 5 Live Sports Extra
Genre: Live sports
Current programs: Live coverage of sports events
Channel: Radio 6
Genre: Archived studio sessions, documentaries, album
pop/rock
Current programs: "Dream Ticket," "Tom Robinson's
Evening Sequence"
Channel: Radio 7
Genre: Drama, comedy, children's programs
Current programs: "Anna Karenina," "Big Toe Radio
Show," "Comedy Monologues"
Channel: Asian Network
Genre: News, music, discussion, soap operas
Current programs: "Devotional Music," "Silver Street,"
"Film Cafe," "Weekend Punjabi Show"
By David Colker (Via www.latimes.com)
Regards & 73?s
Mukesh Kumar
MUZAFFARPUR
INDIA
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