Radio and the Internet

During Wednesday's class, Robin Lubbock of WBUR came to talk about the ways the radio station is using new media to connect with more people. I think it's a great idea that WBUR is doing so much to get involved with using new media but I don't think it's going to be greatly successful. Not many people that I know, personally and professionally, use Twitter. I have an account, but I don't believe I've updated it in a month or two. It reminds me a lot of the "facebook status" updates, just without all of the other functions facebook offers. I like how they're allowing visitors to upload photos and videos, because those are two things you can't see on radio. It brings radio to another level because you're using other senses, rather than just your ears, to experience radio. I like how on the site they also had links to pages that explained what each new media site was about - including facebook, myspace and gather (the latter of which i had never heard of before).

Personally, I rarely listen to the radio at all, even in my own car (I'd rather listen to the music streaming through my ipod through the tape deck, because radio commercials annoy me) and I don't think I've ever listened to a podcast or a radio broadcast over the internet. The only station I really enjoy is Jamn 94.5, and according to their website they don't seem to be doing anything involving new media. Also, I'm ashamed to admit I've never listened to NPR, either on the radio or online. So I can't really talk much about that station.

A website called RAIN (Radio and Internet Newsletter) caught my attention. There are daily newsletters here all about different radio stations and what they're doing involving the internet. It includes news and information about the radio industry and also some commentary. Another website that I found, Live365, is internet radio. People can go onto the web site and find a radio station and stream it live through their computer so they can only listen to music they like. You can also pay for a VIP membership to get more access to the site. It kind of reminds me of Pandora, which I don't use but I've heard about by a lot of my friends, and Pandora is basically free music on the internet that comes up with new artists to listen to based on the artists you already like.