How to Make an Internet Radio Station

You can create and broadcast your own online internet radio station. You can use your new internet radio station to broadcast talk, music, or other audio formats for your listeners. Get your voice or music heard worldwide with an inexpensive option for broadcasting that anyone can start doing!

You'll want to start off by figuring out your broadcasting needs. Are you going to run a streaming station 24/7 that plays music and shows? Or are you going to only "go on air" sometimes with content? Maybe you want to just upload shows at your own leisure such as a podcast. There are options available for any of these choices.

You can choose a paid service like Live365.com that hosts your online station and lets you choose how much bandwidth, storage, and listeners. This is good for stations you want to run 24/7. Another 24/7 option is to use a free service like Shoutcast, Quicktime Streaming, Icecast, or Peercast. Unlike Live365.com, these services let you run your station server from either your own computer or from another server. A tip to keep in mind with these options is that your own internet connection may lack enough bandwidth to host a station; so you'll want to investigate dedicated servers that can host your streams.

Or you can go the podcast route using services like PodOmatic where you create audio files of your content and upload it to servers where people can download short shows or music playlists from services like iTunes. Whichever route you choose you can get your voice heard!

Next, after you decide on how the radio station will stream you'll need to get a microphone and some recording software. Many computers come with built in basic microphones and recording software.

You'll then need to figure out what content you'll have on your radio station or podcast. Will you play mostly music, do readings, or just have a talk show? Keep in mind that with music you'll need to pay royalties if you play music owned by major labels. Services such as Live365 cover these expenses. Always ask permission before broadcasting non-major label music; many bands are happy to have their music promoted.

If you want to do live streaming with live shows you'll want to set up ways for listeners to get in touch. At the bare basic level you'll want an instant messenger service and email for fans and listeners to talk to you. You can also set up a call in number through Live365 or use services such as VoIP to create a voice calling service.

Finally you'll want to promote your station or podcast. Use services like social networking sites like Facebook, Reverb Nation, and MySpace to promote your new station.

Keep prompting, creating new content, and over time if people like your radio station you'll get more and more listeners and fans.