Evolution of online radio
The creation of online, or Internet, radio was born from our prevalent interest in computer and digital technology, which began in the late 1980s. At the cross-section of computers and sound is where we first discover the potential for online radio. While there is not a definite conclusion on the positive or negative impact of this shift, this page will explore the conditions which allowed this change to occur.
In 1987, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS in Germany developed the Motion Picture Experts Group-1 Audio Layer 3, more commonly referred to as the MP3. This was one of the first successful attempts at creating a format that could store sound waves digitally. The breakthrough was extremely effective and practical, as the MP3 took up very little memory or space on early computers. In addition to the creation of the World Wide Web in 1989-1990, this opened the floodgate for thousands of online entrepreneurs to begin hosting audio on websites
across the Internet.
WXYC, a traditional radio station out of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, is regarded as the very first stations to broadcast their radio programs from the Internet. This announcement came with little fanfare by listeners, though, as the quality of early online radio stations was poor and difficult to access. Bandwidth speed was a halting issue for primitive computers and most used phone lines in order to connect to the Internet.
The law specifically forbids internet operators from allowing professional recordings to be available for free digital download on the internet without the permission of the copyright owner. In the coming years, debates were held between the copyright office, record labels, and internet radio operators as to what webcasters should pay in royalty fees to the labels, who owned the recordings, and the songwriters, who owned the songs.
As Internet radio continued to grow, more and more citizen began switching from tradition terrestrial radio to a similar version online. The online radio format not only allows everyone eases of accessibility no matter where they live but also does not confine them to the scheduled programming of their neighborhood station. Radio websites, and now even smartphone apps, allow listeners to tune-in to stations all over the country at any time of day.