Island Breath: Internet Radior

SUBJECT: INTERNET RADIO

SOURCE: JUAN WILSON juanwilson@mac.com

POSTED: 18 MARCH 2004 - 10:00am HST

A Rich Source of News & Music

Screenshot of interface for internet radio software Audion on a Macintosh computer

If you miss the depth and breadth of radio available elsewhere

If you are a news junkie or someone just searching for music you can't find in Hawaii and you have internet access you are in luck. It is most likely you can use your computer as a radio. Many radio stations throughout the world, including KKCR, provide live feeds of their broadcasts through the internet.

Another "Skin" interface applied to the program Audion

I am a Mac user and use two different programs to access live streaming internet radio. One is exclusively for the Macintosh and runs in Classic or OS X modes. It is called Audion and is shareware ($25) from www.Panic.com.

The advantage of Audion is that it typically pulls in about 5000 internet radio streams and supports a wide range of audio quality feeds: from meager phone dialups through cable modems to T1 connections. Audion is also a general purpose computer audio tool that can save streams to disk annd It also can have its interface customized, or "skinned". You can download a free demo of Audion and test drive it. There are similar products available for Wintel machines. I use Audion to listen to folk music from GrassyHill.org and WBFO.org, a college station from the University of Buffalo. When I lived on the mainland I listened (and subscribed) to WBFO because they played Jazz and Blues and all of the NPR (National Public Radio) news programs.

Interface for RealOne Player available for the Mac and PCs

The free player is RealOne Player provided by RealNetworks. RealOne Player can obtained from www.real.com At the bottom of the screen are links to free Mac Classic and OSX versons of RealOne Player. Watchout for the premium version that costs money, unless you need the extra features.

The advantage of RealOne Player is that it can get uninterupted signals from even slow dialup connections. It supports streaming video as well (better have a fast connection for video). RealOne Player also has a programming guide at Real Guide. I use RealOne Player to listen to Pacifica Radio, the source of Democracy Now heard on KKCR at 11:00am. RealOne Player allows you to listen live to Pacifica's KPFA (San Francisco) and WBAI (New York).