Creating a radio station. From idea to implementation

Hello!
Many, probably listening to the radio, had a desire to create their own radio station. 7 years ago such a desire appeared to me, I imagined myself being the director of a large radio station, where only my favorite music is spinning, where people call and send greetings. My father took off the children's “pink glasses” - he explained that for this you need to register a radio wave, buy a huge amount of equipment, negotiate with music holders for music, and all this should be accompanied by huge bundles of money in different cabinets with uncles in ties. This is how children's dreams fall apart, but the “pink” dream turned into a thorough reflection on the possibility of creating a radio station. And only this year I had like-minded people, and we began to implement the ideas accumulated over a long time.

During the implementation of ideas, I encountered the problem that there is not so much useful information on creating a web radio, mostly copying articles or a very superficial description. There are already a lot of bumps and still continue to face some problems, the solution of which you have to look for yourself. In order for other users to have fewer problems in the future, I suggest you heed a series of articles that will describe all the stages of creating Internet radio. Each article will represent a separate stage: from idea to implementation, from music selection to legal issues and, possibly, we will touch on the subject of creating a real radio station.
The cycle of articles, as well as all organizational and legal issues, I plan to complete by December. Topics to be covered:

1. Idea
2. The choice of broadcast technology
3. Server selection and setup
4. The choice of software for live streaming
5. Studio: site selection, repair, equipment
6. Creating a site for the radio station
7. Selection of music, the formation of the air grid
8. Legal issues
9. Work with advertisers
10. Conceived and unrealized

This article will be announced all the initial plans for the creation of Internet radio.

Idea

The idea does not pretend to be unique, but I wanted to create my own youth Internet radio, where besides music there will be live communication, where they will have their RJs with good diction and high-quality sense of humor, where there will be no rigid censorship framework and there will be little advertising.

Music

One of the most important aspects when creating your own radio station is the style of music. Since I and my like-minded people like dance music, we chose this direction accordingly, it is quite extensive and if you turn all the tracks in a row, you would have received a vinaigrette, and this could kill the listeners' interest. Therefore, it was decided to split the day into different styles of dance music:

• in the afternoon - popular club music (Electro, House);
• in the evening - music, under which it works well and surfs on the Internet (Trance);
• early at night (23:00 - 01:00), when listeners are going to sleep - calm, relaxing music (Lounge, Dub);
• late at night - music to stay awake (Drum'n'Bass, Techno, Hard Style);
• morning - the immortal hits of the 80s, 90s, 00x with modern processing or without it.

Radio show

The focus is on high-quality music, but much attention should also be paid to radio programs, because we are creating an interactive radio station. Conducting the show should be with a humor. Gear Ideas:

• Greetings and congratulations (2 broadcasts every day);
• News feed about club events (1 time per week);
• Radio show with DJ known and not very (2-3 times a week);
• Humorous program about cars, in the style of "Top Gear" (1 time per week);
• For those over 20 (once a week, after midnight).

Technical implementation

To start the radio station use a dedicated server on which the software for broadcasting non-stop music with the ability to connect to live broadcasts will be installed.
On a computer that is live, software must be installed with the ability to work with a microphone. Make the possibility of calls to the studio (Skype, mobile phone), communication in ICQ, as well as through the feedback form on the site.
Creating a site on which there will be a grid of airs, voting for the tracks, a poster, as well as a feedback form to communicate with the radio host.
The main criterion when choosing a provider for a dedicated server is a wide return channel. When broadcasting with a quality of 192 kbps. for 1000 listeners, the channel must be at least 188 Mbit / s.
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Legal issues

From the very beginning, we didn’t want to have problems with the law, so it was decided to get permission from the copyright holder for each song that will be broadcast live. How, and with what success - I will tell in one of the following articles.
At the same time, registration of a legal entity was planned, for “white” work and paying all taxes.

Money issue

We all understand that you have to pay for everything. From servers and domain name to salary RJ. With bare enthusiasm and with an empty wallet, something is unlikely to work out, so at first we were ready to pay money from our own pockets and work in the “minus” until advertisers appear on the horizon. Yes, we decided to include advertising on airs, but it was unanimously decided that it should be as small as possible, because we know how tedious it is to listen to advertising every 20 minutes of airtime.
In order for advertisers to want to pay, it is necessary to achieve a certain popularity of the radio station and a stable number of listeners. Here it is important to promote, to bring listeners, and the work of RJ, so that the listener wants to return. We understood this and tried to approach the work with responsibility.
The main goal we set to let all the money in the development of the radio station, and not the purchase of Mercedes and Lexus.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I want to apologize for the superficial presentation of the material and the lack of technical details. This is the announcement of a series of articles, so starting from the next article, the technical side of creating an online radio station will be published.
The main inspiration for the creation of online radio was one radio station from Krasnoyarsk. Let it not an ideal and RJ'i they are not professionals, but for their example, we decided to launch its station.
In the next article we will talk about webcasting technologies, will provide a comparative description of the two main technologies Icecest and Shoutcast, as well as a detailed description of their installation and configuration.
Thanks for attention!