Most everyone probably has a favorite radio station, FM or AM (unless you only listen to CD’s or satelite radio), they like to listen to while driving in the car, running, or whatever. Well, if you are ever at your computer and want to tune in, look no farther than the Internet.
Virtually all radio stations have a web page and, typically, offer an online stream of their broadcast. This is a great way to listen to shows or music anytime. The best thing is you are not limited to only what your radio picks up, you can tune in to any radio station in any city by just visiting their page. The quality, while it is not crystal clear, is usually good, but this depends a lot on the stream offered by the station.
Unfortunately one thing you cannot listen to on the online stream are any sporting events they may carry (baseball, football, etc.) due to blackout rules. Believe me, I have tried many times on many different online stations.
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Streaming is a great solution when you can not receive a radio station in your area. I dislike the hurdles that some sites put in place before you can access the stream. Some sites require you download unique one of a kind streaming software, create personal accounts on their web site, and cram ‘in your face’ ads into the stream not usually heard on off the air radio broadcasts.
Good points. I use Slacker (slacker.com) or Pandora (pandora.com) as music options, because I can select a genre of music and it will tailor the music I get based on the “thumbs up” or “thumbs down” that I give to music. Additionally, I usually have some time when I want to catch talk radio, to get my favorite on-air commentators. Many will carry the biggies (Limbaugh and Hannity being an example). Only a select few will carry the particular host of your choice. A while back, while trying to find an online source for Glenn Beck, I finally found KTOK in Oklahoma City, that streams Glenn for free. Otherwise, one usually has to go to the website of the radio personality of choice and sign up (with a fee, of course) to stream their program. Medved, Limbaugh, Hannity, Beck are all examples of that. It’s a bit of work to find a source that is already streaming for free, but it’s worth it. Of course, iTunes has a conucopia of “podcasts” that also include your favorite hosts. Thanks for the great website, you guys do a great job taking something that seems so intangible (electrons flying around inside a computer) and bring it down to a layman’s level. Good on ya’.
“Unfortunately one thing you cannot listen to on the online stream are any sporting events they may carry (baseball, football, etc.) due to blackout rules. Believe me, I have tried many times on many different online stations.”
I do it all the time. You just have to pick a station that is outside the blackout area. I am an Atlanta Braves fan, and I live in Colorado and I listen to all of their games. Go to your favorite teams website and see if there is a link to their radio network. Also you can usually get the broadcast by tuning in a station in the “away” teams home town. Also MLB offers all of the games online for every team for only $20 a year.
This is odd… I live in Atlanta and am a huge Braves fan and I cannot listen to their broadcast on either the AM (640) or FM (94.9) affiliates. I have tried numerous times, but they simply play other programming instead.
I have also tried listening to the broadcast of who they are playing via their online stream and get the same results.
How did you get around this?
I don’t do anything special. Just pull up the station and listen. Of course I live in Colorado, not Atlanta. Maybe the broadcasts are blocked based on your IP address. WFIS is one station I listen to frequently for Braves broadcasts.
Mark, my local radio station carries Rush, Sean, and Glenn back to back live. No signup, no login, no ads.
http://www.600kcol.com.
Here is a cool website run by M.I.T. just put in any zip code and you can see the station list for that area, and if there is a lightning bolt icon on the left than you can listen to that station online. You can also see how far the station transmitter gets out. http://www.radio-locator.com/
Cheers!
Hi There All
My name is Matty Smith and i am part of a local college radio called Solar 1287 AM is there any way i could listen to this station on my laptop without spending any money ?
Many Thanks For The Help
Matty