Welcome to 'Transmitting to Earth'. I'm Charssun and I'll be your host. This blog and podcast is a byproduct of VoyagerRadio.com and is intended to provide the most timely information about this Internet radio station. It is also intended to be a fun and accessible electronic journal with commentary focusing on Internet radio, podcasting and webcasting issues and technologies, music, and some of my other interests. I also offer personal perspective about being an Internet radio broadcaster (and podcaster).
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Reminiscing on SimulcastingDuring my Internet radio station's youth (like it's so old now), I often simulcasted a progressive rock station called Radio Gnome. To Simulcast is essentially to simultaneously broadcast (or webcast, in this case) on more than one channel or frequency. (At least, that's what I've come to know it as. I never went to broadcasting school, so I'm not entirely sure.) In Radio Gnome's case, he was webcasting a weekly live show, Flying Teapot Theater, at a high bitrate for broadband (cable and DSL) listeners. I had heard the Teapot a few times and found the show's host remarkably entertaining--he claimed to webcast his progressive rock show from the original "Hotel California", which was in reality his front porch in Hermosa Beach--and after consulting with the Gnome, I began to simulcast his live show on my own station, but at a lower bitrate so that dialup listeners could tune in to the show. To make this possible I used a tool called MacAmp along with a plugin called Audio Hijack, on a Mac OS 9 system. (MacAmp is no longer being actively developed, but Audio Hijack has taken on a life of its own on Mac OS X.)
The setup worked well, for the most part--though sometimes my old Mac crashed--and we had some really good times. After a few months it became too exhausting for me to maintain a commitment to simulcasting Flying Teapot Theater, and I wanted to focus on developing my own programming for VoyagerRadio, so I eventually stopped simulcasting the show. Flying Teapot Theater continued, however, and since then has gone through a variety of permutations. Though relatively little known, Radio Gnome is one of the (if not the) most rocking and entertaining progressive rock Internet radio stations you can find out there, and certainly one of the most independent--which makes for interesting programming. Though his website ain't the prettiest--bless his heart, he's trying, though, dammit--take a listen to his show sometime you're in the mood for progressive rock or something different from the usual fare. If his website is unavailable for some reason, tune in to his show on his page at Live365.com, which should always be available: http://www.live365.com/stations/zotzz56 And let him know I sent you, so he knows I'm still listening!
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