Listening to Radio

Posted on July 2, 1996

If you were covering the recent crisis of Canadian Airlines from eastern Canada and you wanted to get a sense how ordinary people in Vancouver were reacting to the story, you could have clicked on your computer and listened to talk shows on CKNW radio live on the Internet.

Or if some local troops from our hometown are heading over to Zaire, maybe you'd like to tune in to United Nations Radio? Or better still, go straight to the source and listen to Channel Africa

Or simply curious to hear what Aunt Mabel in Sydney, Australia is listening to?

All of these and more can be enjoyed through one of the most quickly-expanding but still little-known news features for journalists on the Web: live audio.

WHAT'S AVAILABLE?

Some of the world's best public broadcasters are available on the Net. They are listed on the World Radio Network home page. My favourite are the Australian Broadcasting Corporation which offers a daily one hour show of news and current affairs and RTE Dublin

For two world bodies, you can listen to United Nations Radio as mentioned above for weekly updates. And you can also listen to Vatican Radio ) in English, French, German and Spanish with daily 15 minute bulletins. Heh, even the Pope has a homepage!

There are only about a dozen Canadian stations on-line so far, including CBC radio and CBC stereo 24 hours a day.

Excellent American news comes out of National Public Radio and the Christian Science Monitor radio network. ABC radio news also provides short news bulletins and the more predictable kind.

AUDIO ARCHIVES

Live news is only one feature of audio on the net. Journalists can also find a treasure throve of archived audio material. National Press Club in Washington. It has catalogued half-hour speeches from the famous speakers at its luncheons over the past years -- everyone from the Dalai Lama to Yitzak Rabin and Margaret Thatcher. I particularly liked listening to the non-politicians such as anthropologist Richard Leakey or 60 Minutes creator Don Hewitt. A real treat to listen to while you're typing out some boring text on the computer!

NPR, the American public broadcaster, and various CBC shows also offer some useful archives.

Don't be shy. You don't just have to listen to straight news radio. You can try some great country stations in the States, or Rock on the Rock - - with OZFM in Newfoundland.

You can catch your favourite basketball or football team on ESPN.

WHERE TO FIND LIVE AUDIO?

Radio stations offering live radio give you an easy icon to click on and listen -- plus download the needed software if you don't have it. (We'll get to that in a moment.)

One of the best lists of on-line broadcasters is at BSRadio . You can search by country and call letters.

The Timecast page is probably your best starting point. You can search by topic or country, by the kind of radio you want -- news or sports of entertainment.

Timecast even allows you to program your own daily briefing -- I select some public broadcasting, some computer news and some book talk.

Timecast also gives you a calendar of upcoming live events. You can even get an e-mail to notify you when the game or concert or speech is about to start!

WHAT DO YOU NEED?

How good is the sound quality? At times, it can be quite good -- the best radio stations even offer stereo. Still, most Net sites offer uneven broadcasts that sound like old transition radios.

Sound files pack a lot more information than simple texts so the speed of your computer and your modem will have a big impact on the quality of sound you hear.

It's a good excuse to upgrade to a 28.8 modem if you haven't already.

You'll obviously need a sound card, and a decent pair of speakers can be had for $50 - $90.

There are several software tools you can download for free to listen to the audio on tenet. Real Audio is by far the most widely -- and easiest -- to use, though some Canadian and other radio stations also use Streamworks .

RealAudio also offers a $40 fancier piece of software called RealAudioPlus which gives you a sort-of car radio push button dial that allows you to pre-select six of your favourite stations and listen to them with a click of the button.