KBCO close to online simulcast

BOULDER – Local rock station 97.3 KBCO-FM is finalizing plans to begin simulcasting the station’s live broadcast online as soon as January.

KBCO is now Webcasting, or audio streaming, Christmas music for online listeners at its site, located at www.kbco.com, a station spokewoman said. After they launch, simulcasting will allow listeners to tune in to the station’s regular, live programming as well.

KBCO is owned by Clear Channel Communications, operator of eights stations in the Denver metro area and four in Fort Collins. Denver-based stations are KBCO-FM, KPBI-FM, KHOW-AM, KOA-AM, KTCL-FM, KHIH-FM, KRFZ-FM and KTLK-AM.

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KTCL, KOA and KHOW are now simulcasting, despite some problems with streaming, said Carolyn Tedder, Web developer and project leader in Clear Channel’s Internet Development Group. A bandwidth issue had hindered the project’s progress at first, but Tedder said the problem has since been solved and now it’s just a matter of getting everybody set up.

If everything goes as planned, she projected that KBCO and Clear Channel’s other Colorado stations could be simulcasting sometime in January.

The technology making Internet radio possible isn’t new, industry experts say. But the larger stations have been slower to move to the Web than smaller competing start-ups that only broadcast over the Internet.

Joe Pezzillo, founder and general manager of Eclectic Radio, Colorado’s first Internet radio station, began broadcasting in April 1997 as GoGaGa.com. Eclectic now has eight varied-format radio stations broadcasting over the Internet. Eclectic Radio recently received a “seed” round of investment funding to expand, The Business Report reported in its Dec. 17 issue.

RealAudio was the first software system widely available to listen to audio streaming on the Internet. KBCO will be using Windows Media for its Internet listeners. Users with Windows 95 and 98 already have access to MediaPlayer software. Those who don’t can download it.

Presently software systems cannot be used interchangeably. So if a site specifies one system, Windows Media on KBCO’s site for example, users only can listen using that software. But operators have the option to incorporate multiple systems if they choose. Eclectic Radio listeners can access programming using either RealPlayer, MediaPlayer or QuickTime.

Right now, Pezzillo said there are more business hurdles for Internet radio than technology hurdles. To make it possible, three technologies have to come together: wireless Internet, a software system and multicasting, the distribution method for traditional media.

“It’s not nearly as far as people would like to believe,” he said. “The increasing amount of bandwidth available on the Internet will make a major difference; multicasting is going to revolutionalize it.”

Today, the most commonly used streaming technology is unicasting. The problem is space. To unicast, a connection has to be opened to each individual listener. Multicasting uses less bandwidth because it has the capacity to reach multiple audiences. The technology is already there, it just isn’t being implemented yet.

A few companies are making Internet radio appliances. Similar to a radio, the unit can be plugged into a computer. The only difference is that instead of picking up radio waves, the unit allows users to tune into Internet stations.

Eventually, Pezzillo predicts there will be a portable product, something between a cell phone and a Walkman, that will allow users to listen to Internet radio away from their computers.

One of the biggest challenges for Internet radio as a whole is the difficulty many users face in applying the technology. “If you have to fight with your computer, you’re not going to do it,” Pezzillo said.

For Internet-based stations like Eclectic Radio, marketing can be difficult because they reach a national audience. In order to get people to tune in, Pezzillo said these stations must promote the product on a much larger scale. But even with these challenges, he anticipates a major increase in online listenering within the next year.

Pezzillo said competition is the greatest challenge traditional stations will face online. In the past, traditional radio benefited from spectrum limitations. But on the Internet, there are no limitations.

With the added capabilities of personalization and customization, Internet radio listeners have more choice over what they want to hear. And unlike traditional listeners, they can get it commercial free.

Chuck Lontine, general manager of KWAB AM 1490, said the biggest challenge his station faced when it began simulcasting on Oct. 1 was the learning curve from traditional broadcasting to Webcasting. Researching the best companies to find the next wave of technology also proved arduous, until the station contracted with Eclectic.

Lontine said Eclectic’s technology provided KWAB with the closest thing to FM sound. The difference is clear. After listening to several Webcasts across the country, Lontine couldn’t find any with a comparable sound quality. KWAB’s simulcast can be accessed using RealPlayer.

Webcasting’s success is measured in hits. As of the end of November, KWAB was receiving 60,000 a week — up from 20,000 a month earlier.

The site has a mechanism that measures who’s reading and who’s listening — most are listening. Lontine said the majority are coming from search engines or newspaper Web sites that have covered the station.

However they’re getting there, the word is getting out. As the number of users increases for online information services, Lontine said more and more people will be looking for alternate sources of media and news.